SefficunE neologism: "impimpi"

Question

This is a loanword from some African language (I haven't found out which; not Xhosa or Zulu AFAIK) where it means "spy". In its new meaning, it's a government-registered informant who submits anonymous reports on motorists violating traffic laws.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]This is a loanword from some African language (I haven't found out which; not Xhosa or Zulu AFAIK) where it means "spy". In its new meaning, it's a government-registered informant who submits anonymous reports on motorists violating traffic laws.[/nq]
Where is this? Don't they have any police?
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]This is a loanword from some African language (I haven't ... government-registered informant who submitsanonymous reports on motorists violating traffic laws.[/nq]
[nq:1]Where is this? Don't they have any police?[/nq]
Seffica (obsolescent spelling: "South Africa").
And don't ask.

Usenet · Answer

Father Ignatius wrote in a message to All:
FI> From: "Father Ignatius" (Email Removed)

FI> This is a loanword from some African language (I haven't found out FI> which; not Xhosa or Zulu AFAIK) where it means "spy". In its new FI> meaning, it's a government-registered informant who submits FI> anonymous reports on motorists violating traffic laws.

It's a Zulu loan word from the English "pimp".
I'm not sure if the plural is izimpimpi or amapimpi though, but I suspect the latter.
Forty years ago it was used to refer to informers to the SB.

Like I go to visit my banned friend's fish-'n-chip shop, and hear the children of the neighbourhood repeating aloud my car registration number, and next Monday this fuzz phones and says "We have reports that you were in a car accident in Ladysmith, were you there on Saturday?"

Steve Hayes
WWW: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm E-mail: (Email Removed) - If it doesn't work, see webpage.

WtrGate v0.93.p9 Unreg
* Origin: Khanya BBS, Tshwane, South Africa (012) 333-0004 (8:7903/10)

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[nq:1]Forty years ago it was used to refer to informers to the SB.[/nq]
"Special Branch"?
I really need to learn about Seffriker...

Andrew Gwilliam
To email me, replace "bottomless pit" with "silverhelm"

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[nq:2]Forty years ago it was used to refer to informers to the SB.[/nq]
[nq:1]"Special Branch"?[/nq]
Got it in one.
Also called the Security Police, and informally referred to as the Gestapo.
[nq:1]I really need to learn about Seffriker...[/nq]
Would you like a bibliography?

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

If that's a serious offer, yes please!

Andrew Gwilliam
To email me, replace "bottomless pit" with "silverhelm"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Got it in one. Also called the Security Police, and informally referred to as the Gestapo. Would you like a bibliography?[/nq]
[nq:1]If that's a serious offer, yes please![/nq]
Here's a start. I recommend Lelyveld (1987) to begin with, then the Rader's Digest History to broaden it out, and Hopkins & Grange (2001) for the turning point.
Brookes, Edgar H. & Webb, Colin de B. 1965. A history of Natal. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal
Press.
Dewey: 968.4
Duminy, Andrew & Guest, Bill (eds). 1989. Natal and Zululand from earliest times to 1910: a new history.
Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
ISBN: 0-86980-695-5
A general history of Natal by various authors.
Guy, Jeff. 1979. The destruction of the Zulu kingdom 1879-1884. London: Longman.
Dewey: 968.4045 21
Hobson, E.G. & Chadwick, G.A. 1979. The Zulu war and the colony of Natal. Mandini: Qualitas.
Dewey: 968.4051 CHA
Hopkins, Pat & Grange, Helen. 2001. The Rocky Rioter Teargas Show. Cape Town: Zebra.
ISBN: 1-86872-342-9
"The Rocky Rioter Teargas Show" was the title
of a satirical theatre presentation performed
by Cape Town students at the time of the 1976
Soweto uprising. The book goes inside the
events and their causes, and recreates the
drama and excitement of the events. The
narrative is illustrated with photographs and
documents, many of which have hitherto been
secret, such as cabinet minutes giving
explicit approval of "more deaths" through
police action.
Lelyveld, Joseph. 1987. Move your shadow: South Africa, black and white. London: Sphere.
ISBN: 0-3491-2190-7
An American journalist who lived in South
Africa in the 1960s and 1980s paints a
portrait of South Africa as it was. If anyone
is in danger of forgetting what it was like to
live in South Africa under apartheid, this is
the book to read.
Oakes, Douglas. 1988. The Reader's Digest illustrated history of South Africa: the real story. Cape Town:
Readers Digest Association.
ISBN: 0-947008-48-9
A good general and popular history of South
Africa, based on recent historical research.
Roberts, Brian. 1974. The Zulu kings. London: Hamish Hamilton.
ISBN: 0-241-89043-8
Vigne, Randolph. 1997. Liberals against apartheid: A history of the Liberal Party of South Africa,
1953-1968. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Dewey: 324.26806
ISBN: 0-333-71355-9
The history of the Liberal Party covers only

15 years, from its formation in 1953 to itsextinction in 1968. It is also divided into
two almost equal periods - before and after
the State of Emergency and banning of the ANC
and PAC in 1960. In the 1950s represented the
predominantly white liberalism of the old
Cape, while in the 1960s it mainly represented
black peasants in the rural areas. It promoted
nonracial democratic liberalism, and disbanded
in 1968 when nonracial political organiztions
were outlawed by the National Party
government. South Africa's first democratic
elections in 1994 in many ways represented the
triumph of what the Liberal Party had stood
for.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Father Ignatius wrote in a message to All: FI> This is a loanword from some African language (I haven't found ... informant who submits FI> anonymous reports on motorists violating traffic laws. It's a Zulu loan word from the English "pimp".[/nq]
I was going to post that 'tout' has undergone a similar semantic shift in Northern Ireland (where a tout is a spy or informer) but it seems that the 'spy' meaning is older then the 'business booster' and 'ticket re-seller' ones.
Still, it's interesting that 'pimp' and 'tout', two often-linked words from the seedy side of the demi-monde, should both mean 'spy' - though perhaps it is more interesting that 'tout' comes from an Old Norse word for 'nipple' and originally meant 'peep out'.
Did those Viking women not button their blouses?
[nq:1]I'm not sure if the plural is izimpimpi or amapimpi though, but I suspect the latter. Forty years ago it ... phones and says "We have reports that you were in a car accident in Ladysmith, were you there on Saturday?"[/nq]
Why wouldn't they just ask you whether you had been at your friend's chip shop?

Mickwick

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Like I go to visit my banned friend's fish-'n-chip shop, ... a car accident in Ladysmith, were you there on Saturday?"[/nq]
[nq:1]Why wouldn't they just ask you whether you had been at your friend's chip shop?[/nq]
Because I'd ask them what business it was of theirs. But you're supposed to report accidents to the fuzz.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]If that's a serious offer, yes please![/nq]
[nq:1]Here's a start. I recommend Lelyveld (1987) to begin with, then the Rader's Digest History to broaden it out, and ... Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 in many ways represented the triumph of what the Liberal Party had stood for.[/nq]
Ta, muchly.

Andrew Gwilliam
To email me, replace "bottomless pit" with "silverhelm"

SefficunE neologism: "impimpi"

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