Zef

A few weeks ago, I saw that my younger sister and her friends were using the word "zef" on Facebook. My sister and her friends live in southern New Hampshire, and at first it didn't even occur to me that they were using an Afrikaans word. I thought that they were just using a funny-sounding, nonsense word that happened to be the same as a word in Afrikaans.

When I saw her in person a few weeks later, I asked my sister, "Hey, do you know what 'zef' means in Afrikaans?"

To my surprise, she replied, "Yeah, it means 'cool.' "

And my sister's friend elaborated, "Yeah, it's like 'awesome' or 'badass', maybe."

My sister added, "Or 'hard core' maybe."

I started laughing, then said, "But that's not what zef means in Afrikaans! How do you know an Afrikaans word anyway?"

My sister explained, "There's this crazy South African rap group. They're called 'Die Antwoord.' I think it means 'The Answer' or something?"

I replied, "Yeah, it does. But I've never heard of them. They do Afrikaans rap?"

My sister said, "Yeah, sort of. Both Afrikaans and English. They're really weird. They're sort of known for that. And they use zef all the time, like it means cool. They're really popular in the US now."

My sister's friend chimed in, "Zef side!"

Then I burst out laughing uncontrollably.


I've known the word zef for years. Zef is one of the loan words from Afrikaans that my husband and his friends use regularly when speaking South African English. From what I can tell of its use, the word zef is an adjective that is best translated into English as "tacky" or "kitschy" and maybe, in some contexts, as "cheap." 

Here's a few examples of things that would be considered zef, according to the typical South African use (well, at least among my husband, myself, and our friends) of the word:

This Thomas Kinkade painting of Bambi is zef.

This dog nativity scene is zef.

This eagle with painted wings is zef.

This 80s prom dress is zef.

The above pictures give you a sense of how I've heard zef being used in South Africa. I've heard my husband use this word to describe enormous eagle statues flanking the driveway of a house, to describe a pair of sandals I bought that are silver with big flowers on them (thanks, honey, now I will never wear those shoes...), and to describe a fluorescent orange jacket that he had to wear for work.

However, Die Antwoord-- as well as some of their associated acts, such as Jack Parow-- seem to use the word zef in a different way.

The wikipedia entry for Ninja, who co-fronts Die Antwoord along with Yo-Landi, describes zef as:

Die Antwoord performs "zef" music, zef being a South African slang term that describes a unique South African style which is modern and trashy and also includes out-of-date, discarded cultural and style elements .

As a result of the sudden popularity of Die Antwoord, the word zef has now entered the international lexicon and even has its own wikipedia page.  

Reading this wikipedia page, I learned about the origin of the word (assuming that wikipedia is trustworthy). Apparently, the word zef is not of Dutch origin but rather is a contraction of the word "Zephyr," which is a type of Ford car that from the 1980s onward was popular with lower class South Africans, particularly white Afrikaaners. Upper class, more highly educated South Africans used the term "zef" to refer to lower class whites, who "probably owned a Zephyr."

Now, Die Antwoord and others seem to be trying to spin the word zef so that it has a more positive meaning. In a way, they've taken a word that was previously used as a degrading word against them, and they've embraced this word and folded it into their culture. They've sort of built up their own strange-- and yes, maybe tacky and kitschy-- zef culture. 

In a 2010 article Yo-Landi described zef as,

Zef is, you're poor but you're fancy. You're poor but you're sexy; you've got style.

Afrikaans rapper Jack Parow described zef as,

It's kind of like Posh, but the opposite of Posh.

Certainly, the way that Die Antwoord and my sister and her friends use zef is very different to the way in which my husband (who is of modest white Afrikaans upbringing) and I use the word in our daily lives. There also seems to be a strong element of satire or parody in the way that Die Antwoord and Jack Parow use the word zef and in how they depict zef culture in their lyrics and music videos.

As for Die Antwoord, I'm happy for the international success of a South African group and the sudden interest of my sister and her friends in Afrikaans language, but I can't say that I'm all that fond of Die Antwoord's strange music and music videos. I've posted a few below as well one Jack Parow video. These videos are somewhat strange and disturbing and contain dirty language (especially "I Fink U Freeky")... watch if you dare!

Zef Side:
Umm... okay then.


I Fink U Freeky:
I actually find this video kind of terrifying.


Jack Parow:
Huh.