And then you named your farm after the event…. Who does that? There are so many strange names for places all over the world, I decided that South Africa must have it’s fair share and had fun trawling through a road atlas finding some of them. The result is two mug designs that celebrate South African place names.

The first is just the wierd names out there. I realise that these might not mean much to those who have no knowledge of South African languages, so here is a handy translation list for some of the places not obviously English:
Hotazel – Not a different language, just a truncation of “Hot as Hell” which is apt considering this town is in the Kalahari region of the Northern Cape and it’s main attraction is an open-quarry manganese mine; Blikfontein – “Tin Can Fountain/Spring” (go figure); Spoegrivier – “Spit River” (in a very arid part of the country); Geluksburg – “Fortune burg”; Waenhuiskrans – “Wagon House Cliff”; Soekmekaar – “Looking for each other”; Mabvuka Jazz – sounds like a nightclub, is actually a town in Limpopo Province. Mabvuka could be a Shona derivative for “Place of emerging water” in other words, “Spring Jazz”; Kakamas – if you want to know check the link, it’s complicated; Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein – Probably the longest place name in the South Africa if not the world and it means “Two buffaloes shot dead with one shot Fountain/Springs”; Platbakkies – in Afrikaans plat is flat and a bakkie is either a container or a pickup truck, so take your pick; Baardkeerdersbos – “Beard Herder’s/Defender’s Forest”; Lekkersing – “Sing Nicely”; Pofadder – Afrikaans for one of our deadliest snakes, the “Puffadder”.
Addendum: A friend of mine sent me this info about Baardkeerdersbos (apparently in some cases it is spelled differently): “Baardskeerdersbosch (in the overberg) literally means “Beard Shaver’s Forest”. The accepted explanation for this name is that a species of solifuge inhabits the area, and that this insect is referred to as a “beard shaver” because it cuts hair to use for nest-building”. Cool to know! Thanks Shirley!

The second design is the Breakfast Mug. I decided to create this one because there were all these place names that fit nicely into the breakfast theme. Here are the translations:
Melkrivier – “Milk River”; Koffiefontein – “Coffee Fountain/Spring” (oh yeah, sign me up!); Heuningfontein – “Honey Fountain”; Wakkerstroom – “Awake Stream”; Breakfast Vlei – A vlei is a shallow marshy lake; Koekenaap – “Cake and Monkey”; Lemoenshoek – “Orange Corner”.
I am planning to make a few of these to send to far flung South Africans who may have forgotten what it’s like to drive down a remote road in this country and come across a sign pointing to somewhere called Gamoep. They are a celebration of South Africa’s diversity, quirkiness and soul!
Contact me at lbeeart(at)gmail(dot)com if you are interested in buying one of these for one of your soon to be confused/amused friends.
If you want to read part of the story behind tweebuffels… click here.
And the article listed below is very interesting reading – also about South African coffee mugs!
Related articles
- The Impact of a Mug: A Souvenir Story (psychologytoday.com)
Fabulous idea. I will be holding a training session for paediatric orthopaedic surgeons later this year, thinkin that a witty STEPS mug in their goodie bag would be splendid idea 🙂
Love them! I’m organising training for paediatric orthopaedic surgeons later this year, thinking that a witty STEPS mug in their goodie bag would be a splendid idea 🙂
Karen, email me (on the moon email) and we can talk. I am doing a charity initiative this month – we could tie it in…
Lori – ‘bakkies’ in colloquial Afrikaans also means your face – as in “Kyk dieoulike bakkies” as an aged aunt pinches your cheeks…
Sometimes living in Potchefstroom has its uses. Or not.
Add the South African flag in some format and you have a brilliant expat export. Can get it advertised amongst the Saffer community in Oz for you, if your mail order system is set up.
Which makes the Platbakkies name even more amusing. Flat faces! If I get Overseas enquiries I will definitely set up a pay pal thingie or an Etsy shop. Not quite there yet, but getting better everyday 🙂
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Hi Lori
Could you please tell me how I could order some of these mugs and how long it would take to get them to JHB?
Many thanks
Dani Hynes
Hi Dani,
I replied on email, but just in case that got lost. I am located in jo’burg and have stock of most of the mugs. Which ones were you interested in?
Lori