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READ THIS
The poem is a light-hearted dig at the white person's inability to pronounce complicated Xhosa names,
especially those which contain all the click sounds.
Nevertheless, the poet indicates a degree of resentment at the way whites create totally irrelevant names
for them.
COMMENT ON THE POEM
There appears to be absolutely no information on the poet. No background. No picture.
A quick google of the Internet reveals that this is a poem which is read repeatedly at public gatherings in
very high places. Yet its author remains a ghost.
The poet pokes gentle fun at the white man's inability to pronounce Xhosa names. The sample of words
which he provides, however, are really unpronounceable to all but Xhosa speakers.
Xhosa is a language full of clicks. The q, the c and the x are all click sounds but each
click is made differently.
The dl sound is also very difficult to wrap one's tongue around, unless again you are Xhosa
speaking.
History once revolved about these mispronounced names.
The British colonial government couldn't pronounce Chief Ngqika's name and so they called him Gaika.
A mountain in the Hobsback is still called Gaika's Kop.
Chief Ndlambe was renamed Slambie.
And the Gqunukwebe tribe became known as the "tribes of Congo". On the drive from Port Alfred
to Port Elizabeth along the coastal route, you will see a sign to "Congo's grave".
In the 1960s, singer Miriam Makeba recorded "The Click Song", a song based upon all the Xhosa
clicks. Go to YouTube and listen to it, and you will get an idea of what this poem is all about.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
There are three click sounds in Xhosa: the c, the q and the x.
- How many words can you find in this poem which use any of these click sounds? (2)
[Need help?]
The click sounds are used no less than 13 times:
- Nomgqibelo Ncamisile Mnqhibisa (x4 each)
And let's not forget the difficult "dl" as in "Velayigodle".
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Look what they have done to my name . . .
- What indeed had they done to her name? (3)
[Need help?]
Instead of calling her by her royal title of "Nomgqibelo Ncamisile Mnqhibisa", the "burly
bureaucrat" called her simply "Maria", a name which had no reference whatever to her real one.
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The burly bureaucrat was surprised
What he heard was music to his ears
"Wat is daai, sê nou weer?"
- What is a "burly bureaucrat"? (4)
[Need help?]
You could try one of the following synonyms for "burly": large in bodily size; stout; sturdy; brawny;
thickset; hefty.
A "bureaucrat", on the other hand, is an official -- usually employed as a civil servant -- who
works by routine and does not exercise intelligent judgment. He simply does as he is told without
question.
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- What is meant by, "Wat is daai, sê nou weer?" (2)
[Need help?]
Literally translated, it means, "What's that? Say it again!"
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The woman repeats her name no less than four times.
- What is the purpose for her doing so? (4)
[Need help?]
The point of this entire poem is the musical quality of the words and especially of the click sounds. By
employing repetition, the poet succeeds in portraying that very musical quality, that wonderful sound that
the clicks make in the ear when spoken correctly.
At the same time, it portrays the pride with which the woman holds her name and in the way she
pronounces it. The repetition, therefore, reinforces the insult she receives when the "burly
bureaucrat" calls her "Maria".
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Messia, help me!
My name is so simple
and yet so meaningful,
but to this man it is trash . . .
- What does the woman mean when she says, "Messia, help me!" (2)
[Need help?]
"Messia would be a call on the "Messiah -- that is, Jesus Christ -- to help her.
Is she being blasphemous? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It all depends on how you see it.
If she uses the word "Messiah purely as an ejaculation, then yes, it is blasphemous.
On the other hand, however, she might very literally have been calling on her Messiah to help her through
a most frustrating situation.
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"I am from Chief Daluxolo Velayigodle of emaMpondweni
And my name is Nomgqibelo Ncamisile Mnqhibisa."
- What does the woman mean when she says, "I am from Chief Daluxolo
Velayigodle"? (2)
[Need help?]
She means either that Chief Daluxolo Velayigodle was her father or that she is a descendent of his.
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- What would be the English translation of the words, "of emaMpondweni"? (2)
[Need help?]
Literally it would mean that she is of the Pondo people, the Pondo being a Xhosa clan in the Eastern
Cape.
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