Look, it was bound to happen at some time.
Days after news broke that Irish budget airline Ryanair made South African passport holders take a test in Afrikaans before boarding flights to the UK, some put their best foot forward at turning the discriminating mess into a humorous take.
These are serious allegations against Ryanair, and rightly so, but in true South African style, we found a way to make ourselves laugh.
When Kristia van Heerden posed her questions on Twitter in response to the Afrikaans quiz debacle, her post immediately blew up, and here’s why:
Questions to confirm Saffer identity:
- How many tomatoes are in an All Gold tomato sauce bottle?
- What are Zoo cookies?
- Who remembers Melrose? (Oh boy!)
- What is load shedding?
- What does SBWL mean?
- Where can’t you touch someone:
1) their jacket
2) their bum
3) their studio
Questions to confirm Saffer identity:
— Kristia van Heerden (@kristiavh) June 6, 2022
How many tomatoes are in an All Gold tomato sauce bottle?
What are Zoo cookies?
Who remembers Melrose? (Oh boy!)
What is load shedding?
What does SBWL mean?
Where can’t you touch someone:
1) their jacket
2) their bum
3) their studio
The post gained more than 180 retweets and 860 likes and counting.
But it’s the responses to her tweet that got the most laughs. Many asked their own series of questions while others wanted to know what SBWL meant.
To answer the question, @113Ziba, explained: “In Xhosa tall: Andisabaweli. Twitter slang: SBWL. It only means craving for something!”
Check out the funniest responses below:
I was just reminded of 36shhhh 😂😂😂
— Naledi (@nalspu) June 6, 2022
Our 5 year old always says in astonishment “but you said now!” after I said now-now or “just now”😂😂😂
— LerumoSpear (@LerumoSpear) June 7, 2022
😂 Ah damn you beat me to it
Like a boarding pass.
— Madeleen Botha (@MadeleenBotha01) June 6, 2022
And of course if you’re old you have to know who the twofisted one is.
— Patricia Smith (@PaddyMay) June 7, 2022
Surprisingly, there were those who admitted they’d fail Van Heerden’s test.
In the meantime, the Pan South African Language Board has labelled Ryanair’s actions as discrimination.
“Just when we thought things couldn’t be more bizarre in our international community, along comes Ryanair which a policy which clearly smacks of discrimination because in effect what it is doing is not only trampling on our South African constitutional democracy but also it is adverse and not congruent with our linguistic diversity,” Pan South African Language Board (PanSalb) chief executive officer Lance Craig Schultz told eNCA.