gamat n.
1. (also gamaat, gammat) the stereotypical Cape Malay, esp. as the subject of jokes.
![]() | Willemsdorp (1981) I 509: From his name, Josias, you would be more inclined to classify him as a Cape Gamat. | |
![]() | Young Traveller 99: Scattered about [...] were smaller, flat-roofed, two-roomed dwellings [which] belonged to the Kleurlinge, Gamats or ‘Hotnots’, as the coloured farm labourers were variously known [DSAE]. | |
![]() | Steam Pig (1973) 216: How come a brother murders his own sister. Even for a gamaat, that’s pretty low. | |
![]() | Forced Landing 161: Gamat! You have become Neptune’s tenant. Pay your rent. | ‘Waiting for Leila’ in Mutloatse|
![]() | Acid Alex 103: Oh God no, sis! They all speak like gammats. |
2. a Muslim boy .
![]() | Diary of Maria Tholo (2001) 41: You know these stupid gamats. | 3 Sept. in Hermer|
![]() | Waiting for Leila (2001) 65: Gamat die Arapie, his treasure of sandwiches safely tucked beneath his arm. | ‘Waiting for Leila’
In compounds
(S.Afr.) a street-gang argot, a mix of English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.
![]() | informant in DSAE (1996). | |
![]() | in Darling 16 Mar. 89: One of the interesting things about this country is the extraordinary mixes of language [...] When Pieter Dirk Uys uses gamattaal, he’s legitimately using the language form which expresses the nature of the people he’s writing about. | |
![]() | Dict. S. Afr. Eng. (3rd edn). |