Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. milit.) Johannesburg, South Africa; thus Joburgher n., a dweller in the city.

1903		Truth (Sydney) 30 Aug. 3/1: Every nite around in Joburg / There are coves stuck up and beet.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1916		Commercial Intelligence Journal (Canada) 16 430: The next Associated Chambers of Commerce Congress for South Africa will meet in Joburg next Septembe.
1947		A. Delius Young Traveller in S. Afr. 27: It wasn’t so long ago that Jo’burg was just a mass of tin-shanties – a huge mining camp.
1954		K. Cowin Bushveld, Bananas and Bounty 175: He did leave six months later, to try his luck in ‘Joeberk’.
1960		D. Lytton Goddam White Man 191: I sent Len and two of the others up to Jo’burg.
1975		S. Roberts ‘And Never Come Back Again’ Outside Life’s Feast 7: You could go a jolly long way in Johburg for a shilling.
1977		P.-D. Uys Paradise is Closing Down in Gray Theatre One (1978) 131: The Boer’s having a thing specially sent down from Jo’burg.
1977		J. Sikakane Window on Soweto 21: My father is what I could describe as a typical schooled ‘Joburgher’ at heart.
1980		M. Melamu ‘Bad Times, Sad Times’ in Mutloatse Forced Landing 51: It’s ‘Sheila’s Day’ Babsy gets a special dispensation [...] to share the privilege of a day off with the Jo’burg domestics.
1990		R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart (1991) 75: The so-called ghost squad, a plainclothes unit that patrolled downtown Jo’burg.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 145: Joburg what he call Johannesburg, what the South Africans call it.
2008		Sun. Indep. (S. Afr.) 27 Jan. 1: Jo’burg’s uncertain future.
2011		Travel Guide to Johannesburg SA 9 May 🌐 Johannesburg, Joburg, Joey, Jozy [...] means ‘place of gold’.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1938		Gloucester Citizen 19 Nov. 10/3: One set alone, a Jo’berg street of the ’eighties, cost £20,000.
1949		H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1981) II 22: I wasn’t like one of the Jo’burg reformatory rats.
1959		E. Mphahlele Down Second Avenue 124: Joh’burg boys rather frightened me.
1973		M. Dikobe Marabi Dance 37: You can already dress like a white missus, and Jo’burg girls dress like that.
1990		J. Naidoo Coolie Location 108: When our Pretoria boys play against the Jo’burg fellows we kooza our boys.
2005		A. Lovejoy Acid Alex 88: He taught me some Joburg slang.
2018		Mail & Guardian Online 10 May 🌐 Activist murder reveals Joburg street cameras are ‘turned off’.