Annoying Expressions - don’t you hate?!

As you all may know I live in South Africa. It is a land where transformation is the imperative. Just as the previous society was molded according to the vision of the old Afrikaaner government, so too the ANC seek to mold the country today according to their own vision. As in all things today, the near – deity name of Nelson Mandela is invoked in all things as the licence to act.

Just as the parastatals were controlled by the elite few of the Afrikaaner in days past, so too must the parastatals be controlled today by an elite few amongst of the inner circles of the ANC. Parastatals are Eskom (the power utility), Telkom (telecommunications), South African Airways (the national air transporter), many others and of course SABC (the nationally controlled media outlets, primarily television).

Television is my pet gripe, the One Eyed Monster. I find it so one dimensional. The national channels for South Africa have now been changed from primarily Afrikaaner presenters to Black presenters. Now this may appear racist to some; my observation and complaint will certainly be classified as such in the “new” South Africa. Television programs are soured by endless adverts, politically correct adverts, where usually the white male is portrayed as the genial idiot. Adverts have to be “sensitive” to all groups (not a bad thing I suppose).

An English program, or English news, or English sport commentary, should be presented in the language that it purports to be presented in, namely English. In the Old Days under the Apartheid system, I used to complain about the heavy Afrikaner accent. However today, the appalling murder of the English language with moronic pronunciation, totally wrong use of words and bad sentence structures, makes me miss the so-called bad old days. My request is quite simple, if you are speaking on national television in a certain language that is supposedly English, then please am I expecting too much for a person to be competent in that language? Colour is irrelevant, if you are Black, Coloured, Indian, Afrikaans, English, or whatever, please speak the language!

(now this man, Peter Ndoro, speaks English far better than I ever could)

How the hell can a job be given to a person if they cannot speak the language effectively? So too, in a like manner, are nearly all jobs in this country given, for government, municipality and parastatals. It just depends upon who you know or whether you are linked to an important political figure. Competence is irrelevant. This poison has spread to the big companies as well, thus there is a significant decline in national competence and international competitiveness. Most major auditing firms just cover up the mess and pretend that a disaster is not growing in terrifying dimensions for our future generations to deal with. The Americans have a massive problem with their deficit but I promise you that South Africa’s problems are much bigger when related as a percentage; the cover ups cannot continue indefinitely. The price will have to be paid, just as the deficit in America will have to be dealt with in the future. There is no such thing as a “free lunch”, consequences MUST follow. The bubble is going to burst, sooner or later as the expression goes.

(some culprits)

(when is the bubble going to pop?)

This is a pet peeve of mine. The best way to avoid the stress is to stop watching television. Unfortunately, the soccer world cup was televised by the national broadcaster and I had to endure appallingly bad analysis by the “elite” soccer brains of South Africa, no wonder poor old South Africa are ranked in the 70’s or 80’s in world soccer. I just find it hard to swallow; their arrogant criticism of these world soccer superstars and how “we” could do a better job. Enough of that!
When I watch a major sports event and I hear it said “We lost because we weren’t at our best today”. That silly expression annoys me no end. Why? Because sport is played between two sets of competitors. The opposition may have the skills necessary to stop you playing as well as you may want to. They can dictate terms. Maybe a golfer could get away with it as the golfer’s play is against the golf course and the weather. The golfer’s competitors cannot talk or disturb their foe in anyway whatsoever, thus the play of the individual golfer does depend solely upon themselves, so he can say, “I was not at my best today”, but he cannot say he lost because he was not at his best! How dare he? He cannot not know if his opponent was at his best or not. That kind of statement is sheer arrogance. To me it shows selfishness and self-centeredness, the world does not revolve around them.

Another comment relating to sport that annoys me is when the commentator says, “the opposition were hungrier, thus they won and our team lost; our team just did not have the desire to win.” Really? Another load of nonsense. I know that at the highest levels of sport, the mind is often the deciding factor, but not always. Sometimes someone is just too good for their opposition, sometimes all the factors such as mind, body and “bounce of the ball” harmonise for a player to “click” and win, even against tremendous odds.

For sport to have public appeal, there must be a competitive element, where players have to give their all to triumph over their opponents, where skill is involved.

Just look at the world cup finals in the soccer; the awesome skill and physical prowess of the French opposed by the passionate Croats who just weren’t quite there. Joy and despair such visible contrasts, yet that is what sport is all about. Without question soccer is the biggest game on the planet.

(French superstars 2018)

(just not good enough)

I like to see the game because I can assess it to my own satisfaction; I don’t want to hear another person interpreting the game for me.

This brings an amusing memory to my mind. In the Old Apartheid days, on the odd occasion, a South African boxer would contest the World Championship in some or other weight division. My dad and I used to sit glued to the radio, listening to the commentator. According to the radio commentator, the SA boxer would be winning the fight comprehensively, but all of a sudden, the South African was on the canvas, knocked down or out by his opponent. I could never understand what happened, we were winning and now we are knocked out? What was the commentator talking about? Was he watching the same fight that we were listening to? Yes, biased commentary was exposed so clearly!!! I still smile when I think about that.

My last sporting gripe is when I hear about something like the World Series in Baseball, the championship of the world being held in America. The same thing as American Football, or Basketball. Certainly they are the world champions, but let’s talk about a game that the entire world plays, not just a chunk of it. If you are number one in tennis, yes you are the best! If you are number one in golf, yes you are the best. If you are the best basketball player in the world… then you are an American. More countries are starting to play these primarily American games, so I guess one of two things can happen.
(1) An American won’t be the best anymore
(2) An American will be the best.

(world champion doggie)

(world champion pro westler Cena)

(a real world champion, Valentino Rossi)

Fantastic, but any sport in the world has got a very long way to go to catch up to the beautiful game of soccer. To the beginner spectator it just looks like a ball being kicked aimlessly around, but to the experienced spectator, they look at many other factors.

A good commentator makes all the difference. A good commentator is someone who sees the skills of the players and does not criticize them unnecessarily. A good commentator is not biased to one team, certainly they can have their favourites. England may not have won, but their commentators are certainly very good.

(excited Panamayan commentators)

I cannot say they are the best because I do not speak other languages; I would fall into the same trap of arrogance that I am moaning about, wouldn’t I?