No ... or ... yes !
I can help more - where is kloofje when you need her ?
pronounced as spelt - the ts is a sound like spits but it at the er beginning.
So it is a bit like tsetse but with different vowels ( so long as you DON'T say "tetsy"
and and and - can you click ? Is it a xhosa word ?
No it is from the European ( English to be exact ) "zoot-suit" very popular fifty years ago or so. and caught on in Sarth Efrica - and turned into tsotsi.
There is a term for using a part of a thing for the whole ( metaphor ? meiosis ? ) and tsotsi came to attached to t he person rather than the garment
Hi there: You could always ask a native ... I live in Cape Town and its more a word often heard in the Johannesburg area ... it is pronounced TOTT-ZEE and means a really rough character; and not in the nicest way, either – you might know the term teddy boy, perhaps? That's the one! Regards
From one pedant to another: the word for using a part for the whole (e.g. "the ring" for "boxing") is Metonymy; Meiosis, like Litotes, means understatement. Just for the record!
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