Avoid Someone in Zulu

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Missed calls.  Friends and lovers are mad at you when you don’t take their calls.  Voicemail is a caller’s nightmare.

Avoiding someone is sha-la-za in Zulu.  It was avoiding talking to somebody before the advent of cell phones.  Friends that have a fall out avoid each other.  When things go sour, lovers who had an affair at work avoid each other until the woman resigns.  I don’t understand why it is always the woman that leaves.
Sha-la-za.  The first part is pronounced as in shy, the second part as in lark and the last part as in Zara.

ZULU
ENGLISH
Musa u-ku-ngi- sha-la-zela.
Don’t avoid me.
U-ya-ngi sha-la-ze-la.  Nge-nzeni?
You are avoiding me.  What have I done?
A-ngi-ku-sha-la-ze-li.
I’m not avoiding you.
U-nga-thi u-ya-ngi-sha-la-ze-la.
It seems as if she is avoiding me.
Sha-la-za Gloria.  Ku-lu-ngi-le.
Avoid me Gloria.  It’s O.K.
Sha-la-za Sergio.  Ku-lu-ngi-le.
Avoid me Sergio.  It’s O.K.
Sha-la-za Shahid.  Ku-lu-ngi-le.
Avoid me Shahid.  It’s O.K.
Ba-ya-sha-la ze-lana.
They are avoiding each other.
Si-ya-sha-la ze-lana.
We are avoiding each other.

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang

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