Oil in Zulu

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Oil is a-ma-fu-tha in Zulu.            

The Arab world produces oil.  America needs it.  They don't like each other very much.  Such irony.

Extra Virgin? How can we be sure?

People on a diet do not want to hear the -o- word.  Oil?  I’ll get fat like a rhino.  What’s funny is that I love olive oil, but hate olives, green, black or any other colour.   How do they press out the oil anyway, is what I would like to know?  Maybe I should travel to Argentina, Tunisia, Greece, Spain, Italy even California to see how they do it.
You drop oil in the wok and stir-fry some vegetables.  Some homes have separate pans for frying eggs and steak.  You don’t eat pork if you belong to some religions.  Gulf countries are famous for oil.  Notorious?  It depends on who is talking.

It is also used figuratively.  U-se-ma-fu-theni means that she/he is living well.  Meghan Markle is not living well because of her husband Prince Harry.  She has always lived well because she was a working woman with her own money.  So, we can’t say use-ma-fu-the-ni because she married someone from the British royal family.
A-ma-fu-tha.  You say the first part like Anna, the second like mask the third like foot and the last part like tar.

U-se-ma-fu-the-ni.  You say the first part like Ugg, the second like sell, the third like mask, the fourth like foot, the 5th like telly and the last like Nice, in France.

ZULU
ENGLISH
OPEC, a-ma-zwe a-da-yi-sa a-ma-fu-tha.
OPEC, Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
A-ma-fu-tha e-mo-to.
Car oil.
I-mo-to i-di-nga a-ma-fu-tha.
The car needs oil.
I-ma-li-ni i-li-tha la-ma-fu-tha e-mo-to?
How much is a litre of car oil?
A-ngi-wa-dli-a-ma-fu-tha a-ma-ni-ngi.
I don’t eat a lot of oil.
Ngi-tha-nda a-ma-fu-tha a-ma olives.
I love olive oil.
I-bho-te-la a-ma-fu-tha.
Butter is oil.
U-Zandile u-phe-ka nga-ma-fu-tha.
Zandile cooks with oil.
U-Santino a-ka-phe-ki nga-ma-fu-tha.
Santino doesn’t cook with oil.
I-nya-ma i-na-ma-fu-tha a-yo.
Meat has its own oil.
I-nku-khu i-na-ma-fu-tha a-yo.
Chicken has its own oil.
By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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