Take A Break in Zulu

Rest/take a break in Zulu is phu-mu-la.

Be careful at work about taking breaks.  Staff members that are close to the boss don’t look at the time.  They take more than 15 or 30 minutes.  They take even more if they smoke outside with the boss.  It’s a privilege you don’t have, so don’t try it.

I’m on vacation, you proudly tell your friends.  That is supposed to be resting, but we take our laptops to Barbados. Mama used to come home tired and I would bring a basin of warm water and massage her feet.  It is still done in many parts of Africa.
Parents are always on the lookout for plain laziness shrouded in resting.  You don’t say elders have had too many drinks.  They are sleeping because they are resting.   Phu-mu-la also means men and women resting.  A-sa-mbe si-yo-phu-mu-la da-li wam (Let’s go and rest my darling).
It is difficult it console someone who has lost a loved one, so people say the deceased is at rest from all the hustle of being alive, u-phu-mu-li-le.  Most tombstones have the message rest in peace.

Phu-mu-la.  You say the first part like pull, the second like moose and the last one like lark.

ZULU	ENGLISH
Phumula.	A boy’s name meaning rest or take a break. There is always a good reason why the family gave the boy child that name.
Phumulani.	A boy’s name which means many people should rest, take a break.
Baphumulile.	A girl’s name meaning they have rested.  Her friends will call her Phumi when she grows up.
Phumula mama.  Ukhathele.	Rest mother.  You are tired.
Mama sizophumula nini?	Mother, when will we rest?
Nizophumula ngo 1 ntambama.	You’ll rest at 1 p.m.
Meghan, phumula ukhathele.	Meghan, rest a bit.  You’re tired.
Tim, phumuza izinyawo zakho.	Tim, rest your feet.
Zipho, Nomusa masiphumule.	Zipho, Nomusa let’s rest.
Saphumula iphelile impi.	Finally, we are resting.  The war is over.
Santos, phumuza umama ngokushayela.	Santos, let mother take a break from driving.

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.