Moffs: homosexual, short for Moffies
Mopane: a kind of tree found in low-lying areas
Munts: people; also used by whites as derogative term for blacks
Murra: a lot
Mwari: God (Shona)
Nyama: meat or game animal (Shona)
Ooh blicksem: my goodness!
Ous: guys, men
Pamsoro: lift (Shona)
Panga: machete
Pawpaw: papaya
Pawpaw: British person (implies that the British are wimps)
Penga: mad (Shona)
Pie-eyed: drunk
Pom: Prisoner of Mother England or Englishman/woman
Porks: slang for Portuguese
Ptozzie: prostitute
Putzi: the maggot formed when a fly lays its eggs under the skin
Sadza: porridge made from ground maize
Scribble: to kill
Sekuru: grandfather (Shona)
Skop: head (Afrikaans)
Shateen: backcountry
Sjambok: whip
Spazed: mentally impaired, also very concerned, "freaked out"
Sterek: a lot
Stompie: cigarette butt
Stone China: best friend, as in a friend that doesn’t move and is always by your side
Stonked: killed
Struze fact: from "it’s as true as fact"
Sumudza: on top (Shona)
Tatenda: thank you (Shona)
Thrombie: long harangue, from thrombosis
Tsotsis: thieves, rogues (Shona)
Underrods: underwear
Vleis: low, seasonally wet area Vbddies: Vodka
Wagon Burner: East Indian
Wazungu (pi.) mazungu (sing.): white person
Wee wee: literally urine, but here means a wimp
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandra Fuller was born in England in 1969 and in 1972 she moved with her family to a farm in Rhodesia. After that country’s civil war ended, the Fullers moved first to Malawi, then to Zambia. Fuller received a B.A. from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her first book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, was a national best-seller, a New York Times Notable Book of 2002, Winner of the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize 2003, and a finalist for the Guardian First Book Award. Fuller lives in Wyoming and has two children.
THE PENGUIN PRESS
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014
Copyright © Alexandra Fuller, Inc., 2004 All rights reserved
A portion of this book first appeared in The New Yorker as "The Soldier."
Photographs on pages 19 and 126 courtesy of William Higham. All other photographs courtesy of the author.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from Echoing Silences by Alexander Kanengoni, Baobab Books, Zimbabwe, 1997.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
The author would like to acknowledge Peter Godwin and Ian Hancock, the authors of Rhodesians Never Die: The Impact of War and Political Change on White Rhodesia, c. 1970—1980 and would also like to give special thanks to Sean Jacobs, Jessica Blatt and Oliver Payne.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fuller, Alexandra, 1969-Scribbling the cat : travels with an African soldier / Alexandra Fuller.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-59420-016-5
1. Zimbabwe — History — Chimurenga War, 1966-1980 — Veterans.
2. Zimbabwe — Social conditions — 1980- 3. Zambia — Social conditions — 1964— 4. Zimbabwe — Description and travel.
5. Zambia — Description and travel. I. Title
DT2988.F85 2004 968.9404’2— dc22 2003062375
This book is printed on acid-free paper. ©
Printed in the United States of America 13579 10 8642
Designed by Amanda Dewey
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Alexandra Fuller, Scribbling the Cat
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