Oops, wasn't on line yesterday.

Andrea, as I told Mr. Boyd, what I said, in badly broken Zulu, was basically 'watch yourself, white man'... Or 'i'll sort you out, white man'

As far as I know, the story you were told about the white froth or scum being the basis of the word umlungu is correct. It was not meant in a pleasant way back then, but I think it's not meant with any disrespect now.

As for a word like 'heita', i don't know the origin. It's much the same as the word 'howzit', used by English, Afrikaans and black folks to greet. Heita and howzit are pretty interchangable.

Capetonians will often use a kind of mix, 'hoesit', which comes from the Afrikaans for 'how is it?', 'hoe is dit?' You will often here a Cape coloured say to another 'hoesit my bra?'

Language in a country which has 11 official languages is never boring!