South Africans weigh in on the massive billboard typo spotted recently in Port Elizabeth… many trying to explain what “Togher” means.
South Africa – The ANC had a bit of an embarrassing moment when one of their massive billboard for the election campaign trail was unveiled without being proofread first. Heck, we have all made typos before, so we feel for them, but South Africans are now trying to decide what “Togher” really means… Some of the responses are pretty clever.
South African’s are hilarious people as a whole, so when people started dissecting the massive error, we couldn’t help but smile.
Melusi’s Everyday Zulu came to the aid of the South African people with the breakdown that explains it all. Melusi is a pretty inspirational guy. He posts isiZulu words and their meanings on social media in the hopes to educate his fellow South Africans. Melusi shares his educational post publicly, so it is easy to follow him and get informative updates. We featured his story back in 2017, and his page has since become a beacon for those wanting to learn isiZulu.
“Today’s bonus Zulu word is iphutha. Iphutha is a mistake.
I refer to the ANC billboard that apparently has a horrible syntax error. I don’t think that was iphutha. It is 100% intentional. Togher is the comparative adjective of tog. Tog, togher, toghiest. Togher is greater than tog.
The billboard intentionally reads “LET’S GROW SOUTH AFRICA TOGHER”, instead of “LET’S GROW SOUTH AFRICA TOG” because they are serious about growing South Africa.
Tog is for Mickey Mouse parties, like Cope. This is the ANC, damnit.
This was not iphutha.”
Naturally, people are quite opinionated about Melusi’s explanation of the word. But a few have seen the lighter side of it and thanked him for his input.
“Thank you for your moment of lightness. Clever. Funny. And in the spirit of how things should be. Love your work” –
Brenda Rogerson“Funniest teacher around” – Deborah Caird
“Brilliant interpretation” – Rhona Thompson Page
Here are some of the responses from other social media platforms about what “Togher” means.
A togher is a butt in Yiddish- not sure what your context is?
— Deidre Kusevitsky (@DKusevitsky) April 16, 2019
hahaha: Togher is a large parish in County Louth, Ireland. The name is derived from the Gaelic word “tochar”, meaning a causeway.
— TibiMo (@MohapiTibi) April 17, 2019
Togher is a real place; it is a small village in Ireland, Cork with a population of just over 2700 people. Many pointed out this fact and asked if the ANC were asking the small town for some backing in growing South Africa? It is apparently, also home to the worlds biggest bingo card.
Several Irish publications have since run stories about the billboard, and many have found it quite amusing that their town is making waves in South Africa.
Some people even felt there is hope, despite the error.
Spelling mistakes aside, you have to admit ‘Grow South Africa Tougher’ is an inspiring message about resilience and endurance #newdawn
— Andries du Toit (@abdutoit) April 17, 2019
Whatever the opinion about the error, we can all agree that Togher is the Covfefe of South Africa!
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