| 释义 |
tsotsi S. Afr.|ˈtsɒtsɪ|
[Origin uncertain: freq. said to be a corruption of zoot suit.]
An African street thug or hoodlum, usu. from the Black townships and distinctively dressed in narrow trousers or in garments of exaggerated cut. Also in extended sense. Also attrib. Hence ˈtsotsi-ism.
1949Cape Argus 20 July 8/9 (heading) Tsotsi gangs who hate Bantu students. 1949Cape Times 10 Sept. 8/6 The ‘Tsotsi’ may be distinguished by his exceedingly narrow trousers which hardly reach his shoes, or else by his ‘zoot suit’. 1952B. Davidson Rep. Southern Afr. ii. v. 121 The conditions out of which have grown such strange and horrible manifestations of maladjustment as tsotsi-ism. 1956H. Bloom Episode xv. 273 One could tell they were tsotsis by their fancy clothes, by the way they took command... They led the mobs. 1971Sunday Times (Johannesburg) News Mag. 28 Mar. 9/7 We do not want agitators to give hooligans and tsotsis the chance to plunder shops and businesses. 1979A. Brink Dry White Season i. vii. 70 ‘You may be a lanie’—his red tongue caressed the syllables of the taunting tsotsi word—‘but you've got it right here.’ |