This evening at a Tweetup, I asked the question, “Where does Phuza Thursday actually come from?” and to my amazement, nobody could actually tell me the answer, which I found amazing.
See, I’d been wondering about this for a while and just never bothered asking anyone or looking it up, so that’s exactly what I’ve done.
According to UrbanDictionary, it is defined as “Phuza comes from the Zulu language in South Africa, meaning ‘drink’. Phuza Thursday is celebrated every Thursday in South Africa. The general nation consume alcohol marking the start of the weekend.”
Interestingly enough, Brendon said that he thought it was from an African language – so kudo’s to you bro.
So there you go, PHUZA THURSDAY!
Update:
“The full term ‘Phuza Thursday’ – with an ‘h’ was originally coined in SA a few years back by Gareth Cliff, Leigh-Ann Mol and the morning team.
They opened a newspaper and saw a headline about a drunk man “Look at his Phuza face.” They naturally found this hysterical and decided that in SA Thurs is usually a big night out for many … Read moreand so coined the term Phuza Thursday.
This is seriously the truth as it was entered into wikipedia a few years back – I think the entry has since been deleted :)”
Thanks Melissa!
It’s not Xhosa Chris, it’s Zulu.
was going to say the same thing – it’s not xhosa – it’s zulu.
and it’s spelled P-H-U-Z-A.
actually.
;)
@Yandisa – Thanks mate, I took it from UrbanDictionary, so sorry about that, I’ll correct it! @ExMi – Thanks for letting me know :)
And here’s the 5fm page devoted to it – with their explanation and a pic of Bra’ Matthews, the Phuza Thursday Shop Steward.
Thanks @6000! You’d be amazed at how many people don’t actually know where it comes from!
hahaha, I used to listen to Gareth and Nicol pretty religiously on the way to work and used to hear it every Thursday and get myself mad amped for the start of my “weekend” hahaha
Guys phuza thursday has been phuza thursday ever since I could remember. Before I ever even knew of gareth cliff. It is a term that is reffered to as thirsty thursday in america. Drinkinkin on a thursday is a collage tradition in a lot of collages around the world and this is where I believe the term has its orogins.
HOW CAN YOU BE SOUTH AFRICAN AND NOT KNOW WHAT THAT PHUZA IS ZULU FOR DRINK!!!
How disconnected are you? You must be Capetonian.
The tradition in South Africa has a less noble heritage. In the old days Friday was usually the day off for domestic workers so suburban housewives, unable or unwilling to cook and do dishes, would favour Thursday nights as the night to go out to restaurants. Restaurants were often fully booked on Thursdays. The tradition of going out on a bender on Thursday may partly stem from this.
Thank you for your opinion What!