South Africans have a peculiar sense of time. They’ve two versions of ‘now,’ and the Cape Townies especially love lounging around not doing very much in the beautiful weather. If they say “I’ll be there ‘now now'” that means they’ll probably be there soon. If they say I’ll do it ‘just now,’ it means maybe 45 minutes, maybe tomorrow. You have to listen to their inflection. The longer and more hesitantly they say the word just, the less likely it will get done anywhere near on time.

Last week, I had a group meeting for a presentation in a politics class here at UCT. There were five of us in the group, two Germans, two Americans, and one South African.

We scheduled our group meeting at 1pm. The two Germans arrived at precisely 1pm. Us two Americans showed up at 1pm, too.

And when did the South African get there?

He didn’t even show up.