draadsitter

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Afrikaans draadsitter, from draad (wire, fence) +‎ sitter (sitter), probably a calque of English fence sitter.

Noun

[edit]

draadsitter (plural draadsitters)

  1. (South Africa, chiefly politics) A fence sitter.
    • 1998 May 13, news.iop.co.za, “SARFU”, in rec.sport.rugby.union[1] (Usenet):
      Silas Nkanunu - vice President under Luyt, last week was the only time he stood up to Luyt and that was when he was sure of Luyt's demise, in my opinion a bit of a 'draadsitter'
    • 2000 December 28, Ron McGregor, “Re: Who said what?”, in soc.culture.zimbabwe[2] (Usenet):
      It is now very un-PC to attribute this comment to Humpty-Dumpty, who, as we all know, was male, white and middle-aged. And the only proof that he wasn't an Afrikaans pale male is the fact that he was a wall-sitter instead of a draadsitter.
    • 2004 February 18, Max, “Re: They forgot a few things...”, in soc.culture.south-africa.afrikaans[3] (Usenet):
      u better decide who you´re going to join, the peckies or the boers, the englishmen will never amount to anything. draadsitter.

Further reading

[edit]