"The skipper must be highly paralytic by now."

Yesterday a South African and I sat in a dinghy and watched a boat sink. The boat was a big, beautiful gulet, the kind of boat that is chartered by a dozen British holiday-makers. It had been smoking for an hour when we arrived. Men pumped water into it for another hour. The smoke only stopped when the boat sunk up to the deck. We suspect it is resting on the bottom.

The South African, his name was Richard, entertained me with his country’s unique brand of English.

“He was trenched.”

“He’s not shy of money.”

These are new expressions for me. Richard also used “must” more than North Americans do. North Americans say things like,

“It’s gotta be here by tomorrow.”

“He hasta finish something first.”

Must, to us, sounds snobby. In a South African accent it was cool.

“My friend, he was a musician. I said to him, ‘You must go back.’”

And in reference to the man responsible for the sinking ship, “The skipper must be highly paralytic by now.”