Chapter 1
Someone or something that is quick and skillful in movement, agile or clever.
Nimble
Acts of severe violence, cruelty, and systematic oppression.
Atrocities
Expressing contempt, disapproval, or negativity.
Pejoratively.
A state of wild disorder, noise, and confusion.
Pandemonium.
Someone who has a great appetite or desire for something, whether it's food or another activity, often to the point of excess
Voracious.
Walking heavily, o plodding.
Slog
Recklessly wasteful or extravagant.
Prodigal
Rough and noisy in a cheerful way, high-spirited.
Boisterous.
Something is in a state of severe decay or ruin, often due to neglect or misuse
Dilapidated.
Something appears to be true or has a stated reason, but there is a suspicion that the truth or deeper motivation is different
Ostensibly.
Delivering a long aggressive a, and critical lesson or verbal attack, often with strong emotion.
Haranguing.
A person who lives outside their native country, often for work, study, or lifestyle reasons.
Expatriate.
Unconventional and slightly strange.
Eccentric.
To do something in a sneaky, secret, or stealthy way to avoid being noticed.
Furtively.
Something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected.
Anomaly.
South Africa's former system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination
Apartheid.
Domestic work and factory or industrial labor.
Job choices for black women in South Africa during Apartheid.
Strategy used by Trevor Noah's family when walking together.
Pretending not to know each other
Strategy to adapt speech depending on who one is talking to.
Code-switching.
Official job title given to Patricia’s maid, despite the fact that she worked far more than her position suggested.
The second girl.
A mixed-race church, a white church, and a black church.
Types of church Trevor Noah attends.
Language spoken by Trevor Noah's mother and many Black South Africans, considered inferior under Apartheid.
Xhosa
Trevor's parents had to hide their relationship because of this law.
The Immorality Act.
Trevor compares himself with this animal to describe how he adapts to different social groups by changing language and behavior
Chameleon.
Patricia tells Trevor that “knowledge is power,” which is why she insists on spending her money on this instead of luxuries
Books and education.