First N!xau. Who’s Next? ??
I saw this movie for the first time about a week ago. Damn. That’s too bad.
I love that movie. I think I’ll buy the DVD when it comes out, in memory.
We watched the first film in a high school geography class. We were told, with all seriousness by our oblivious teacher, that it was a documentary.
We watched it in one of my high school classes, too! Of course, it was because the teacher said, “We’re gonna watch The Gods Must Be Crazy. It’s funny.” I don’t think it related to anything. Kinda like the time we watched Braveheart in my religion class…
[praying]“Please, Jesus, please make it stop.”[/praying]
Or when we watched TRON in a summer English class.
No, only one click.
To represent what’s technically known as a alveoplatal click, “!” was one of the symbols arbitrarily chosen by linguists studying the various “Bushman” languages about 90-100 years ago. Some “non-Bushmen” languages that use clicks, like Xhosa and Zulu, represent this click by the letter “c”.
The “!” click is the sound one may make when imitating a popping cork. Curl your tongue up to the roof of your mouth a little ways behind your teeth. Then scrape your tongue back along the roof of your mouth and allow that “POP!” sound to be made. If you follow, that is the “!” click.
The click in N!xau’s name is further complicated by nasalization (the “n”) and affrication (the “x”). Very roughly, a short “unh” sound should be pronounced before letting loose on the “POP!” click … that would produce a nasalized click. Then, to get the affrication right, you have to allow the tongue to release some air out ever so slightly as the tongue is being drawn backwards against the roof of the mouth during the “POP!” click. The affricative aspect of this click is difficult – I cannot pronounce it properly myself.
He was great in From Russia With Love.
Or when we watched Space Camp in P.E.
(R!IP, N!xau)
So it’s N(pop!)xau. Clear enough. 
Sorry to hear the news. The Gods Must Be Crazy was always one of my favorite movies. OK, it’s a bit corny, but I found it hilarious. (Not to mention the fact that the biologist reminds me of some of my colleagues.)
We watched Gandhi in English class. And that’s literally all we did, because my teacher kept forgetting where we were and thus rewound the movie too far every time. That together with Gandhi not being one of the shortest movies ever led to a whole year of Indian non-violence in our class-room.
Back to the regularly scheduled OP: Sad to hear about N!xau’s passing. The gods must be crazy was one of the first movies I watched in my favourite movie theater of all times and I shall remember it fondly.
For pronunciation, you can listen to NPR’s report about his passing . The reporter seems (to my totally untrained ear) to do a passable job of pronouncing his name. There is also an interview with the director, which is pretty interesting.
Man. I remember that movie. Was a little too young to get it, but I remember the coke bottle. 'Tis a shame.
But man, would I hate to be that NPR reporter.
That movie is a real charmer.
The part that always stuck with me was when the white guy was driving his large desert jeep/bus thing and because there were no roads, just desert and little to hit, he would just get up and walk around the bus/jeep.
Unless I am completely mistaking this memory for a Keystone Cops film.
For all you ! fans, there’s a new band going by the name !!!. If they die in a plane crash this week or if it turns out N!xau’s childhood nickname was Buddy, it’ll start getting creepy.
I was a little sad as well to hear of his death. On the other hand, he learned enough about money after the first movie to negotiate enough for the sequel to build a house with a water pump for his family, and later retired there to raise cattle and vegetables. He could have done worse.
Its worth reading the whole obituary.
Funny, a week ago in the best spirit of The Gods Must Be Crazy I was referring to a database I run as “the Anti-Christ”. At least it hasn’t wound up in a tree so far, although it may yet drive me up one.
I’m grateful for the pleasure N!xau has given me.
CJ