South African slang for a small bribe or informal payment slipped to someone to grease the wheels — the verbal equivalent of palming a few notes. The phrase frames corruption in casual, almost innocent terms: it's just enough cash to buy a cold drink, nothing serious. Used in everyday contexts from traffic stops to queue-jumping, it softens the reality of petty corruption by making it sound like a friendly gesture rather than rule-bending.
The guard looked the other way after Marcus handed him a little cold drink money to let the truck through without inspection.
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(slang, South Africa) a small bribe.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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