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Political Correctness

>Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 16:54:40
>Sender: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
>From: "Jon M. Stewart" <xylorhiz@rt66.com>
>To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
>Subject: Political Correctness
>
> Hello all:
>
> I need some help, especially from those of you in South Africa.
>
> In my conservatory I have Clivia miniata, which I have called Kaffir Lily.
> To my knowledge this is an accepted common name. We had a visitor to the
> garden anonymously inform us that the word "kaffir" is equivalent to the
> word "nigger." Is this true? For those of you in other countries where the
> word is not considered offensive, how would you respond? I'm not aware of
> the word "kaffir" being derogatory in the States.
>
> For us this might be a mute point. They wrote their message on the label
> instead of talking to us about it, and I might have to replace it anyway.
> Are there other common names out there for this plant besides Clivia?

Jon -

I was not aware of this usage of the term 'Kaffir', which I instead
thought (perhaps naively) to a region or territory.

In Pitta Joffe's 'A Gardener's Guide to South African Plants',
Clivia miniata is listed with only the common names of Bush Lily or
Fire Lily.  Perhaps one of these would be more 'safe', or merely
Clivia Lily.

BTW - the genus name is in honor of a Lord and Lady Clive, so it
should be pronounced 'Clive-ia' (long 'i', sounds like Ivy) rather
than the common mis-spoken 'Cliv-ia' (short 'i', sounds like Nivea).

 Sean A. O'Hara                     sean.ohara@ucop.edu
 710 Jean Street                    (510) 987-0577
 Oakland, California 94610-1459     h o r t u l u s   a p t u s
 U.S.A.                             'a garden suited to its purpose'
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