This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: Political Correctness

At 07:51  12/29/1997 -0500, Keith Romanczyk wrote:
>Yes.  It's in the Oxford Dictionary.  

Ah, the Dictionary. My Webster's says "1a) a member of any of several
Bantu-speaking peoples of SE Africa. b) Xhosa: in these senses often
regardes as contemptuous. 2) alt. sp. of Kafir (a sorghum). 3) in South
Africa, a black African: a contemptuous term." I guess that helps a bit.

>Had I encountered it in your garden I would have offered the information in
>as pleasant a manner as possible, rather than altering one of your labels. 
>Keith

That's kind of the way I feel. I, obviously, didn't have a clue. I would
rather the person(s) bring it to my attention for objective discussion,
though honestly, I don't think it's a big deal. Kaffir Lily <is> an
accepted common name, and probably refers to the plants place of origin.
The garden is also in the United States, not South Africa and folks from
that region can't expect us Yanks to be aware of every word that might be
offensive in every culture. It's certainly not an offensive plant! We have
also come across other South African bulbs that are also called Kaffir Lily.

Now, I would certainly NOT refer to Sclerocactus polyancistrus as "nigger
heads" which is a published common name for the plant. A better name is
"cotton-top" which describes the plant better.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index