Kaffirs and Lilies
- To: "MeditPlants"
- Subject: Kaffirs and Lilies
- From: W* G*
- Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 07:01:04 -0400
On 1/11/01 1:27 PM Anthony Lyman-Dixon
(lyman@lyman-dixon.freeserve.co.uk) wrote:
> Surely words are
>completely harmless and it is the attitude behind them that is
>important
Words can also have a highly charged and emotive history. While many find
such neologisms as waitron, personhole cover, and vertically challenged
ludicrous rather than incendiary, perjoratives such as nigger and kaffir,
kike and coolie (among many disparagements in which English is
particularly rich) - even when used in historical context - are
indisputably highly offensive to many hundreds of millions whose legacy
includes centuries of colonialism, slavery, brutality, and
discrimination.
On 1/12/01 5:28 AM Marina & Anthony Green (green@pangeanet.it) wrote:
>Hmmm. I'm just completing the index of the year 2000 volumes of the
>"Mediterranean Garden", where the
>Kaffir Lily is mentioned. Does this have a PC name too?
The 'Kaffir Lily' could be either Clivia or 'Crimson Flag' (Schizostylis
coccinea), two
long-established vernacular names for attractive S. African plants.
William Glover
Nevis, West Indies
