Comment on Botanists vote to remove racist reference from plants’ scientific names

• lengau@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  In South Africa, we’re vaguely aware of the n-word and its meaning in American culture, but the k-word (after which this plant was named) is highly offensive.

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  • SPRUNT@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Is the k-word (or close variant) integrated into the cultural language there in the same way the n-word is here?

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    • lengau@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I really don’t know how to answer this question. It has a major history of dehumanising people and is closely linked to apartheid. Black South Africans haven’t reclaimed the word like black Americans have - they’d mostly rather just see its use disappear altogether.

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      • SPRUNT@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        That answers my question, thank you.

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    • Docus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      In South Africa, yes. Wikipedia

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      • tyler@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        you’re the only one to actually answer my question so thank you.

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