Comment on Botanists vote to remove racist reference from plants’ scientific names
lengau@midwest.social 3 months agoIn 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.
SPRUNT@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Is the k-word (or close variant) integrated into the cultural language there in the same way the n-word is here?
lengau@midwest.social 3 months 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.
SPRUNT@lemmy.world 3 months ago
That answers my question, thank you.
Docus@lemmy.world 3 months ago
In South Africa, yes. Wikipedia
tyler@programming.dev 3 months ago
you’re the only one to actually answer my question so thank you.