THE K WORD

@Setanta,

I only have French texts about this term but they confirm what you said..

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kaferstein was also an out of use term for a hydrocyanite mineral, today called kafercyanite. It WAS a mineral first recognized in the ATlas mountains, giving some lean towards an Arabic origin with some German thrown in

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@ossobuco,

and I think of "kafer" - the bug and Volkswagen model

and kaffir lime

edit: ha! the two I know may be related (to each other)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffir_lime

Quote:

The word Kaffir have may come [sic] from German Käfer, meaning bug. The leaves of the Kaffir Lime do bear a slight resemblance to an insect, especially the leaf insects native to Southeast Asia, with which they may have co-evolved.

Quote:

The Oxford Companion to Food (ISBN 0-19-211579-0) recommends avoiding the name kaffir lime and instead using makrud lime because kaffir is offensive in some cultures. (For this reason, some South Africans refer to the fruit as K-lime.) However, kaffir lime appears to be much more common.

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@farmerman,

http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Kafir.htm

Quote:

The source of this usage is disputed. It may derive from a Dutch term for 'beetle', possibly merged with the Muslim word, as applied by Arabs to non-Muslim Africans in the south of the continent. However it has also been suggested that it comes from the Hebrew word for village, "kafar" or "kefar".

interesting stuff at ^ link. I wandered over to find out how kafir (the yogurt drink) fit into all of this

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

and I think of "kafer" - the bug and Volkswagen model

Well, that's Käfer, from old high German chëvar. Not at all related.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Apparently it may be related - at least according to some of those sites.

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I seem to recall reading some no doubt folk etymology, which claims that the word kaffir is somehow related to the concept of 'coffee-colored' and is thus cognate with Negro which is just Spanish for 'black.' I place no credence in this; just thought I'd mention it.

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kaffir is also used as a slang word for the following:

A word that is used by south Africans in describing black people, it is derogatory and is usually expressed while feeling very frustrated and angry at a black person. The reason I know this is because I remember when I first heard the word, which made head lines here was when the South African rugby team (aka Spring Bok) toured here In 1999 to play against our All Black team, Springbok prop Toks van der Linde was sent home in disgrace from New Zealand because he had called a black woman a "kaffir" in a pub.....you cant do that sh.t here and expect to get away with it lol.

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@KiwiChic,

Quote:

The reason I know this is because I remember when I first heard the word, which made head lines here was when the South African rugby team (aka Spring Bok) toured here In 1999 to play against our All Black team, Springbok prop Toks van der Linde was sent home in disgrace from New Zealand because he had called a black woman a "kaffir" in a pub.....you cant do that sh.t here and expect to get away with it lol.

And quite right, too, KiwiChic! (That he was sent home in disgrace, I mean.)
What an almighty nerve! Evil or Very Mad

Gotta retrain these sorts of backward folk into more civilized ways of dealing with their equals, I say! Wink

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@ehBeth,

Well, not according to Grimms Wörterbuch.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Thanks, Walter, Set, ehbeth, MA and all else who helped me understand the tortuous etymology of a slur. From th "Heat of the Sun" series, it was obvious that , for that series which was a snip of 1930's Kenya, the word was at least as inflammatory as our own home version (the "N" word).

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@farmerman,

Hmm what is amusing you are free to call a white person a cracker or a redneck for example. In fact off hand I can not think of one racially related term you are not allow to used directed at a white male in this society.

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@BillRM,

AND your attempt at making a point IS?

Quote:

"What cracker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?"

Written by some dude named Shakespeare

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That clown aspires to be a martyr, and has his virtual fingers in a number of tragic pies . . .

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@Setanta,

who Shakespeare?

PIES AT DAWN SIR< YOU OFFEND ME!!

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No, you joker--i was referring to the Rapist Boy, a.k.a. "Hawkeye." (I always despised Alan Alda in his role on the television series, so that has been a source of amusement for me, as well.)

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@farmerman,

AND your attempt at making a point IS?
---------------------------------------------------
Banning words instead of dealing with the underlining emotions is silly first of all and in fact kind of insulting to the groups you are protecting.

You are stating that this group or that is weak and need their emotions protected unlike the all powerful white race.

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@BillRM,

SAo if I keep calling you a douche bag youre ok with that?

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I just realized that i confused Bill with Hawkeye. That is the kind of egregious insult no one here should have to suffer.

Although, of course, it's not as though i'm known for apologies.

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