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Discussion » Questions » Language » Why do so many towns in England have a street called Kaffir Road?
Reverend Muhammadovsky

Why do so many towns in England have a street called Kaffir Road?

And are there any other racially-pejorative terms that have given rise to street names?

Posted - November 27, 2017
Tags : Africa race South Africa

Responses


  • Kaffir is really only a racial term in Afrikaan culture and in South Africa. 
    It likely is related more to Indian expats as that is a common name for Hindus by Muslim Indians as well.   Just a guess.
      November 27, 2017 2:45 PM MST
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  • 537
    I know the word is used mainly in an Islamic context. But it's extremely rare to find streets named by or for Indians or other non-indigenous Brits, so I tend towards the view that it must have something to do with South Africa, perhaps going back to the Boer War.
      November 27, 2017 2:53 PM MST
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  • Possibly.  I kinda wondered that myself.    Good possibility.   I thought maybe it could have been an Indian immigrant ghetto in the past when it  was  made.
      November 27, 2017 3:00 PM MST
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  • 6023
    You might check the official city records.
    At least here in America, there is often a record of a city meeting when a new street is named ... or a name is being changed.
      November 27, 2017 3:01 PM MST
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  • 46117
    Yes.  I have a street in my town named BLACK STREET.


    ALERT THE MEDIA

    It crosses Cracker Ave.

    This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at November 28, 2017 11:46 AM MST
      November 27, 2017 6:57 PM MST
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  • 16246
    Never mind street names, how about whole towns/villages? Nigton (yes, it's short for n***ertown). Darkey Springs. La Mort aux Juifs (Death to the Jews) - that one is in France and wasn't named during the Nazi occupation, it's older than that. Castrillo de Matajudíos - Fort Kill the Jews, if you please. Spain.
      November 27, 2017 7:57 PM MST
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  • 537
    That is disturbing - but not altogether a surprise in the case of Spain given they expelled all the Jews in 1492. There are a number places called Matamoros (Kill the Moors?) as well but they are all in Mexico.
      November 28, 2017 11:50 AM MST
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  • 5835
    What a strange question. I was not aware that any country still called itself "England". The name of the place now is United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the biggest nation within that group does not even have a name. Long explanation here.
      November 28, 2017 3:59 AM MST
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  • 537
    You're right, it would require a long explanation to do it justice. But "English" identity seems to be making a comeback, partly as a reaction to Scottish devolution.
      November 28, 2017 2:32 PM MST
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  • 5835
    I researched the word. "Kaffir" is a lime. It took a while to find this:
    So why are these limes called by that name? The K-word has a long, complex history, but how it came to refer to a type of citrus fruit is a bit murky. The Arabic word kafir was originally used to refer to non-Muslims, but over the centuries it was adopted by white colonialists to describe black Africans. By the 20thcentury, kaffir was widely understood to be a slur, and its power to insult and offend only grew in apartheid-era South Africa, so much so that its use became legally actionable. In Sri Lanka, an ethnic group called the Kaffirs retained a neutral understanding of the word, but everywhere else, the epithet is as injurious as they come.
    https://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/07/03/kaffir_lime_racist_murky_origins_suggest_a_racial_slur_might_be_responsible.html
      November 28, 2017 4:13 AM MST
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  • 5835
    Let's see if this posts correctly:
    www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/07/03/kaffir_lime_racist_murky_origins_suggest_a_racial_slur_might_be_responsible.html
      November 28, 2017 4:15 AM MST
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  • 5835
    Ok, how about this:
    kaffir_lime_racist_murky_origins_suggest_a_racial_slur_might_be_responsible.html

    You will have to assemble a correct url.
      November 28, 2017 4:16 AM MST
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