https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/05/the-african-buffalo/ Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:19:15 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/05/the-african-buffalo/#comment-1361 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:19:15 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/05/the-african-buffalo/#comment-1361 As usual, reality and reality are not always exactly the same. There are true ambiguities in naming, and it is not always possible to assign on the basis of priority. Kaffer/Caffir (which means Nigger and has for quite some time) has been dropped even though there is not a rule that allows this.The fact that the ZCN does not allow socially, politically, or morally determined changed is good because we don’t want nomenclature to be a battleground but obviously it is bad as well. What if, I ask you, the common Grey squirrel in America was known as Sciurus nigger instead of Sciurus caroliniensis?The issue of the earlier use of the word “Kaffir” to be an offensive term is an interesting one. In a certain sense it was always offensive because it was always used during a period of time when someone called a “kaffir” was assumed to be in many ways subhuman. Is the term “subhuman” offensive?In other words, there is a kind of offensiveness where a word is essentially a profanity and an insult, and another kind of offensiveness where a word is a mere factual statement (which happens to not be true) and also offensive.The same thing could be said of “woman” or “child,” or so one could argue. However, the words “woman” and “child” have not become profanities, but the word Kaffir has.The fact is that no one uses the word today unless they are intending to be offensive of if they are simply ignorant. Or both.

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/05/the-african-buffalo/#comment-1360 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:20:02 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/05/the-african-buffalo/#comment-1360 There are no provisions in the Zoological Code of Nomenclature for changes in name because of unsuitable etymology. Indeed, the code explicitly states that priority stands whether the name is suitable or not*. ‘Kaffir’ may not be used any more in common names, but Syncerus caffer (not “caffir”) stands.*There is a recommendation that new names not be offensive, but its a recommendation rather than a rule because “offensive” is in the eye of the beholder and can change with time. Besides, I don’t think it’s relevant here because it’s debatable whether the use of “caffer” (originally a generic term for native Africans, derived from an Arabic term for non-Muslims) for the African buffalo would have been regarded as offensive at the time.

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