Monday, March 02, 2015

Racism and Birding



Racist names for birds have been banned in Sweden. Sweden's Ornithological Society has just completed the first official guide to bird names in Swedish as four different bird species which include the word "neger" ("negro") have been renamed using "svart" ("black"). Among the name changes:  "White rumped Swifts" will will no longer be called "kaffer" in Swedish (a racist term used by white South Africans towards black South Africans) and will now be called "vitgumpseglare".

Slowly, slowly we make progress.

2 comments:

  1. Mark Farrell-Churchill4:03 PM

    "Slowly, slowly we make progress."

    ...as when the AOU ditched the common name "oldsquaw" in favour of long-tailed duck, which had long been in use elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karen Carroll6:26 AM

    I remember seeing a friend of mine who brought back from Finland a brand of toothpaste called 'Darkie'. It is apparently used in Europe and Asia. Here is a Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie

    ReplyDelete

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