# Keffa, Keffer, Kefa...whats the Straight Dope?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keffa-keffer-kefa-whats-the-straight-dope/412137>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 17, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keffa-keffer-kefa-whats-the-straight-dope/412137 "2007-07-17T15:02:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keffa-keffer-kefa-whats-the-straight-dope/412137/1 "2007-07-17T15:02:30Z")

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Pronounced ‘Keffer’ or ‘Keffa’ I was always under the impression it was a derogatory term for a black South African, on par with the N-word. Danny calls Solomon it in _Blood Diamond_ and he almost knocks the piss out of him. Today an English woman I just met (she was black) was telling me about her friend in London who is a ‘Keffer’, there’s no way she was insulting her friend and it didn’t dawn on me until she left so I couldn’t ask her. I Googled it but couldn’t find anything except it’s also a province in Ethiopia. Is it a derogatory slang word that was adopted and is now acceptable for use within that specific community? Does it mean something else entirely? Please noble readers, bust out that google-fu and tell me whats up.

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**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keffa-keffer-kefa-whats-the-straight-dope/412137/2 "2007-07-17T15:06:03Z")

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I have always seen it spelled “kaffir” and understood it to originate in South Africa, where British colonists used it to refer to the natives. I believe that the practice spread to British India, too.

Here is all that [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kaffir) has to say about it.

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**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keffa-keffer-kefa-whats-the-straight-dope/412137/3 "2007-07-17T15:06:33Z")

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A starting point from Wikipedia: [Kaffir](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffir).

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**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keffa-keffer-kefa-whats-the-straight-dope/412137/4 "2007-07-17T15:08:07Z")

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Thanks guys, who’d have thought a word of abuse would have such a varied and complex history.

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**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keffa-keffer-kefa-whats-the-straight-dope/412137/5 "2007-07-17T15:34:50Z")

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[QUOTE=Sitnam]  
Thanks guys, who’d have thought a word of abuse would have such a varied and complex history.  
[/QUOTE]

I think most of the classic words of abuse are like that. 😉