| Idioom : KIMBERLEY SE TREIN [boodskap #8796] |
Do, 13 Maart 1997 00:00 |
Izak Bouwer
Boodskappe: 465
Geregistreer: Januarie 1996
Karma: 0
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Idioom : Neem die Kimberley se trein.
" Om sy lewe makliker te maak, het hy besluit
om die Kimberleyse trein te neem."
To "take the Kimberley train" meant to be a Coloured
but to try and pass yourself off as white. It was a phrase
from a World War One folk song sung by the Coloured
people. It was said to be easier to pass yourself off as
white in the rougher conditions on the Kimberley diamond
mines than in the structured society of Cape Town. The
song went like this:
"The Kimberley train is coming tonight,
It comes in black and it goes out white."
It was a sad situation that until recently the people of mixed
race in South Africa could gain better jobs and privileges
by passing themselves off as white.
It is also interesting that there is now a movement in the
USA to have people of mixed heritage considered a separate
category. They say that in the USA there is as much occasion
when people are asked what category they fit in, and that they
are at a disadvantage if they are neither black nor white.
The idiomatic expression in the above song explains the
words of the folk song "Hoe ry die trein, hoe ry die trein,
Kimberley se trein." The words of the song, telling of going
up and down mountains on the way to Kimberley, fits in
with this explanation. If you go to Kimberley from Cape
Town you have to traverse a series of mountains before you
get to the flat Karoo.
Gloudina Bouwer (iz...@igs.net)
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