Splitting hairs
Sir: Winston Churchill may or may not have been a racist ('Winston replied that he didn't like blackamoors', 9 April), but the point cannot be made from his use of the imperative, 'Keep on skelping the Kaffirs'. This does not mean 'scalping' in the North American sense, but, as it says, `skelping' in the North British sense. To skelp, accord- ing to Chambers Dictionary, is of Scottish origin; it means to slap, and it was in com- mon use by the harassed mothers of naughty children in Yorkshire when I was a small boy there 60 years ago. On reflection, Kaffir hair cannot be grasped by the lock and cut off with the attached scalp, nor can it be used neatly to carry the scalp home as a battle trophy, for it lies too close to the head, is too short and too frizzy.
R.J. Francis
19 Lynch Road, Farnham, Surrey
Previous page
