An incredibly odd individual for us to marvel at and poke
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The Sunday Times was an absolute TREAT today! I would say that one of the big highlights for me would have to be the article on page 11 about the gloriously jaded Kobus Faasen. It seems that Kobus (please, call me "Kobi") has decided that he has been selected by a higher power with the express directive of eradicating the word "boesman" (bushman) from local print media. In fact, it seems quite evident that Kobi would be prepared to fight this to the death in an attempt to eradicate it from all living memory.

I think the big thing here is we are being reminded that these kind of people actually exist. God has given us Kobi to make us feel better about ourselves - to reassure us that no matter how bad, dull or mundane things become, our levels of boredom will surely never reach the tremendous depths that our boy seems to have achieved.

In short, Kobi took Die Burger to the Equality Court this week because of their use of the word "boesman" (bushman). Kobi's SOLE argument lies, incredibly, in the translated simplification of the word "boschmanneken" which was originally used by Jan van Riebeeck (Cape Town founder and nightclub owner) to describe a baboon and the possibility that it could be the word from which "bushman" was derived.

Kobus Faasen checks his photgraph
next to the word "bored" in the dictionary

"The possibility cannot be ruled out that the name ‘bosch(jes)man’ in this meaning of ‘ape-man’ was carried over to the despised group/tribe, whom they in fact regarded as creatures of a much lower level, hardly indistinguishable from apes,” said Faasen in court papers.

I don't know, Kobi - I remember learning about the bushman at school and they originally lived very much amongst trees and bush which, for me, is more than enough justification for the name.

While the court case is taking place, the debate on what to collectively call one of the oldest peoples in the world continues. Andries Steenkamp, chairman of the South African San Council, said he didn’t mind being called a bushman. “It was the name given to us. My grandmother and grandfather always said they are bushmen. Some of us prefer San, others bushman — it doesn’t matter,” he said.

Precisely.

And I suppose if I were to call you a cunt you would say it was racist and derived from the words "coloured" and "hotnot"?

I don't know what is more absurd, Kobus Faasen making an issue out of this, or the Sunday Times (and us) actually taking note of him.

Seth Rotherham
Editor
2oceansvibe.com
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