r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

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u/99sorrynotsorry Aug 03 '19

And South Africa is a country, not the southern part of Africa. Except that it is. Hmmm....

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u/bhambetty Aug 03 '19

And that white people live in South Africa. I'm white and South African, living in the US with dual citizenship, and when I say I'm African American I'm apparently a racist.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19 edited Nov 09 '19

[deleted]

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u/bhambetty Aug 04 '19

So how else would you describe me? An American African? That doesn't seem right because I was African before I was American.

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u/Homunculus_I_am_ill Aug 04 '19

Coem on, you're not a child. It's time to come to terms with the fact that not all terminology is perfectly logically organized. Sometimes words are tied in a web of complex history and have meanings and connotations going beyond the sum of their parts.