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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Andrés Magré Exact meaning of 'Kelpie', please (22) RE: Exact meaning of 'Kelpie', please 13 Jul 99


Just as a curiosity, I may recall that "kelper" is a very familiar term for us Argentinians. There is a group of 2000 or 3000 people living in an island far down the South Atlantic Ocean that still pertains to the British, though we consider it as argentinian territory. In 1982 Argentina took the islands by force and this gave origin to the Falklands War. Yes, the inhabitants of the Malvinas (or Falklands) are called by the British, and call themselves, KELPERS, a name taken from the sea plant that abound in their coasts. The term "kelper" has been adopted by local newspapers and media to name a person who is a second-class citizen, because that was the status a native of the islands had before the war. They were UK citizens but only in the islands, and needed a visa to visit the UK territory. Now, as a consequence of the war, they hold first-class British citizenship. Curiously, Argentina always offered that citizenship to all of them, but they always refused, (except one or two cases) and this is reasonable because they are all descendants of British and Scottish and have never had contacts with the continent, since 1853. This is one of the very few cases of colonialism that remain in the world, and that war (in my personal opinion) one of the many cases of stupidity that plague the world. - Best regards - escamillo@ciudad.com.ar


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