A South African historical euphemism used during the apartheid era as official bureaucratic language for the system of racial segregation and white-minority rule enforced between 1948 and 1994.
A South African historical euphemism used during the apartheid era as official bureaucratic language for the system of racial segregation and white-minority rule enforced between 1948 and 1994. The deliberately bland phrase 'plural relations' was used by the apartheid government to frame its racist policies as neutral administrative management of different population groups. It is now recognised as a chilling example of how language can sanitise atrocity.
The apartheid government's Ministry of Plural Relations and Development was one of the most notorious examples of doublespeak in modern political history.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(South Africa, historical) The policy of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.
(by extension) A policy or situation of segregation based on some specified attribute.
(by extension) Any similar policy of racial segregation or separation and discrimination, particularly when in favor of a minority rule.
(South Africa) An apartheid-era urban area populated by non-white people; a township.
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(South Africa, historical) apartheid.
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