Bok or Buck? The question is...

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buchnerl

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I have been on a quest lately to get behind and on-top of why people think and do things in a very way lately.

I recon it could also be called market research as to see what hunters want and what they like to avoid. Marketing as such has got a lot to do with connecting to your market at a way they would best accept and be attracted to and one of my premier starting points was to look at vocabulary use and pronouncing of various/different words in especially marketing material whether it be booklets, flyers, adverts on AH or just plain ordinary wording on a website of whatever kind.

Now to start off and stir the pot my first question to all you hunters and like minded peeps would be:

Is it Bok or Buck? For example:

  • Blesbok or Blesbuck
  • Springbok or Springbuck
  • Gemsbok or Gemsbuck
  • Waterbok is an exception as I notice that even www.google.com spells it in both ways as in Waterbok (Afrikaans) and Waterbuck (English).
  • Steenbok or Steenbuck
Would like to hear from you guys what your feeling over these would be?

 
Bok,sounds better
Buck ,is a knife made in america
 
bluey said:
Bok,sounds better
Buck ,is a knife made in america
Click to expand...
I agree bluey but we do have a whitetail buck too...... whitetail bok ? Hey you might be on to something ? LOL !
Glen
 
Im thinking more whitetail stag,fallow stag ,elk stag roe deer stag....
 
I try to remember to spell the way folks in SA would Loodt but I seem to always go to BUCK. I'm not sure which is right.
 
Personal preference but I always use and prefer the Afrikaans version.......
 
Good question Loodt. I would suggest sticking to the good old Oxford Dictionary for the correct names. I think the majority of your target market hunters understand the English language.
Impala/ Rooibok
Gemsbuck/Gemsbok/Oryx
Bushbuck not Bushbok

I think new hunters to the market may find it harder to grasp bok than buck.
Trust me,those are easy options compared to Warthog and Porcupine in Swedish:)
 
Bok absolutely sounds better. As far as I am concerned referring to a type of deer the Oxford Dictionary refers to a horn/antler carrying animal as Stag or Buck however Buck is regarded as slang language referring to a stag.

I however are under the perception than one should go with "bok" in most cases but for example Waterbuck and Bushbuck cannot be Bushbok and Waterbok for example as it will be like to refer to an Elephant female as a ewe and not cow.

By the way, does any of you know when an animal/antelope is called a ram & ewe and when bull & cow?
 
Loodt looks you pretty much made up your mind. Buck,Bok in the dictionary actually refers to both Antelope (what we have in Africa) and deer. What it is named is purely based on who named it,Dutch,German,English etc. Species discovered by the Dutch have the Bok part instead of Buck. So in essence it is not a Afrikaans thing,it's a Dutch thing.
To further complicate this how about Oryx,Rooibok etc.
I do agree,Bok does make more sense to me and many others who have heard Afrikaans or Dutch.

The distinction in Bull-Ram and Cow-Ewe is made at the size distinction of Nyala males being Bull and females being ewes. After that,everything is Bull&Cow.
 
I agree @hunthardsafaris however with the Ram/Ewe and Bull/Cow comparison I have it that should a female animal have two teets she would be referred to as a Ewe and an animal that has 4 teets would be referred to as a Cow. Think of a Holstein Cow for example, however there is a variation when it comes to large land mammals such as Elephants, Hippo and Rhino where it would just not seem right to refer to them as Ewe's.
 
First point, I like bok on African game where it has been traditionally used as stated above and buck on the few where it has traditionally been used.

In NA it is more simple.

Buck/Doe - All cervids smaller than Caribou.
Bull/Cow - All cervids Caribou and larger as well as Bovids.
Ram/Ewe - All Ovis.
Billie/Nanny - Mountain goat only (although not a true goat)

There are no true antelope here so the Ram/Ewe thing is fairly straight foreword.
 
I should also not that buck is not used in any names of NA animals, only as a descriptor of sex.
 
Bok sounds better to me.

On the other hand, I learn the names of the animals both in afrikaans and the local language. The PH´s like it, and the trackers are both surprised and delighted !

Just imagine walking into the skinning shed and asking the guys if they like my pofu :A Thumbs Up:
 
Well I guess it depends on where you come from - To me the Bokke will always be the Bokke.........

gemsbok is a gemsbok, a bles buck is a bles buck, a steenbok is a steenbok.

Same as a tarentaal will never be a guineafowl, and a mielie will always be a mielie, droewors is droewors' is there even another name for melktert and koeksisters or rooster brood and borewors?

It all depends where you come from!
 
I'd say that's up to those that live in Africa. Being from Louisiana I'm familiar with people butchering our words. Some try most don't care to try or even care that there is an unique culture within the U.S. So for me you tell me and I'll pronounce it the way you do.

Veering from topic. I am fascinated with the culture of the different people who once settled Africa. The names and the accents of those cultures. My old grand ma died at 96 speaking little English she spoke French. My dad who is 67 went to first grade speaking French. We are now trying to keep the culture and the music going. My dad is president of a local Cajun Music organization the helps with that. We also had a lot of Germans that settled in our area. We have things that I've found out through one of our chefs that talks about the history of our food and culture. We have something very German in our food that growing up just never thought about. We make sausage and something fairly unique to here Boudin a rice and meat mixture that is put into a casing.

Veering back, you tell me and I will do my best to pronounce it how you say.
 
The two - bok and buck - (bokie and bucks in the plural context), are interchangeable in my otherwise limited vocabulary.

Incidentally, I have also seen steenbok spelled steenbuck, steinbok and steinbuck in various Safari Company price sheets and they all work for me.

Also bushbuck, bushbok and bosbok are all interchangeable in my feeble little mind as well.

Seems like the world is shrinking and perhaps languages are blending a bit, with a word here and a word there.

A good example is the dialect known as "Spanglish", very common in places like Los Angeles California.

"Caro" is a Spanglish word (coche is the correct Spanish word for car) and so it goes.

Perhaps, as a result of the Safari Trade lately, we are moving toward a dialect that will come to be known as: "Afrikaanglish" or "Inglikaans" - LOL.
 
Last edited:
Nyati said:
............
Just imagine walking into the skinning shed and asking the guys if they like my pofu :A Thumbs Up:
Click to expand...

Did you get a date?
 
Well who the bok (or buck) cares? :rolleyes: :censored: :)
 
HaHaHa...... all I really need to know is "shoot" or "don't shoot".... seriously, though, my first safari the P.H. only spoke Afrikaans to the trackers and most of the time I never knew what we were stalking. it took me until my second safari to know how to pronounce duiker. I feel it is best to learn the local dialect as much as time allows and show respect to the local culture. Even in Cajun country.
 
K-man said:
HaHaHa...... all I really need to know is "shoot" or "don't shoot".... seriously, though, my first safari the P.H. only spoke Afrikaans to the trackers and most of the time I never knew what we were stalking. it took me until my second safari to know how to pronounce duiker. I feel it is best to learn the local dialect as much as time allows and show respect to the local culture. Even in Cajun country.
Click to expand...

+1.
 
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