At a press conference today at the West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados, Plantation Rum owner Alexandre Gabriel revealed the brand’s long-awaited new name, Planteray, which will first appear on bottles of Cut & Dry Coconut Rum.
However the initial comment by A. Gabriel about the meaning of "plantation" in French, ie just "farm", is a bit disingenuous. My French dictionary explicitly makes the link with slavery, the meaning is essentially the same as in English, with the same association with the slave trade. It is defined in my French dictionary as (my translation) :
"Action of planting. Plant crops in your garden. Plant beans and flowers.
Way of planting or being planted. Square, staggered planting. Planting with a spade or dibbler.
Way in which the hair is planted on the skull. A thick crop of brown hair.
Set of plants of the same species planted on land. The hail destroyed all the plantations.
Large agricultural exploitation in tropical countries. Plantation of cotton, bananas, coffee. Slaves worked on plantations"
-> "Grande exploitation agricole dans les pays tropicaux. Plantation de coton, de bananes, de café. Les esclaves travaillaient dans les plantations."
That's good.
However the initial comment by A. Gabriel about the meaning of "plantation" in French, ie just "farm", is a bit disingenuous. My French dictionary explicitly makes the link with slavery, the meaning is essentially the same as in English, with the same association with the slave trade. It is defined in my French dictionary as (my translation) :
"Action of planting. Plant crops in your garden. Plant beans and flowers.
Way of planting or being planted. Square, staggered planting. Planting with a spade or dibbler.
Way in which the hair is planted on the skull. A thick crop of brown hair.
Set of plants of the same species planted on land. The hail destroyed all the plantations.
Large agricultural exploitation in tropical countries. Plantation of cotton, bananas, coffee. Slaves worked on plantations"
-> "Grande exploitation agricole dans les pays tropicaux. Plantation de coton, de bananes, de café. Les esclaves travaillaient dans les plantations."
Good for them!!! Most brands put this off as long as possible and they just went forward and did the right thing