I have taken myself down a rabbit hole arguing with someone who may as well have a turnip for a head.

But to cleanse my palate of the nonsense, if an English speaker refers to apartheid, this word quite clearly has connotations of the racial system in South Africa. Seems like

this is actually the case too in Afrikaans, with an Afrikaans dictionary definition being only the racial system in South Africa and no mention of a more casual meaning of apart-hood.

In my German class i can happily talk of a Fuhrer as a neutral term. If i use it in English

however, it is surely indelibly linked to Hitler.

Foreign words like this that are adopted have clear historical significance.

For an English speaker to argue that by 'apartheid' they merely meant 'separation' is dishonest and stupid.