Sentence:  "Mama, how about a <WSD>doek</WSD> for Janet?"/ The <WSD>doek</WSD>! God save our gracious <WSD>doek</WSD>! A doek is a colourful piece of cloth that the African woman wears as headgear. It is tied stylistically into various shapes from Accra to Cape Town. I do not know the history of this innocuous piece of cloth. In Afrikans, the language of those of our white masters who are of Dutch and Huguenot descent, <WSD>doek</WSD> meant, variously, a tablecloth, a dirty rag, or a symbol of the slave. Perhaps it was later used by African women in contact with European ideas of beauty who realised that 'they had no hair' and subconsciously hid their heads under the <WSD>doek</WSD>. Whatever else, the <WSD>doek</WSD> had come to designate the African woman. So that evening when I said, 'Mama, how about a <WSD>doek</WSD> for Janet', I was proposing to transform her, despite her colour and her deep blue eyes, into an African woman for the while. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A kopdoek: a kerchief or bandanna worn as a head covering.