Yellow Fever

[Aaron E. Drews]

On Mon, 27 Mar 2000, Kim & Rima McKinzey wrote:

}A friend who's a counselor at a college in Washington - and who is
}Japanese - told me about a statement she'd just heard.  A male was
}being discussed and she was told he had "Yellow fever."  My friend
}initially thought it was meant literally, but apparently it was used
}to describe a man who only liked Asian women.  Is this common?  Is it
}used for women as well?

I heard the phrase used by a man who has travelled a lot, include east
Asia.  He assumed it came about after Vietnam, and used by (ex-)servicemen
in particular.

--Aaron

________________________________________________________________________
Aaron E. Drews                               The University of Edinburgh
aaron at ling.ed.ac.uk                  Departments of English Language and
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron       Theoretical & Applied  Linguistics

"MERE ACCUMULATION OF OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE IS NOT PROOF"
        --Death