Slave names

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Tue Dec 11 16:23:29 UTC 2007


But, of course, "the loyal, docile slave" is itself a stereotype. It's
like speaking of "the loyal, docile inhabitant of a concentration
camp." Except that none of the slaves was in his country of origin.

-Wilson

On Dec 10, 2007 7:25 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Slave names
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 12/10/2007 05:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >I wonder about the source of our stereotype that slaves were so
> >stereotypically named "Caesar" and "Pompey."  Surely it comes from fiction?
>
> Jon, why do you say "stereotype ... from fiction", if Caesar and
> Pompey were so prevalent in the 18th century?  (As I think they
> were.)  Cato, of course, would not make a good stereotype for the
> docile, loyal slave.
>
>
> Joel
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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