"snowball"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/25/2008 04:19 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>I grew up in the bad old days of Jim Crow,
>remember? I'm now a "snowball," as used to(?) be said by whites, a
>grey-haired old black man.

Wilson, that appellation makes me wonder. Presumably such a snowball
is black on the inside (underneath the grey hair)?  My association
then is with a snowball hiding a rock -- something thrown only by
thuggish youths.  Was any such association present?

Joel

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