"sable" = "black" (person)

[Wilson Gray]

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 10:13 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> But I wonder if "jocular" is really accurate.

Perhaps it's not. But, does it matter? In view of the lack of further
evidence, I'm not going to become paranoid about the mere
*possibility* that the use of the word was meant to be understood as a
slur. To quote no less a source than the great Gin Rummy:

"When *I* use '[sable],' I don't mean no disrespect."

That may well have been the case WRT the cited uses.

After all, "sufficient unto the day is the evil" of the clear cases.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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