[Ads-l] banana

[Wilson Gray]

> Besides "Oreo," cf.Native American  "apple": "red on the outside...."

Cf. item Chicano _coconut_ "brown on the outside, ..."

On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 6:51 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Besides "Oreo," cf.Native American  "apple": "red on the outside...."
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 5:04 AM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > When I asked him about the effect of having another Asian-American,
> > Dr. S. I. Hayakawa, as president of the college, Mr. Woo smiled
> > bleakly and said, "He's a banana, if you know what I mean. He is
> > yellow on the outside and white on the inside."
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Re S. I. Hayakawa, truer words were never spoken.
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 5:31 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks Jim, Ben, and Stanton. Here is a January 1970 citation for
> > > "banana" with the desired sense a few months before the OED citation
> > >
> > > Date: January 4, 1970
> > > Newspaper: The Los Angeles Times
> > > Newspaper Location: Los Angeles, California
> > > Section: WEST Magazine
> > > Article: The Awakening of Chinatown
> > > Author: Kenneth Lamott
> > > Start Page 6, Quote Page 14, Column 1
> > > Database: Newspapers.com
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > When I asked him about the effect of having another Asian-American,
> > > Dr. S. I. Hayakawa, as president of the college, Mr. Woo smiled
> > > bleakly and said, "He's a banana, if you know what I mean. He is
> > > yellow on the outside and white on the inside."
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > > On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 3:14 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > This sense of "banana" was added to the OED in a Sept. 2013 draft
> > > addition,
> > > > with cites back to 1970.
> > > >
> > > > ----
> > > >   North American (chiefly Canadian) slang (depreciative). A person of
> > > Asian
> > > > birth or descent who subscribes to typically western values and
> > > attitudes;
> > > > an oriental person regarded, esp. by other orientals, as adopting or
> > > > identifying with white culture. Cf. Oreo n.1 2.
> > > > 1970   Seattle Times Mag. 5 July 9/3   These Filipinos may not be
> > 'oreos'
> > > > or 'bananas', as blacks and other Asians depict their colleagues
> having
> > > > dark skins outside and a white mentality inside.
> > > > [etc.]
> > > > ----
> > > >
> > > > (The OED's use of "oriental" in the definition is... unfortunate.)
> > > >
> > > > HDAS starts with the same 1970 cite. See also GDoS, with cites back
> to
> > > 1972.
> > > >
> > > > https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/ag4nw3a
> > > >
> > > > --bgz
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 2:54 PM James A. Landau <
> > JJJRLandau at netscape.com
> > > >
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > A variation on the metaphor "Oreo cookie" = "black on the outside,
> > > white
> > > > > on the inside"
> > > > >
> > > > > Kevin Kwan _China Rich Girlfriend_  (Kwan's inferior seqeul to
> _Craxy
> > > Rich
> > > > > Asians_) New York: Doubleday, 2015, ISBN 978-0-385-53908-1
> > (hardcover)
> > > page
> > > > > 169
> > > > >
> > > > > referring to "Rachel", born in China but raised in the US:  "Rachel
> > is
> > > > > cool, there's no bullshit with her.  And she's a total banana
> > > [footnote],
> > > > > isn't she?  Just look at how she dresses [page 170] in those
> no-name
> > > > > brands, her painful lack of jewelry---she's not like any Chinese
> girl
> > > I've
> > > > > ever met."
> > > > >
> > > > > footnote reads "Yellow on the outside, white on the inside"
> > > > >
> > > > > - Jim Landau
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
-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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org