Yellow Fever

[Bob Haas]

I'd say it's a play on the actual disease of yellow fever, which is spread
by mosquitos.

> From: Lynne Murphy <lynnem at COGS.SUSX.AC.UK>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 17:03:47 +0100
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Yellow Fever
>
>> In a message dated 3/27/2000 3:43:39 AM, rkm at SLIP.NET writes:
>>
>> << 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?
>
> One question is whether 'yellow fever' is analogized from 'jungle fever'
> (as in the Spike Lee joint) or vice versa (or neither).
>
> Lynne