(no subject)

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 2/7/01 10:27:45 PM Eastern Standard Time, Bapopik at AOL.COM
writes under the title Re: Natchitoches Hot Meat Pie (1958)

<<    (A delightful custom that has but recently disappeared is that of
several
 Negro Mammies who every day during the cold weather made up batches of these
 tasty items and sent them down to the business section well wrapped in
 newspapers, for the late afternoon snacks.  One recalls the chanted street
 cries of the little colored boys as they advertised their wares:
 "Hott-ta-meat-pies.  R-e-d-d-d hot.  Hot-ta-meat pies.  R-e-d-d-d hot!") >>

This is a use of the word "mammy" that I am not familiar with.  From
Merriam-Webster's 10th Collegiate page 705 "1.  [synonym for] mama 2. a black
woman serving as a nurse to white children esp. formerly in the southern
U.S."
The women who made those meat pies were not, apparently, child-care providers
(else they would have little white boys selling their wares??).  Perhaps this
usage of "mammy" was similar to the slang usage of "mama" for "woman" as in
the song "Pistol-Packing Mama" or Betty Ford's CB handle of "First Mama".

There was (is?) a well-known singing group called "The Mommas and the Papas".
 Every time I hear that name I recall reading (I think in Polly Adler's _A
House Is Not A Home_) that "mama" and "papa" were terms for two types of
Lesbians.  Any connection?

Back to terms for races.  What do you call the race that includes most
Chinese and Japanese?  It used to be "Mongolian" or "Mongoloid" (the latter
term cross-connects with Down's syndrome and should be avoided for that
reason).  Now is it "Oriental"?  If so, then "Oriental" necessary includes
Eskimos/Inuits of North America and Greenland, as well as some Finns and
Lapps of Europe.

There is a specific reason for African-Americans to dislike the term "colored
people."  I personally recall, from the bad old days of Segregation, that the
signs used to designate which race was allowed in a facility read "Whites
only" and "Colored".

Someone on this list objected to "Hispanic" because it categorized the people
it referred to as part of Spanish colonialism.  My understanding is that the
opposite is true.  The words beginning "Hispan~" (that's n with a tilde) were
used to DISTINGUISH people in the Spanish-speaking parts of the New World
from Spaniards.  In Spanish vowels in unaccented syllables are pronounced
distinctly, so "Hispan~o" (New World) and "Espan~ol" ( Spain) are not that
likely to be confused.

Now what should you call a person who emigrates from Spain to the United
States?


       - James A. Landau