Guinea (was Re: Asian = Oriental, etc.)

[Gregory {Greg} Downing]

At 11:20 PM 2/8/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>But why Guinea? to match Bermuda shorts? (another passe' term, I suppose)
>
>At 08:37 PM 2/8/01 +0800, you wrote:
>>At 6:29 PM -0500 2/8/01, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>>>
>>>Guinea T???  All I know is the guinea pig--which I assume was a real type
>>>of pig originally?
>>>
>>>

Why Guinea? From the (offensive) generalization that downscale urbanites of
Italian background are wannabe-macho types who are supposed to be wife
beaters. "Guinea tee" is the old-time tee-shirt or undershirt that is
frequently pressed into service as casual outerware below a certain income
level.

Which reminds me. Here's a localism that's not in RHHDAS (I checked; don't
have the right volume of DARE here, though), though it's so local it may not
be of interest: People on Staten Island call the Verrazano Bridge, which
connects Brooklyn and S.I., the "Guinea gangplank." That's because after it
was opened, c. 1964, it allowed Brooklynites of Italian descent to move in
large numbers to a relatively undeveloped boro, particularly to the emptier
south shore. I first heard the term in the 1980s from my mother-in-law, who
has lived on S.I. since her birth in the 1920s and is of Italian background
herself -- but the term "G.G." is, I suspect, mainly a reflection of the
oldtimers vs. newcomers mentality that is common in so many locales. I.e.,
long-time Staten Islanders resent the changes brought to the Island by
in-migration in the period since the Bridge was opened -- the population
here has gone from maybe 100,000 to nearly 500,000 in less than forty years.


Greg Downing, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at nyu.edu