(no subject)

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Thursday, February 8, 2001 3:15 pm +0000 "James A. Landau"
<JJJRLandau at AOL.COM> wrote:

> 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".


I think 'mammy' is more specifically used for a certain stereotype of a
black woman--an 'Aunt Jemima' type, rather than being a synonym for 'mama'.

Lynne



M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
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