Buckra

[Dave Hause]

I seem to remember it (defined in one of Stirling's stories) as derived from
buckram, a heavily sized coarse cotton fabric used to stiffen collars (which
would have probably been only worn by white men), and being S. Carolina
(maybe Gullah) B.E., but not derogatory.
Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
Ft. Leonard Wood, MO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>


On a related note:  I was recently reading S.M. Stirlings "Islands in the
Sea of Time" series of alternate history novels.  In them, a major character
is a black woman Coast Guard officer from the Gullah region of South
Carolina.  She refers to whites, occasionally, as "buckra".  That's a new
one on me -- is it derogatory (it didn't seem so, from the context)?