geechee

[Wilson Gray]

On Jan 5, 2005, at 12:39 AM, Mullins, Bill wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>> From: Wilson Gray
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Sent: 1/4/2005 11:05 PM
>> Subject: Re: A Glossary of Gullah Words
>>
>> There's no opprobrium that attaches to
>> being considered geechee,
>
> In the movie "A Soldier's Story" (1984), the character played by Adolph
> Caesar (what an actor he was) called someone a "geechee nigger", and
> he sure
> wasn't being complimentary about either part.  I got the clear
> impression
> that there was some sort of class thing going on there -- that geechee
> was
> something like hillbilly or hick or redneck, to his character (which
> was
> regular army all the way).  Don't know if this sequence was original
> to the
> play on which the movie was based.
>

Yes, I remember that. I've seen both the play once and the movie
several times and I agree with your interpretation of the meaning of
the language used in that scene. FWIW, both DARE and HDAS also agree
with you WRT the negative reading.

In any case, what I apparently failed to make clear is that I'm
claiming that it's only in the part of *Texas* that I'm from that
"geechee" isn't ever an insult, but merely a descriptor, like saying
that a person is "black-headed" (brunette). I didn't intend to imply
that what's true for East Texas is universally true.

-Wilson Gray