Shining On

[Peter Farruggio]

This 2nd sense, which I would define as "deceiving," is the only one I've
ever encountered among working class people.  It was fairly common among
truck drivers, factory workers, longshoremen, etc in Oakland, CA. and the
broader Bay Area in the 1970s.  I don't think I heard it used by middle
class types.  I had just arrived on the West Coast from NY City in 1973,
and it seemed to be a West Coast term, because I had never heard it back East

I noticed that most uses seemed to involve how one "shined on" the boss or
a person in power. (I guess not many working class speakers knew, or felt
comfortable with the past tense form of "shone," because I don't remember
ever hearing it).  I also noticed that Black folks almost never used the
term.  So I came up with a theory on the derivation, although I never
shared it because of its racist undertones.  The term "shine" was a racist
reference to Black people.  Since slavery days, Black folks had to learn
how to deceive white people, especially those in power, as a survival
tactic, often in matters of life or death.  Therefore, I surmised that
somebody put together the racist word with the trait of clever deceit, and
voila.

Come to think of it, I'm still in Oakland, and I haven't heard the term
used in about 20 years or more.

Pete Farruggio

At 10:02 AM 7/10/2005, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Patty Davies <patty at CRUZIO.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Shining On
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The only meaning I was familiar with was the 2nd sense, very close to
>'leading someone on'.  This was from the LA area (Santa Monica) in the 70's.
>
>Patty
>
>
>At 09:35 AM 7/10/05, you wrote:
> >Chapman's slang dictionary, 2nd ed., shows both:
> >
> >"Shine someone on" (sense 1) = "to reject and ignore someone; abandon
> >someone" [also "shine" = "to reject; disregard; avoid"].
> >
> >"Shine someone on" (sense 2) = "to deceive someone; beguile".
> >
> >I wonder how the development went semantically. Chapman takes sense 1 as
> >possibly originally referring to "mooning" someone (turning one's back on
> >someone). I suppose sense 2 could be independently derived from the hunting
> >practice of shining deer (baffling the animal with a bright light in order
> >to kill it at close range) (just my casual speculation). I don't know
> >exactly why the "on" in either case; maybe in sense 2 it could be inherited
> >from "put on" or "lead on"?
> >
> >-- Doug Wilson