Antedating of "White Trash"
Charles Doyle
cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Tue Nov 7 16:41:03 UTC 2006
And just what, I wonder, it that bit of "dialect" inside the quotation marks supposed to represent? The defendant's words? The accuser's (of what ethnicity)?
--Charlie
___________________________________________________
---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 07:56:55 -0800
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: Antedating of "White Trash"
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>Rather late for a witchcraft trial (though there was a resurgence in the 1980's) as well as the single-g spelling {niger}.
>
> JL
>
>Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>
>white trash (OED 1831)
>
>1822 _Bangor Register_ 1 Aug. 1/4 (19th Century U.S. Newspapers) _Georgetown, D C May 4. A very novel and whimsical trial_ came on in our Circuit Court on Thursday last, Nancy Swann, a lady of color whose mighty powers of witchcraft have made "_de black nigers, and de poor white trash_" tremble, was indicted for practising in and upon one Peter Belt.
>
>Fred Shapiro
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