Crying Wolof once more: re: "honky"

[Wilson Gray]

Too bad about Kochman's deciding to embarrass himself unnecessarily,
especially given that "honky" was artificially introduced into BE by
black-power types in the 'Sixties. Surely, he wouldn't want to claim
that some random Afrite word was passed down from, father to son, only
among the families that would, at some unknown and unknowable point in
the future, engender the black militants. (I really enjoyed "Rappin'
and Stylin' Out." I still have my copy of it.)

My personal experience, both in Texas and in Saint Louis, is that
"red" is used for black people of a type also termed "marino" [m at raino
 m at rain@  m at rainI] and "pink" is used for pink. Neither is ever
applied to white people as a group.

I've long wondered about the origin of "marino." Then, one day, the
solution just popped into my head. Unfortunately, I was
"person-from-Porlocked." I was strolling along with my bud, "Blondie,"
and, before I could say or do anything that would fix the solution in
my mind, he noticed something on the sidewalk and ejaculated, "Look!
There's a twenty-dollar bill!"

That was about thirty years ago and I *still* have not been able to
recall the solution.

My intuition is that marino-ness is the black equivalent of
red-headedness. Indeed, such people are even nicknamed "Red" in the
black community, though the reason for it may not be immediately
obvious to non-blacks, since the definition of "red" is not restricted
to people who look like Carrot Top. It's not the case that every
marino is relatively fair-skinnned and red-haired, though they
generally are. Some are quite dark-complexioned, my grade-school
classmate, Wavill (pronounced "Way Vell") Ginger, being a case in
point. Nevertheless, his black hair clearly, for other black people,
at least, had the defining reddish hue.

-Wilson

On 11/14/06, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at umr.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Subject:      Crying Wolof once more:  re: "honky"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This is or those who don't subscribe to ans-l.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Name Society on behalf of Lynn C. Hattendorf Westney
> Sent: Tue 11/14/2006 3:40 PM
> To: ANS-L at LISTSERV.BINGHAMTON.EDU
> Subject: Origin of the derogatory term "honky"
>
>
>
> My cousin sent this to me today.  As we are of Bohemian descent she
> thought I would find it interesting.  I do and am passing it along to all
> of you.
>
> Lynn Westney (maiden name, Tvrdik)
>
> http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_257b.html
>
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--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

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