A misunderstanding of BE slang

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wilson, have you heard anyone actually utter the phrase "righteous moss" ?

  Seems like it appears mostly on old lists of "jazz slang."

  Not that there's anything wrong with that. Necessarily.

  JL
Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: A misunderstanding of BE slang
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In an episode of "That '70s Show," The characters 'Eric" and 'Hyde,'
who has *very* curly hair, are chatting. Eric remarks that he's been
thinking about getting a perm. Hyde asks why. Eric replies that he
likes the look of Hyde's hair and he thinks that that same look might
be attractive on him, too. Hyde retorts, "This isn't a perm! *God*
gave me this _righteous moss_!"

Say what?! "Righteous moss" is a term used specifically to describe
the kind of "good" or "straight" hair (stereo)typical of people of
(North-)European ancestry that the various "conks / konks" and "new
processes" have striven to imitate over the past century or so.
Wouldn't nobody be calling Hyde's kinky-assed naps no "righteous
moss." That wig would need some serious cultivation before it could be
called "righteous."

-Wilson

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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