"black as Caesar's tail"

[Mark A. Mandel]

Lee Murrah <mclee at MURRAH.COM> wrote:
     >>>>>

When I was growing up in East Texas in the 1950s, when something was
very dirty, my mother would say it was as "black as Caesar's tail."
I have searched for an explanation of the term but have never found a
single reference to it.  In that time and place one might suspect
that it had some racial overtones, but I never heard it used in that
sense.  Does anyone have an information on its origins?

  <<<<<

I'm inclined to look to the antebellum use of classical names for slaves.
I'm copying this question to the mailing list of the American Name Society
for further info.

-- Mark A. Mandel
[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]

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