OED & Jigaboo

[Wilson Gray]

OTOH, "negress" is so long out of date that most people don't know
that it was ever in date. I last (and first) heard it in 1959, spolen
by Greg McCurdy, of 'How ADJ is that?" fame. My impression is that,
theretofore, Greg had never before had occasion to attempt to converse
with a Negro - that was, of course, the term of preference, in those
days - and was, therefore, somewhat clumsy at it. IAC, in the course
of telling a lame story about an African "black" at a party - in those
days, an insulting term usually applied only to Africans, "Negro"
being reserved for Americans by the U.S. media - who was freaking out
over being invited to dance with the white girls at the party, Greg
quoted the African as claiming that he was accustomed to dancing only
with "negresses."

OT third H, "negresse" is used in Louisiana "Gumbo French" to
translate, "woman, babe, chick, girl friend," etc. in zydeco-ic blues
songs.

But isn't "Jewess" still cool in the UK? It seems to me that Bernard
Lewis(?) uses it throughout his writings. Well, it's been fifty years
since I've read anything by him (assuming that I have the right person
in mind). So, what do I know?

-Wilson

On 4/10/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: OED & Jigaboo
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:41 AM -0400 4/10/07, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
> >On Tue, Apr 10, 2007 at 09:30:32AM -0500, Scot LaFaive wrote:
> >>  After hearing about Imus and being curious about "jigaboo," I looked it up
> >>  in the OED: "A Black person, a Negro." This made me think; isn't "Negro" now
> >>  considered somewhat offensive? I've heard that "Black" was once offensive
> >>  while "Negro" wasn't, but is it reversed now? Personally, I find "Black" as
> >>  acceptable and valid as "White," but I would never use "Negro." Though there
> >>  still is the United Negro College Fund....
> >
> >The OED's recently revised entry for _Negro_ has a long note
> >about the usage, including mention of the UNCF, and the
> >comment "...the term _Negro_ (together with related terms such
> >as _Negress_) has fallen from favour and is now typically
> >regarded as out of date or even offensive in both British and
> >American English."
>
> "Out of date" is crucial for _Negro_ (and I think
> there's a clear distinction vis-Ã -vis "Negress"
> which--like "Jewess"--is out-of-date *and*
> offensive).  In referring to, say, "the Negro
> leagues", it's not necessarily intended or
> received as offensive, although it is indeed
> generally "[out] of favour".  Similarly, there's
> "colored", surviving (hidden) in NAACP.
>
> LH
>
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