slanderizing

[Wilson Gray]

I wonder whether the attorney gives any special nuance to
"slanderize," as in the case of "blackenize": modify oneself or
another person, place, or thing so that black (or African-American)
people are made psychologically comfortable. (I came across the term
in the '60's in some book or other, perhaps The Nigger Bible. I
haven't read it, but I did flip through it, once. The term didn't gain
any traction, to coin a phrase, in the "community," but I liked it
enough to add it to my lexicon.) Or perhaps it was only an unconscious
blend of "slander" with "scandalize."

-Wilson

On 6/1/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      slanderizing
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> An attorney on Court TV has just said, "but then they're put in the position of slanderizing someone."
>
> Not "slenderize."
>
> JL
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows.
> Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org