"Color" = "information"?!

[Wilson Gray]

Thank you for the invite, Mark! BTW, it's clear that you don't have
much expertise in reading or writing the old "Negro dialect," which
speaks well of you, IMO.

-Wilson

On 5/30/07, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Color" = "information"?!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Man, if you evah in Philly, come drop in. If you heah on the raht weeken',
> come bah ouah shul. (Sorry 'bout the eye dialect -- it's a spur o'the moment
> thing.)
>
> Mark
>
> On 5/30/07, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "Color" = "information"?!
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I'm a PhD in linguistics-manque in linguistics and linguistics has
> > long been a Jewish - Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, to drop only a
> > couple of contemporary names - thing. As a consequence, from about
> > 1969 to about 1980, the overwhelming majority of my friends were
> > Jewish.
> >
> > However, the "connection," so to speak, goes all the way back to
> > Marshall, Texas. When we went "uptown" to shop, we carried collapsible
> > collapsible tin cups, not every shop or store provided a drinking
> > fountain for blacks - only the "separate" part of "separate but equal"
> > was ever enforced. At Woolworth's, for example, we had to drink at the
> > janitor's sink (if this term is not universal, it's the special,
> > extra-deep sink typically used by cleaning for rinsing out buckets and
> > cleaning mops). However, when we went to the local department store,
> > Joe Wiseman's, they not only provided the colored with a drinking
> > fountain, but it was exactly the same as the one for whites. They even
> > located it in the front of the store, though on the opposite side from
> > the white fountain. (They may have been liberal, but they weren't
> > crazy.) At Marcus & Karriel (pronounced "Carol" or even "Cal,"
> > locally). the local Neiman-Marcus equivalent (M&K were cousins of
> > N-M), there was only a single water fountain and all customers could
> > drink from it, regardless of race, creed, color, sexual orientation,
> > or previous condition of servitude. Those who didn't like it were free
> > to shop elsewhere. Though there was no "elsewhere" in town and few
> > black families aside from my own could afford to shop there, it was
> > still a ballsy move, since white people who could afford to shop there
> > could also easily afford to go to The City, i.e. Shreveport, only 35
> > miles away, to shop.
> >
> > Occasionally, the M&K families came to our house, bringing food which
> > they shared with us. I was less than five years old, in those days,
> > but, in hindsight, I reckon that this was as close as they could come
> > to inviting us to a seder, that being the day of stomp-down
> > segregation. We could have gone to their house only by going in by the
> > back door, under cover of bib ovahawls and maid's uniforms, even if
> > they had been WASP's who didn't have to worry about covering their own
> > asses.
> >
> > In Saint Louis, we lived across the street from a large synagogue. The
> > Jewish kids never joined the other white kids in "turding" (stoning
> > with fresh horse-apples picked up with, amazingly, bare hands) us
> > colored kids.
> >
> > Well, you get the picture. Of course, folks are folks. As a friend put
> > it, "Wilson, not all us Jews are nice guys." True. Some are assholes,
> > like the biggest slumlord - I can't bring myself to call him a
> > "ghetto-lord"; it's too weird - in Massachusetts. Of course, I don't
> > know him personally, as I know Donny (anglicized from "Dani," I guess,
> > otherwise, what kind of name is that for a nice Jewish boy?)
> > Millstein:
> >
> > Is that guy [= Howard Lasnik, to name-drop] Jewish?
> > Yeah.
> > Who's that colored broad with him?
> > That's his wife.
> > Shit! I could NEVER marry a colored broad! Yada, yada, yada. (Yep, he
> > went on to belabor the point.)
> >
> > But Donny's first cousin is my root-canalist and someone that I can
> > call at home, even on the weekend, for dental advice.
> >
> > My Jewish boss at the L.A. Department of Water & Power, Glenn Herr,
> > tried to keep me from passing probation. But *his* Jewish boss,
> > Theodore Brook, made sure that I had no problems. And I'd always heard
> > that Jews stuck together!
> >
> > The nice guys more than make up for the assholes.
> >
> > IAC, to bring this bit of autobiography to a close, I've long had both
> > motive and oppurtunity to get behind things Jewish.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On 5/29/07, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> > > Subject:      Re: "Color" = "information"?!
> > >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > >They're a real mitzve.
> > >
> > > Is that a new entry in BE? That's one Yiddish/Hebrew borrowing I
> > > don't normally hear outside of Jewish religious contexts, although I
> > > have to admit it's quite apposite here.
> > >
> > > James Harbeck.
> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > 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
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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

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