"Marino"

[Wilson Gray]

A while ago, I discussed the word "marino" (m@ RYE no, m@ RYE n@, m@
RYE nih; I've never seen this word in print and the pronunciation of
the final vowel is variable), which is applied by black people to
other black people who exhibit a particular phenotype, to wit, a
certain, moe-or-less obvious redness or gingerness of both skin tone
and hair color. However, I forgot to supply the names of some
more-or-less well-known exemplars of marino-ness.

Redd Foxx and Bryant Gumbel are probably the two best-known such
persons. Others are Sinbad, the comedian; Dennis Johnson, the
recently-deceased former pro-basketball player; Jarome Iginla, a pro
hockey player pictured on p.18 of the March 5 issue of Sports
Illustrated; Edward Brooke, former Senator from Massachusetts, Malcolm
X Shabazz; Eldridge Cleaver; the R&B sax man, Wilbert "Red" Prysock.

-Wilson
--
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.
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                                          -Sam'l Clemens

Dope wil get you through times of no money better than money will get
you through times of no dope.
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                                         -Free-Wheeling Franklin

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