"Nappy-headed who'es" redux

[Wilson Gray]

Yes, one could. But "getting a nap-cut" sounds at least as funny as
"washing one's hairs." Saying either would be good for a chuckle.
"Naps" can also refer to one's beard and to one's chest hair. A friend
once said that she didn't like beards on black men because "the naps
don't look nice." Chest hair is relatively rare on black men. FWIW,
this correspondent's kiss of European ancestry is sufficient to
provide him with a relatively nap-free beard, but not enough to
provide him with any more than a couple of random strands of chest
hair.

-Wilson

On 5/15/07, Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Nappy-headed who'es" redux
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >FWIW, BE-speakers can use 'nap(s)" to mean "the hair on one's head."
>
> So could one get one's "nap(s) cut" as in get one's "hair cut"? What about
> getting a "nap-cut" like getting a "hair-cut"? And is this only the hair on
> top of the head?
>
> Scot LaFaive
>
>
> >From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: "Nappy-headed who'es" redux
> >Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 12:07:35 -0400
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject:      "Nappy-headed who'es" redux
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >The Boston Globe's language maven has an interesting discussion of
> >European attempts to translate the "nappy-" in "nappy-headed."
> >Apparently, no European language has a term that corresponds in
> >meaning to the American use of "nappy" as a descriptor of human hair.
> >Briefly, Britspeak has "nappy" as "covered with nap" or as a slang
> >term for "napkin" as the equivalent of U.S. "diaper." Hence, British
> >journalists have decided that "nappy-headed" means something like
> >"wearing a diaper-like cloth, such as a bandanna, as a headdress,"
> >cf., e.g. the old Aunt-Jemima, fact-based stereotype. Continental
> >journalists, following their British peers and their own
> >native-language-to-British-English dictionaries, have done the same.
> >
> >That is to say, translation of the European terms back to U.S.-English
> >yields American-BE "handkerchief-head(ed)." This strikes me as close /
> >good enough for government work.
> >
> >FWIW, BE-speakers can use 'nap(s)" to mean "the hair on one's head."
> >
> >-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.
> >-----
> >                                               -Sam'l Clemens
> >
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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 tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.

                                           Rumanian proverb

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