does anyone need another example of positive ANYMORE?

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu Feb 14 07:26:09 UTC 2008


Yes. Those were the bad old days.

-Wilson

On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 2:08 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
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>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>  Subject:      Re: does anyone need another example of positive ANYMORE?
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  I have heard this sort of joke. I always interpreted it more along the
>  lines of a person of an oppressed group finally having a way to get
>  even. Kind of a "hah-hah". I got YOU this time. And if it's Tonto, all
>  the better, for being called stupid. My interpretation is surely a
>  reinterpretation based on changing times. BB
>
>  Wilson Gray wrote:
>  >
>  > I heard the punchline ca.1944 as "What you mean, 'we,' white man?" And
>  > no mention was made of weapons. Of course, such jokes have many
>  > different versions. I heard it in Saint Louis from a white neighbor
>  > boy and I took its point to be that, when the deal goes down, white
>  > people can not trust the non-white and I didn't find it humorous at
>  > all.
>  >
>  > -Wilson
>  >
>  > On 2/14/08, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>  >
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>  >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  >>
>  >> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
>  >>
>  >> Subject:      Re: does anyone need another example of positive ANYMORE?
>  >>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>> BTW, I am indeed white. I've only been called paleface in Makah, though,
>  >>>
>  >>  >never in English. BB
>  >>
>  >>
>  >> The line "Whaddya mean 'we,' paleface?" is from a joke -- I thought I
>  >>  had mentioned it here before, but I am perhaps mistaken. It goes like
>  >>  this: The Lone Ranger and Tonto are holed up in a high crag, on the
>  >>  run from large numbers of highly irritated Indians who, perhaps, have
>  >>  wearied of being targets for LR's bullets. The look to the north:
>  >>  Indians. To the south: Indians. To the east: Indians. To the west:
>  >>  ...uh... yup, more Indians. LR turns to Tonto and says, "Well, Tonto,
>  >>  looks like we're surrounded." Tonto turns, reaches for his weapon,
>  >>  and says, "Whaddya mean 'we,' paleface?"
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>  James Harbeck, who is probably even paler than you (and occasionally
>  >>  beyond the pale). Even if he did grow up on and near an Indian
>  >>  reserve.
>  >>
>  >>
>
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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

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