does anyone need another example of positive ANYMORE?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Am not aware the Lone Ranger ever killed Indians.  Please provide details.

  JL

James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: James Harbeck
Subject: Re: does anyone need another example of positive ANYMORE?
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>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.

Hm. I took no such general point from it. To me it was specifically
about the characters in question. I've never idolized the Lone
Ranger; to me he's, if anything, more a figure of fun. In the
situation in question, the Indians are probably angry with him for
shooting a lot of them, which seems justifiable to me. I tend to
think of the punch line whenever someone wants to include me by
assumption in what I see as perhaps not the right side of the debate.
In other words, I'm identifying with Tonto. Enough with this Lone
Ranger dude! He can get his own ass out of this mess, I'm not
covering for him this time.

Thanks for the reminder, though, that not everyone sees these things
from the same perspective.

James Harbeck.

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