does anyone need another example of positive ANYMORE?

[Wilson Gray]

Good points, Benjamin. As for whether a voice is high-pitched, that's
usually a matter of opinion. And WRT to the sociolgy of the United
States, there has beeen more positive change than you can probably
imagine. A stunning example for those of us who were sentient in 1944
is the TV show whose current story line has a black man and a white
woman not only hugging and kissing but also trying to find a way to
get down to fucking. That some thing like this could occur was
literally unimaginable in 1944. Indeed, there was, at the time, a joke
among blacks to the effect that a _letter_ written by a black man had
been lynched because he happened to write the name of a white woman in
it. The punch line, in a letter from the high sheriff read, "Dear
nigger, we've just lynched your letter. Hurry home." We Texans used to
sing:

A slip of the lip
Will get your black ass whipped
Deep in the heart of Texas

A slip of the tongue
Will get you black ass hung
Deep in the heart of Texas

Etc.

You really don't have the slightest idea what it was like in the bad
old days, when, as the supreme Court once put it:

A black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect.

When I see that TV show, thanks to that old joke, I can't help but
picture in my mind white folks with torches and ropes lynching their
TV sets.

-Wilson

Everyone should be forced to read Howard Zinn's revisionist history of
this country

On Feb 15, 2008 3:19 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> 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 read that post three times. It didn't say that Tonto's name was
> derived from the tribe, but simply that the tribe had that name.
>
> -----
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> As for Tonto's name, the Tonto Basin was named for the Tonto Apaches,
> who are still so designated.  Their Apache name, according to Wikipedia,
> seems to mean "people with high-pitched voices,"  so maybe they can't
> win either way.
> -----
>
> I think the "high-pitched voices" part was more a joke than anything,
> but I don't think having high-pitched voices is necessarily bad. It
> seems like it could certainly be a good thing if singing is valued, for
> example, by the Tonto Apaches. Or maybe it's bad for the post-pubescent
> males because it makes them seem effeminate.
>
> I think it's well recognized that concepts of liberty and freedom have
> evolved and continue to evolve. I believe that of the viable candidates,
> they will continue to evolve most positively if Obama is elected. I
> personally have great expectations if he or Clinton is elected as there
> are many such issues that have been stalemated in Congress for years now.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> a cyberbreath for language life
> livinglanguages.wordpress.com
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
> > As for Tonto's name having been derived from the name of some obscure,
> > hitherto unknown Indian tribe and not from Spanish "tonto," was that
> > claim meant to be taken seriously? When I was around seven, I knew the
> > meaning of the Spanish word. Now that I'm around 71, when it no longer
> > matters, suddenly, a new, less-insulting derivation of Tonto's name
> > appears out of nowhere. Even should this new derivation turn out to to
> > exactly right, in 1944, no one knew and, even had anyone known, he
> > wouldn't have cared.
> >
> > Am I the only one here who knows that "land of the free" and "with
> > liberty and justice for all" are nothing but sick jokes and will still
> > be nothing but that, should either Hillary or Barack be elected with
> > 100% of the total vote?
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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

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