"People of color" was; Re: Whom Hispanics call "Hispanic" -- or not

[Wilson Gray]

I'm familiar with the term, "trick bag," of course. It's as old as
"trick," as a slang term. They both date to at least the '60's as
slang and may be older, BTW, had you even been born in those days?
But, IME, "trick bag" was rare and non-standard in *Los Angeles* in
this particular use. I've never noticed, if the use is different
elsewhere. "Trick" : "trick _bag_" :: "mojo" : "mojo _hand_" is the
way that I've internalized it.

A trick bag has _tricks_ in it. A mojo hand has _mojo_ in it.

"The HP stopped me on the way to work. Since I had left my wallet on
my dresser, I didn't have my driver's license on me, man, I was in a
trick! [Los Angeles has it set up in such a way that, even if you're
merely going to pay the ticket and not fight it, you *still* have to
appear in court *in person*, where you will wait in line for three or
more hours with hundreds of other traffic scoff-laws, while paying
$5.00/hr - probably about $25.00+/hr in today's dollars - to park. You
can always walk, but, in L.A., you'll be walking a while!] But then
the dude let me slide, probably because I *keeps* a mojo hand under my
shirt."

In the PB fantasy novel, Conjure Wife, Fritz Leiber uses the simple
"hand" to describe a bag containing magical protective material worn
around the neck, i.e., a _mojo_ hand. I've tried checking the OED for
this meaning, but there are just too many meanings to go through.

IAC, in L.A., people used only "in a trick," where my grandfather
might say, "in a tight." But a "trick" could be much worse than a
"tight." Of course, my grandfather was an old man and a minister.
There weren't many tights that he was likely to have gotten into.

Anyway, "in a trick" seems fully natural to me, used by everyone. "In
a trick bag" is rare. But that, as the colored say, is just me.
Different strokes.

-Wilson
-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.
-----
-Mark Twain





On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 8:25 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "People of color" was; Re: Whom Hispanics call "Hispanic" --
> Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â or not
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 7:37 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Â  Â Jews, yes. But including them would put me in a trick, because of the
>
> "In a trick" is a new one to me. Google finds a lot of uses of "trick
> bag/box"; Urban Dictionary  (
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=3Dtrick%20bag) has 4 defs fo=
> r
> "trick bag". This one is the simplest:
>
> 2. Bad situation. Sticky situation. Getting yourself in a situation that is
> not good, complex, or can lead to bad things. Getting in a heap of trouble.
> ex: You took that gangsta's girlfriend? Boy, you in a trick bag now.
>
> #1 & #4 have a component of trickery and may describe the original sense:
>
> 1. A situation which can lead to a disastorous outcome, normally intitated
> by someone who dislikes you.
> ex: My ex girlfriend called my mom and told her a bunch of lies. She's
> trying to put me in a trick bag.
>
> 4. A scheme, manipulation, or situation that seemed legitimate, honest
> and/or innocent, at first. Usually referred to at time when it may or may
> not be too late to avoid the full consequences and/or embarrassment.
> ex: =E2=80=9CMy mortgage ended up a lot more expensive than they implied. T=
> he bank
> put me in a =E2=80=98trick bag=E2=80=99, but I had already moved my family =
> in.=E2=80=9D
>
> And #3 is even more specific:
>
> 3. (prison use) A situation where one prisoner attempts to frame, set up,
> blackmail, extort, or abuse another weaker inmate, usually through seemingl=
> y
> innocent acts or requests
> ex: Marcus got Jeff in a real trick bag, got him to carry those drugs and
> then informed on him.
>
> (Off-topic comments sent off-list.)
>
> --=20
> Mark Mandel
>
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>

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