use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks

[James Smith]

I've been greeted as "Sunshine" on occasion, and have always taken it as a friendly, complimentary term.  But, being white, I may have a different perspective.

James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


--- On Mon, 3/2/09, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:

> From: Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject: Re: use of "sunshine" as a racial slur against blacks
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Monday, March 2, 2009, 5:44 PM
> > Does anyone have any information as to the origins of
> or current usage of
> > "sunshine" being used in speech today in a
> derrogatory way as a racial slur
> > against blacks/African-Americans?
> -
>
> I've never heard of anything like that. In my
> experience it's a
> meaningless (at least to me) very informal salutation which
> could be
> directed by anyone to anyone else who's on sufficiently
> casual terms. I
> can't remember who's used this in my hearing but I
> don't think it's been
> correlated with race.
>
> My informant who studies at the local high school has a
> similar
> impression: a few people occasionally use this salutation,
> without any
> known meaning or evident restriction.
>
> Cassell's slang dictionary says "a general form of
> address".
>
> Even Urbandictionary doesn't show a racial-slur meaning
> for "sunshine"
> AFAIK.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org

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