Mau-Mauing

[Wilson Gray]

Such a big deal that I have an apparently totally-false impression
that Wolfe used the term in print in the 'Sixties. Yet, I have found
no evidence in any source in support of this impression. Just shows to
go you that memory sometimes lies.

-Wilson


On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 9:21 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Mau-Mauing
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wolfe's essay was a big deal when it appeared and the phrase became a book
> title  shortly afterwards.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 7:48 AM, Ann Burlingham <ann at burlinghambooks.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ann Burlingham <ann at BURLINGHAMBOOKS.COM>
>> Subject:      Mau-Mauing
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Boy, did I have to look for this reference after reading the Time
>> piece "Mau Mauing the Flesh Eaters"
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Schuessler-t.html
>>
>> Finally got to the bottom of the wikipedia article for the presumed
>> explanation & reference,
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_Uprising
>>
>> "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, a 1970 essay by Tom Wolfe in which the
>> titular metaphor "Mau-Mauing" compares the impression of aggressive
>> race-based tactics used in the Mau-Mau Rebellion with the less violent
>> but equally instructive collision of the seminal black-radical
>> activist struggles of late-1960s New York City with politically naive
>> white-liberal donors."
>>
>> It strikes me as a bit obscure. 140,000 Google hits for "mau-mauing"
>> specifically, though. Huh.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> Platypus"
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-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

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