one-drop rule

Victor Steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Dec 3 21:02:52 UTC 2010


I've always been puzzled by "olive skinned" references. In a string of
USA Network (an NBC cable channel) promotions, I believe, it's Jeff
Glodblum who refers to himself as "an olive-skinned fellow". This is
about as descriptive in reference to skin tone (if one were inclined to
refer to it) as calling someone Brazilian or Cuban. In the end, it's all
irrelevant (except in police reports), but the terminology and the
lengths to which people go to extend it is baffling.

     VS-)

On 12/3/2010 3:19 PM, Darla Wells wrote:
> Wilson's right. If it were really from the past, my redneck family wouldn't
> be going to such lengths to try to figure out what to call my grandchild to
> make her "acceptable" to the racists in the family. My mother who's always
> been somewhere to the right of Hitler (if it ain't blond and blue eyed, it's
> questionable) finally settled on "olive skinned," to our great amusement.
> Some idiot's already called her the "n" word.
> ...

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