_Splib_ redux (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mon Dec 13 16:13:45 UTC 2010

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

The only hit for "splib" in the online Time archives:

"Funky, jive, dawn, high, the Man, hawk, cool, hot, copped-out, cats,
caps, kicked, reefer, Johns, juke, ofay, goofed, wing, hip, dig, soul,
honkies, splib (spook as in Negro), grass and skag are just a few of the
words appearing in black poetry that often have multiple meanings
elusive to the white reader."

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,944004,00.html

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 10:03 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: _Splib_ redux
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _Splib_ redux
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
> -
>
> Wilson's flypaper memory does it again. HDAS could trace "splib" only
to
> 1966, with no indication that it was likely to be much older.
>
> Origin unknown, natch, but Herbert Simmons's 1962 novel, _Man Walking
on
> Eggshells_ (set in St. Louis) has the unique "splibbed" meaning
"stoned."
>
> In fact, Simmons also says, "They started calling him Splib because he
> stayed laid [i.e., high] all the time."  The novel, by an
African-American
> author, is set in St. Louis.
>
> I don't even try to figure these things out any more.
>
> JL
> On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 12:56 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      _Splib_ redux
> >
> >
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-=
> ------
> >
> > Back in the day, there was a brief discussion of _splib_, an old
slang
> > term that I recall from the late '40's on. The first time that I saw
> > in it print was in TIME, in an article having something to do with
> > black college students. The reporter asked a random black student
what
> > the meaning of _splib_ and was told by him that it stood for
"Society
> > for Protection & Liberation of Blacks" or some such bullshit, which
> > the reporter, knowing no better, included in his article as fact. A
> > lot of the bruz & cuz got a big laugh ought of this.
> >
> > After coming across in iTunes a side entitled, "Splib's Groove,"
from,
> > unfortunately, 1995, I thought, "WTF? Why not?"
> >
> > A quick look in GB gave
> >
> > Jet. Feb 9, !967. p.49
> >
> > Which word is most out of place here?
> > (a) _Splib_ (b) Blood (c) Grey (d) Spook (e) Black.
> >
> >
> > For the unhip, the word that is most out of place is _grey_ "white
person=
> ."
> >
> >
> > slang-dictionary.com has the following nonsense.
> >
> > splib
> >
> > Definition
> > noun American
> > an Afro-Caribbean person. A racist epithet heard since the 1980s, of
> > uncertain origin, although it is claimed unconvincingly to be a
blend
> > of spade and =91liberal=92. It is more likely to be a nonsense bebop
or
> > jive-talk coinage.
> >
> >
> > The UD, astoundingly much less racist than I've come to expect, has,
> > posted in '06:
> >
> > splib   43 up, 7 down
> > At North Texas State University, 1964, splib was the common word for
> > black African Americans used by the jazz crowd. Gray, or gray dude,
> > referred to whites on a similar level. These were in common usage
> > among many civil rights activists as well.
> >
> >
> > IME, _splib_ had died out in Saint Louis by the '60's, though _grey_
> > was still being used as late as 1962, the last time, for all
practical
> > purposes, that I was there while I was still young enough to be
> > interested in hitting the street with my potnaz, checking out all
the
> > former We-Reserve-The-Right-To-Refuse-Service-To-Anyone clubs that
had
> > changed their signage to read "Interracial."
> >
> > I didn't hear _splib_ used at all while I was in the military,
> > _hamburger_ "black" vs. _cheeseburger_ "white" being the preferred
> > neutral terms among us "Bimbos," as black GI's were called by the
> > local B-girl population. The "real," so to speak, indigenous
personnel
> > *very* occasionally used _Neger_, the stressed /e/ being so tense
that
> > it was extremely difficult for the untrained hamburger ear to
> > distinguish "Neger" [neg@] from "nigger" [nIg@].
> >
> > For some reason, the "real" Germans that I came across while boppin'
> > the stross or waiting in a Bahnhof always asked me, "Sind Sie
> > Afrikaner?" Given that there were tens of thousands of black GI's
> > serving in the United Staes Army-Europe, why would the Germans
> > immediately assume that any black man *not* in a USAREUR uniform was
> > an African?
> >
> > Back in the day, the semantic basis of the distinctions, ham- vs.
> > cheese- was glaringly obvious. Nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised to
> > discover that it needs explanation, even among blacks of military
age.
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > =96=96=96
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange
complaint t=
> o
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > =96Mark Twain
> >
> > Once that we recognize that we do not err out of laziness,
stupidity,
> > or evil intent, we can uncumber ourselves of the impossible burden
of
> > trying to be permanently right. We can take seriously the
proposition
> > that we could be in error, without necessarily deeming ourselves
> > idiotic or unworthy.
> > =96Kathryn Schulz
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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