McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]

Tue Jan 19 15:31:26 UTC 2010

>> It was written by a whitie.

Exactly.

JL

On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 10:19 AM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It seems like this song is from a "darkie" singing to his fellow darkies.
>  It was written by a whitie.
>
> Official Song of the State of Florida
> The Swanee River (Old Folks at Home)
>
> Stephen Foster, 1851
>
> Way down upon the Swanee River,
> Far, far away
> That's where my heart is turning ever
> That's where the old folks stay
> All up and down the whole creation,
> Sadly I roam
> Still longing for the old plantation
> And for the old folks at home
>
> Chorus:
> All the world is sad and dreary everywhere I roam
> Oh darkies, how my heart grows weary
> Far from the old folks at home
>
> 2. All 'round the little farm I wandered,
> When I was young
> Then many happy days I squandered,
> Many the songs I sung
> When I was playing with my brother,
> Happy was I
> Oh, take me to my kind old mother,
> There let me live and die
> Chorus:
>
> 2. One little hut among the bushes,
> One that I love
> Still sadly to my mem'ry rushes,
> No matter where I rove
> When shall I see the bees a humming,
> All 'round the comb
> When shall I hear the banjo strumming,
> Down by my good old home
> Chorus:
>
>
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:20:13 -0800
> > From: mlee303 at YAHOO.COM
> > Subject: Re: McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
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> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
> > Subject: Re: McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > And WEB DuBois's 1903 book is entitled The Souls of Black Folk.
> > =A0
> > M argaret Lee
> >
> > ________________________________________
> >
> > --- On Tue, 1/19/10, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > I'm starting to recall that Malcolm X called for the use of _Black_ in
> his
> > autobiography in 1964, some years before Carmichael's _Black Power_.=A0
> It
> > didn't become media mainstream until after MLK's assassination.
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 9:19 PM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com>
> wrote=
> > :
> >
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> >> Sender:=A0 =A0 =A0=A0=A0American Dialect Society <
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:=A0 =A0 =A0=A0=A0Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:=A0 =A0 =A0 Re: McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> >>
> >> They should have told Dr King, who in his famous "I have a dream" speech
> >> said "Negro" 15 times, "Black" 4 times and "citizens of color" once.
> >>
> >> If race truly means nothing, we ought to turn to flavors; chocolate,
> >> vanilla, strawberry, almond and banana.=A0 Anything else is rocky road.
> >>
> >> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> >> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ----------------------------------------
> >>> Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:13:08 -0500
> >>> From: wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
> >>> Subject: Re: McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]
> >>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>>
> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >>> Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> >>> Subject: Re: McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]
> >>>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> >>>
> >>> One reason that "Negro" got discarded was the claim, publicized by
> >>> Carmichael and/or Brown but dating back to at least 1914, that
> "Nee-gro=
> > "
> >>> [often pronounced with contemptuous inflexion] is just a "polite form
> o=
> > f
> >>> 'nigger.'" The source was a belief that the "polite form" was used
> >>> cynically as a code-word in the presence of the victims who, of course,
> >>> could not "reasonably" object even if they caught on.
> >>>
> >>> The southern white pronunciation /nIgr@/, often deliberately
> equivocal,
> >>> didn't help.
> >>>
> >>> JL
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 7:55 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>> -----------------------
> >>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>>> Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
> >>>> Subject: Re: McWhorter on "Negro" [Was: on "Negro English"]
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> >>>>
> >>>> At 1/18/2010 12:20 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
> >>>>>When I was growing up in Virginia in the 1950's, the few blacks I had
> >>>>>conversations with, routinely used "colored".
> >>>>
> >>>> Was this because there "Negro" sounded to much like "Nigger"? So
> >>>> "colored" was the term of choice among the other possibilities?
> >>>>
> >>>> Joel
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>The local newspapers in all news stories involving blacks had the word
> >>>>>"negro" following the name. This practice ended sometime in the 60's I
> >>>>>believe.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>My great aunt and uncle (natives of KY, born in late 1800's) routinely
> >>>> used
> >>>>>"darky", and my wife's aunt, native of SW Georgia, born around 1890
> >>>>>routinely used the term even when in the presence of blacks. Other
> tha=
> > n
> >>>>>those examples, Stephen Foster was the only person I ever heard use
> th=
> > at
> >>>>>term.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Bill Palmer
> >>>>
> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >> truth."
> >>>
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