Racial epithet makes news

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jul 7, 2010, at 9:08 AM, Robin Hamilton wrote:

> I first encountered the work by Agatha Christie when I saw it dramatised and
> acted by the Citizens' Theatre Company in Glasgow in the early sixties.  At
> that point, the title had been changed from _Ten Little Niggers_ to _Ten
> Little Indians_, so I suppose it would be fair to say that then, in the
> sixties in the UK, 10 Niggers was deemed offensive but 10 Indians wasn't
> (yet).  Later, the further change was made to _And Then There Were None_.
>
> (The ending of the play was also ameliorated for the boards -- in the novel,
> all ten protagonists are Bad People and all die; in the play, the Male Lead
> and the Female Lead turn out to be Innocent, and so survive.  Go figure.)

and in the very enjoyable movie made by René Clair in 1945 (which generally follows the play rather than the novel).

arnold

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