"... sore eyed negroes ..."

[Dan Goncharoff]

A reminder of "the banality of evil". Or, as Slonim put it a decade
earlier, how banality breeds evil.

DanG

On 5/3/2010 12:42 PM, Paul Frank wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Paul Frank<paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "... sore eyed negroes ..."
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> Almost any page, chosen at random, of this book is mind-boggling. Take page 206:
>
> <http://tinyurl.com/3yzpsab>
>
> Paul
>
> Paul Frank
> Translator
> German, French, Chinese>  English
> Huémoz - Aigle - Neuchâtel, CH
> paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
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> On 3 May 2010 17:10, Dan Goncharoff<thegonch at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
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>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Dan Goncharoff<thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "... sore eyed negroes ..."
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>>
>> Sounds more serious than that:
>>
>> http://bit.ly/a3O4GG
>>
>> Sore Eyes.
>> Negroes are frequently troubled with sore eyes, and sometimes very
>> obstinate ones. If they do net threaten life, the/ sometimes deprive
>> them of the use of a precious organ, which, as a man has only two of
>> them, he would willingly preserve, considering its great utility, and
>> that a very possible chance might deprive him of the other, and so
>> consign him to darkness for the remainder of his life.
>> When a negro is attacked with sore eyes, if the inflammation be slight,
>> it will be proper to put him in a room, where there is neither fire nor
>> smoke, and but little light. Let his eyes be covered with a piece of
>> linen rag, bound round the forehead, btrt so as not to press tightly
>> upon it, and bathe the eyes frequently with warm water.
>> If the inflammation be very considerable, draw half a pint of blood from
>> the arm, and give one of the following purges...
>>
>> DanG
>>
>> On 5/3/2010 10:20 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
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>>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Joel S. Berson"<Berson at ATT.NET>
>>> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "... sore eyed negroes ..."
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>>>
>>> Surely reddened and achy, as one might expect of
>>> tired eyes? Â In George Thompson's context, they're perhaps from drinking:
>>>
>>> "a real spirit head soaker, six pence, with rot
>>> gut bitters in the morning, and sore eyed negroes at different prices."
>>>
>>> The OED says, s.v "sore, a1",
>>> "sore-eyed a., having sore eyes; also applied to
>>> sheath-billed pigeons, which have reddish caruncles round the eyes."
>>>
>>> And do I remember a stereotype that "Negroes" have red eyes?
>>>
>>> Joel
>>>
>>> At 5/3/2010 01:34 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> = "coloreds with conjunctivitis"?
>>>>
>>>> WTF *are* "sore eyes," anyway? Till a couple of minutes ago, when I
>>>> tried to google "sore eyes," I had been under the impression that
>>>> "sight for sore eyes" meant "sight that causes pain in one's eyes,"
>>>> used ironically or jokingly as a reverse compliment. Now, I've
>>>> discovered that it means, "sight so pleasant that even *sore* eyes
>>>> enjoy seeing it."
>>>>
>>>> But that still leaves unanswered the question, WTF are "sore eyes"?
>>>> Is there a literal meaning? I experience pain inside *only* my right
>>>> eyeball as the "shadow" of, or prelude to, a cluster headache.
>>>> Conjunctivitis makes my eyes very itchy, but not sore.
>>>>
>>>> -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
>>>>
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