"fellow" = "A black man"; also "secesh' noun & adj. 1862; and "nub" 1728

[Wilson Gray]

On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 5:13 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> quoted:
> a nub on the second joynt of his Thumbs.

Those "nubs" were, perhaps, signs of polydactyly. A friend of mine
with what I'm assuming to be similar nubs on her little fingers - uh,
by "little fingers" I mean what white folk call "pinky fingers," not
that her fingers were smaller and/or cuter than expected - explained
it to me that way. I once was acquainted with a guy who had a whole
'nother little ("smaller than normal," in this instance) finger
growing out of his right thumb.

Polydactyly, like twins, both identical and fraternal/sororal, is more
common among the colored than among the white.

I agree that it could also mean "only nubs in place of his thumbs,"
whether by birth or by mutilation. But even a white fellow with no
thumbs would hardly be worth the effort of tracking him down.

--
-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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