"epicanthal fold" not in OED

[Wilson Gray]

On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 1:09 PM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:
> Or does the OED mean to indicate persons with DOWN SYNDROME (formerly =
> known as MONGOLOIDISM)? If so, this would seem to erase most persons of =
> Chinese and Japanese descent from consideration as interested readers of =
> OED--or to view their eyes as some kind of genetic defect, which I am =
> sure that the OED does not intend--at least not since the very early =
> 20th century).
>


Back in the '60's, a Chinese friend, a native of Beijing, once asked
me why people with what was then called "_Down's_ syndrome" were also
referred to as "*Mongoloid* idiots." He was stunned by my explanation,
since it had not crossed his mind that that the faces of such people
could possibly be regarded as resembling the faces of members of the
"Mongoloid race."

Of course, it's the case that the faces of such people resemble the
_stereotype_ of the faces of members of the "Mongoloid race" and not
their actual faces, hence Wen-yi's confusion.

I could relate to his reaction. I was similarly surprised to discover
that, according to random textbooks of the day on physical
anthropology, the "Negroid race" was the only branch of perchildkind
which had body hair that could be felted, exactly as is the case with
the wool or wool-ish body hair of various animals.

Black barbers have been simply trashing what could have been a
valuable resource for the textile industry, as though it had no more
value than the cuttings of hair from members of the "Caucasoid race"!

As far as I know, this fact is *still* unknown amongst those most able
to benefit from it.

It's yet another example of the blatant abuse of the black man by the
white man. Why, it's almost as hurtful as the abuse of cattlemen by
sheepherders who fenced off the open range in the Old West! That abuse
has been documented in a myriad of horse-operas. Yet, no attempt has
ever been made to shine the light of truth on the steps taken by the
white-controlled wool industry - the direct descendant of those same
sheepherders of old - to keep the black barber down, in addition to
its efforts to render extinct the wolf, the badger, the puma, the
lynx, the bobcat, the fox, the coyote, and other so-called "vermin."

I wonder why that should be the case.


--
-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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