Is "tar baby" in "All in the Family"?

Neal Whitman nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET
Sat Aug 6 02:32:58 UTC 2011


Great find!

FWIW, we've been watching a few "All in the Family" reruns on DVD, and I've
heard Archie use the terms "coon", "black beauty" and I think one more. I
haven't (yet) heard him use "tar baby" (or, for that matter, "nigger").
However, this show would seem to be a promising place to find racially
derogatory uses of "tar baby" if it was at all common in the 1970s. Does
anyone who's seen more episodes than I have remember Archie Bunker saying
"tar baby"?

Neal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: "tar baby" in HDAS (UNCLASSIFIED)


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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: "tar baby" in HDAS (UNCLASSIFIED)
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> But the term did appear in the "Word Association" sketch between Richard
> Pryor and Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live from 1975.
>
> http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75ginterview.phtml
>
>
>>
>> The song "colored spade" from 60's rock musical "Hair" lists a bunch
> of
>> negative words for blacks.  "Tar baby" wasn't one of them.  The song
>> wasn't meant to be derogatory I'm sure.
>>
>>
>>
>
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