"critter"

[Joel S. Berson]

Worth more than a little, I think.  Googling one edition shows 4
instances of "critter".  From an 1852 edition, vol. 2, GBooks full view.

Topsy speaking of herself:  "I spects I's the wickedest critter in
the world."  [Surely this must have made the YBQ!  Or at least a
stage version.]  Page 50.

A master speaking of a slave: "Well, here's a pious dog ... Powerful
holy critter, he must be!"  Page 197.

Tom speaking of his master: "Ye poor miserable critter! ... there
an't no more ye can do! I forgive ye, with all my soul!"  Page 274.

Tom talking to George (another slave?) about (I believe) a master:
"O, don't---oh, ye mustn't! ... he's a poor mis'able critter! ... O,
if he only could repent, the Lord would forgive him now ..."  Page 281.

Use by both masters and slaves is interesting.  And I wonder if the
master's use can really be considered racial.

Joel

At 8/27/2011 12:33 PM, Andrea Morrow wrote:
>FWIW I am reading Uncle Tom's Cabin (Kindle edition) and "critter" is used
>extensively there as one of the milder references by the white characters to
>the African American characters.  Even the "good" people use that term.
>
>Andrea
>
>On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 12:26 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: "critter"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On 8/27/2011 10:50 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Arnold Zwicky<zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> > > Subject:      "critter"
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > A friend posted on Facebook a little while back about the Little Critter
> > and Little Monster books for kids, which, as it turned out, she had gotten
> > confused. The basic facts about the books:
> > >
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Critter :
> > >
> > > Little Critter is an anthropomorphic animal character created by Mercer
> > Mayer. According to the official website, his animal species is just a
> > Little Critter even though he, some friends, family and others like him
> > looked like hamster-guinea pig hybrids. [series of books starting in 1975]
> > >
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Monster :
> > >
> > > Little Monster is an anthropomorphic character created by Mercer Mayer.
> > He looks like a mix of a dinosaur and a dragon. [series of books
> starting in
> > 1977]
> > >
> > > She went on to say: "my feeling is that the way the word critter has been
> > used as a racial slur in the past makes it feel very wrong in
> this context."
> > (That would be "critter" used as a milder version of the slur "nigger".)
> > >
> > > This produced widespread puzzlement on the part of her readers. Racial
> > slur?
> > >
> > > At first she thought it might be a southernism (she's lived most of her
> > life below the Mason-Dixon Line), but I could find no evidence of this in
> > any of the relevant dictionaries (which had lots of interesting
> things about
> > the phonology, meanings, history, and geographical and social distribution
> > of the item). The most relevant finding was that "critter" can be used to
> > disparage specific human beings (by comparing them to beasts),
> but there was
> > no evidence of its being used to pick out particular social groups (blacks
> > or others).
> > >
> > > Other Southerners chimed in to say that they had never heard "critter"
> > used this way. (It's possible that the usage is restricted to a very small
> > group of people -- much like a "family word".)
> > >
> > > Has anyone here experienced this usage? Or even heard of it?
> > --
> >
> > Not I.
> >
> > If there was such a usage with wide currency, would the "Crispy
> > Critters" cereal name have been introduced twice (1960's, 1987 re Wiki)?
> >
> > I have myself encountered two slang [sub-]senses which I don't see in a
> > glance at the usual books: (1) "critter[s]" = "small child[ren]" [I
> > think maybe usually humorous or lightly disparaging, something like "rug
> > rat"]; (2) "the critters" = "the crabs" (i.e., crab-louse infestation).
> >
> > -- Doug Wilson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>Andrea Morrow
>Director of Writing Programs
>Stephen M. Ross School of Business
>The University of Michigan
>Room R3478
>Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1234
>aandrea at umich.edu
>734.763.9317
>
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