"Uncle Tomming"
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sun Aug 28 14:28:51 UTC 2011
"Tom," v. 3, seem to me far more likely to be from "tomcatting," regardless
of sex, than from "Uncle-Tomming," regardless of race.
JL
On Sun, Aug 28, 2011 at 4:14 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "Uncle Tomming"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [Uncle Tom, n. 1922 --> 1920 --> 1909? --> 1908?]
>
> Tom/Tomming and Uncle Tom/Uncle Tomming should be tracked separately,
> although, of course, it's not an easy task. Note, in particular, OED tom v.
>
> Etymology: < Tom n.1
> > 1. trans. To address familiarly as =E2=80=98Tom=E2=80=99. nonce-use.
> > 1900 S. J. Weyman Sophia xxiv, =E2=80=98You may Tom me, you don't
> al=
> ter it=E2=80=99,
> > he answered.
> >
>
>
> 2. intr. [ < Tom n.1 1f] To behave in an ingratiating and servile way to
> > someone of another (esp. white) race. Also to tom it (up) . U.S. slang.
> > 1963 L. Bennett in W. King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 161 They
> > say you are going to chicken out, Papa.=E2=80=A5 They're betting you'll =
> =E2=80=98Tom=E2=80=99.
> > 1972 M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha ii. 94 Virgil just smiled, Tomming
> > it up.
> > 1976 Public Opinion Q. XXXIX. 527 The respondent
> =E2=80=98accommodat=
> es=E2=80=99, or to
> > use the colloquial term, =E2=80=98toms=E2=80=99, in order to get through
> =
> the racial
> > interaction with minimal tension.
> >
>
>
> 3. intr. To practise prostitution, to behave promiscuously; also, to have
> > sexual intercourse in such a context. Also to tom (it) around . slang.
> > 1964 Z. Progl Woman of Underworld iii. 35 They were perfectly
> willin=
> g
> > to go =E2=80=98tomming=E2=80=99 on the streets to earn a few quid, but I
> =
> never could.
> > 1968 =E2=80=98J. Ross=E2=80=99 Diminished by Death i. 14 She's just
> =
> tomming around.
> > 1973 J. Rossiter Manipulators ix. 102 This woman.=E2=80=A5 Is she
> to=
> mming it
> > around with the local villains?
> > 1981 A. Sewart Close your Eyes & Sleep xviii. 181 What was she
> doing=
> ?
> > Tomming, to put it bluntly. She was having it off with a bloke.
> >
> > Derivatives
> >
> > =CB=88tomming n.
> > 1968 J. Lock Lady Policeman ii. 12 A prostitute was a =E2=80=98tom=
> =E2=80=99=E2=80=A5and to
> > practise prostitution was =E2=80=98tomming=E2=80=99.
> > 1973 Black World May 44 Afrikan People all over the world Conscious,
> > unconscious, struggling, sleeping, Resisting, tomming, killing the enemy.
> > 1981 =E2=80=98J. Ross=E2=80=99 Dark Blue & Dangerous ix. 55 His own
> =
> tomming around had
> > given him a charitable view of casual sex.
>
>
>
> Note that tom n.1 1f does reference "Uncle Tom", so the verb is linked to
> its origin, even though the overarching etymology note omits that little
> detail (v. 1. is of a different cloth and is irrelevant to the rest of the
> post). Now, for my money, v. 3. and the derivative "noun" tomming are both
> derived from v. 2 and not some hypothetical "Tom" that parallels the
> hypothetical "John". The timing certainly fits.
>
> Now, 1922 sounds awfully late for early "Uncle Tom" references, even for
> noun.
>
> Here's one earlier, but it doesn't seem quite right:
>
>
> http://goo.gl/bHE6M
> Current Literature. Volume 45 (6). December 1908
> Mr. Stringer's Arraignment of the "Canada Fakers". p. 644/2
>
> > Then, too, Mr. White speaks of a bloodhound being used in this man-hunt;
> > and "there are no bloodhounds," Mr. Stringer asserts, "in the country of
> > which Mr. White so movingly writes. They are not found there, and it
> woul=
> d
> > be as foolish to import them as it would be to bring in an army of Uncle
> =
> Toms
> > to gather cotton from the Moose River bottoms." Then Mr. White represents
> > the Ojibways and the Chippewas as engaged in deadly strife, which is
> just=
> as
> > reasonable, Mr. Stringer opines, as to speak of the conflicts of Canucks
> =
> and
> > Canadians, of New Yorkers and Gothamites; for the Ojibways and Chippewas
> =
> are
> > one people.
>
>
>
> Note that this is not quite the same slur, but rather a juxtaposition
> between "Uncle Toms" and "gather[ing] cotton" from Moose River bottoms that
> Mr. Stringer (the critic) finds incongruous. The issue here is inability to
> grow cotton at a Canadian location and "Uncle Toms" are thrown in for color
> (no pun intended).
>
> I thought a more extended passage might set the context:
>
> "We see the same tendency to dish up a goulash of dilettante details spiced
> > with sentiment when Sir Gilbert turns historical and has General Wolfe
> 'e=
> ye'
> > his men in the boats at the turn of the tide in the St. Lawrence (on the
> > night preceding Quebec's fall) when that night has already been
> described=
> as
> > pitch dark, and when it is plain that these men were so many, many
> hundre=
> d
> > feet away."
> > Mr. Stringer confesses that he approaches the blunders of Stewart Edward
> =
> White
> > with a feeling akin to trepidation, not, he explains, because Mr. White
> i=
> s
> > the master of a forceful and fluent style, but because "so august a
> > personage as the Washington enemy of the nature faker himself has placed
> =
> on
> > Mr. White the seal of his complete approval." Yet blunders there are, and
> > not a few. The very plot of "The Silent Places" is, in Mr. Stringer's
> > judgment, based upon a fallacy. This story describes the prolonged and
> > relentless pursuit of a defalcating Indian by two hired agents of the
> > Hudson's Bay Company; but "it is not and never was the custom of the
> > company," says Mr. Stringer, "to expend good money for the active
> pursuit=
> of
> > delinquents." The mere "posting," or black-listing, of any defalcator at
> =
> the
> > different trading places of the company has been all that was necessary
> t=
> o
> > bring him to book as a rule. Then, too, Mr. White speaks of a bloodhound
> > being used in this man-hunt; and "there are no bloodhounds," Mr. Stringer
> > asserts, "in the country of which Mr. White so movingly writes. They are
> > not found there, and it would be as foolish to import them as it would
> be=
> to
> > bring in an army of Uncle Toms to gather cotton from the Moose River
> > bottoms." Then Mr. White represents the Ojibways and the Chippewas as
> > engaged in deadly strife, which is just as reasonable, Mr. Stringer
> opine=
> s,
> > as to speak of the conflicts of Canucks and Canadians, of New Yorkers and
> > Gothamites; for the Ojibways and Chippewas are one people.
> > The same sort of blunders are discerned in Stewart Edward White's
> > "Conjurer's House," and are all attributed by Mr. Stringer to "the
> passio=
> n
> > to make the trails of the north either always picturesque or always
> tragi=
> c."
>
>
> There is a bunch of nice points here, starting with "dish[ing] up goulash
> o=
> f
> dilettante details"; "black-listing" as posting notices of "defalcators"
> (embezzlers?)--no OED listing suggests that anyone on the black-list ought
> to be caught but merely rendered unemployable; "Gothamites" matched up with
> "New Yorkers"--making of a nice post-dating citation; and the mention of
> "Canucks" that the OED, for some reason, finds "In U.S. usage, gen.
> derogatory" (clearly not even remotely the connotation here). All of these
> under one very tidy roof.
>
> However, the main one for citing it here--Uncle Toms--appears to fail. It
> i=
> s
> obvious that the reference here is to blacks, but there is no hint of the
> additional connotation of being subservient or servile. The only reason
> tha=
> t
> this reference is there is to point to the absurdity of blacks picking
> cotton at "Moose River bottoms"--it's not clear where the conflict lies,
> bu=
> t
> it is surely not in their being excessively subservient.
>
> The opposite is true of another 1908 Uncle Tom reference. This one is in
> Punch, but it identifies a proper name--fictitious, but referring to a
> specific person, just like its antecedent. But IMO the usage of this name
> i=
> s
> exactly matching the derogatory general use. I only submit the link because
> the entire text should be considered in this analysis:
>
> http://goo.gl/Byd49
>
> The particularly odd thing about this is that it's English, not US, but its
> origin appears to be in minstrel show versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Does
> this one deserve at least a bracketed treatment in the OED?
>
> The best certain antedating I can get right now is 1920.
>
> http://goo.gl/PG3Rp
> The Herald and Presbyter. A Presbyterian Family Paper. Volume
> 91(32). Cincinnati, OH: August 11, 1920
> New York Letter. By Rev. Clarence C. Reynolds. p. 6/3
>
> > "... The Uncle Tom Negro has got to go, and his place must be taken by
> th=
> e
> > new leader of the Negro race. That man will not be a white man with a
> bla=
> ck
> > heart, nor a black man with a white heart, but a black man with a black
> > heart."
>
>
>
> There is a transitional piece that may well be important in the history of
> "Uncle Tom".
>
> http://goo.gl/QAPG8
> The International Socialist Review. Volume 9(12). June 1909
> The Economic Aspects of the Negro Problem. VIII. The Negro Problem from the
> Negro's Point of View. By I. M. Robbins. pp. 985-7
>
> > Besides, Mrs. Stowe's types are the complex types produced by two hundred
> > years of slavery. It would have been extremely interesting to enter the
> > inner world of that infuriated negro, whom the negro dealer had caught in
> > the jungle of wildest Africa, and brought him over, chained in the dark
> a=
> nd
> > ill-smelling bunker of the ship, to the distant land, where he was sold
> t=
> o
> > work the rest of his life in the marshy rice fields, or the sun-baked
> cot=
> ton
> > plantations. It would have been highly instructive to follow up the
> > evolution of that wild beast into the mellow and faithful Uncle Tom of a
> > century later. But this psychologic problem never had the good fortune to
> > find its scientific investigator.
> > In the glorious days of slavery, that is during the first third of the
> la=
> st
> > century, the white south was firmly convinced that it was the destiny of
> =
> the
> > negro both, according to God's will, and the dictum of science, to be
> > nothing else than a faithful Uncle Tom. That the negro was satisfied with
> > his lot was the strongest article of faith--of the white man.
> > Such assertions may even be heard to-day, though perhaps not so
> frequentl=
> y
> > as forty years ago. The famous South Carolina Senator Tillman, perhaps
> on=
> e
> > of the strongest negro haters in the South, in theory at least, once
> > remarked that the main proof that they deserved the treatment accorded to
> > them was found just in this: that no other race would tolerate such
> > treatment.
>
> ...
> > If all through the period of slavery negroes energetically voiced their
> > protest against slavery not so much by words as by acts, they were no
> les=
> s
> > anxious, immediately after the emancipation, to express their conviction
> > that they were no lower, nor worse, than the white folks. Uncle Tom was
> n=
> ot
> > the ideal of those few negroes of that period who had ideals at all. It
> w=
> as
> > rather Toussaint L'Ouverture, that full-blooded negro, who succeeded in
> > creating a negro republic in Haiti.
>
>
> Although Stowe--and, indeed, her book--is mentioned, the use of "Uncle Tom"
> is more symbolic and representative than literary and specific.
>
> VS-)
>
> On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >
> > The OED has Uncle Tomming with a first citation in 1947.
> > Uncle Toming n. (also Uncle Tomming)
> > 1947 S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal x. 52 Why, you gold-digging,
> > uncle-tomming, old, black he-courtesan!
> >
> > Here is a relevant cite in 1933:
> >
> > Cite: 1933 March 18, The Pittsburgh Courier, Views and Reviews by
> > George S. Schuyler, Page 10, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (ProQuest)
> >
> > Negroes responsible for the ballyhoo about conditions being so good
> > down South that Negroes who escaped should return there, are merely
> > Uncle Tomming in the hope that it will please the white folks.
> >
> > There are many earlier instances of "Uncle Tomming" with multiple
> > overlapping senses. An "Uncle Tomming" troupe is a theatrical group
> > that performs "Uncle Tom's Cabin". "Uncle Tomming" also refers to
> > performing as part of such a troupe.
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 4:24 PM, Garson O'Toole
> > <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Arnold Zwicky wrote on his blog:
> > >> Green=E2=80=99s Dictionary of Slang (2010) has a 1954 cite
> > >> for the verb tom, in the relevant sense, and that dating
> > >> could probably be improved on by a systematic search.
> > >
> > > Here are two leads for the verb form "Uncle Tomming". These are
> > > unverified matches in Google Books. The first has a GB date of 1944,
> > > but the GB pointer really leads to seventh printing in 2009. The term
> > > "Uncle Tomming" might be in the 1944 edition, the 1962 edition, or
> > > later. (Maybe Green already checked these leads.)
> > >
> > > An American dilemma: the Negro problem and modern democracy - Page 774
> > > books.google.com
> > > Gunnar Myrdal, Sissela Bok - 1944 - 936 pages - Google eBook - Preview
> > > But the common Negroes do feel humiliated and frustrated. And they can
> > > afford to take it out on their leaders by defaming them for their
> > > "kowtowing," "pussy-footing," and "Uncle Tomming"; by calling them
> > > "handkerchief heads" and "hats ...
> > >
> > >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3D1S8XwCM-EYcC&q=3Dtomming#v=3Dsnippet=
> &
> > >
> > >
> > > Here is the same text in another book with multiple editions. The
> > > first has a GB date of 1956 and a WorldCat copyright date of 1948, but
> > > there were multiple editions so the date is uncertain. The term "Uncle
> > > Tomming" might be present in some 1948 edition, or a 1964 edition or
> > > later.
> > >
> > > The Negro in America
> > > books.google.com
> > > Arnold Marshall Rose, Gunnar Myrdal - 1956 - 324 pages - Snippet view
> > > And they can afford to take it out on their leaders by defaming them
> > > for their "kowtowing," "pussyfooting," and "Uncle Tomming"; by calling
> > > them "handkerchief heads" and "hats in hand," and particularly by
> > > suspecting them of being ...
> > >
> > >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DvTt2AAAAMAAJ&q=3DTomming#search_anch=
> or
> > >
> > > Worldcat has an entry that says:
> > > The Negro in America
> > > Author: Arnold Marshall Rose; Gunnar Myrdal
> > > Publisher: Boston : Beacon Press, 1956 [Copyright 1948]
> > >
> > > But another edition was published in 1964:
> > > 1. The Negro in America.
> > > With a foreword by Gunnar Myrdal.
> > > Published: New York, Harper & Row [1964]
> > >
> > >>
> > >> According to the late-great:
> > >>
> > >> "He [a black policeman, when in the company of a white partner] may
> > >> _tom out_ on yo' ass."
> > >> -Richard Pryor, ca. 1967, in person; 1971, on the album, Hope I Don't
> > >> Crap! (Laff Records)
> > >>
> > >> I find that sign to be more embarrassing than appalling.
> > >>
> > >> <sigh!>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> -Wilson
> >
>
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>
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