"uppity"

[Laurence Horn]

On Nov 25, 2011, at 8:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> The following went to Jim alone instead of to everyone. Why does this happen?:
>
>
>> From feminist writer Vicki Leon, via Amazon.com:
>>
>> _Uppity Women of Ancient Times_ (1995)
>>
>> _Uppity Women on Medieval Times_ (2007)
>>
>> _Uppity Women of the Renaissance_ (1999)
>>
>> _Uppity Women of the New World_ (2005)
>>
>> _Uppity Women of Shakespearean Times_  (2000)
>>
>> _Uppity Women of Ancient Greece_ (1989)
>>
>> There are similar titles by different writers.
>>
>> I assume that the women alluded to were feisty, not snobbish, and that
>> Leon is praising, not disparaging, them.
>>
>> JL

Ah, but qua *reclamation*.  The reclamation of "fag", "dyke", "nigger" (or if you insist, "nigga"), "bitch", et al. (here, "Right, we don't know our place--wanna make something of it?") don't prevent these same items from continued disparaging use by those not in the in-group.

LH
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 7:59 PM, James A. Landau
>> <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
>>>             <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
>>> Subject:      "uppity"
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> On Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:21:58 zone minus 0500  Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> writes:
>>>
>>>> Unless I missed it, nobody has commented on the recent flap over Rush Limbaugh's use of "uppity" to >describe Michelle Obama. Glenn Beck has since defended Limbaugh on the grounds that "uppity" is just a
>>>> synonym for "snobbish".
>>>
>>> When I saw the headline on Netscape News, my first thought was "I should hope so.  I'd hate to discover she's an Aunt Thomasina."
>>>
>>> One can claim "uppity" is a "racist" word, but I think not.  What happens is that "uppity" has such a specific meaning that it rarely occurs outside a race-relations context, which means that the text surrounding the word can easily be racist, but not the word itself.
>>>
>>> "Uppity" can most easily be defined by naming its antonym: "Uncle Tom/Aunt Thomasina".
>>>
>>> A brief excursion into the socio-political realm.  In the heyday of Segregation (note the capital "S"), Segregationists by-and-large were not so much black-haters as people desirious that "[blacks] know their place".  An "uppity [black]" was a black who objected to being "kept in his place".  Well, times change, and while racism unfortunately still exists, the old "stay in their place" paradigm no longer exists.  As a spectacular example, the supporters of Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court included a large number of white right-wing [1] bigots.  But "keeping Thomas in his place"?  Not hardly.
>>>
>>> [I would like to thank my friend Jackie Gomberg MD (not to be confused with my friend Jackie Goldberg MD) for suggests a useful shorthand phrase: "white-wingers".)
>>>
>>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>
>>> How did "Brie and chardonnay" morph into "Brie and chablis"?  Very simple.  The second one rhymes.
>>>
>>>   - Jim Landau
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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