"Poon tang" in the Philippines?

[Baker, John]

So in 1953, writers at two newspapers know what "poon tang" meant, but still could get away with printing the term in newspapers.  Note that a somewhat similar situation still prevailed in 1955, when the last issue of Mad Comics (which thereafter converted to magazine form to avoid the censorship of the Comics Code) included a reference to a man supposedly from "Poontang, O."  That surely would have been impossible if the word's meaning were widely known, especially with the high level of scrutiny of comic books at the time.  I posted this in 2007, http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0707C&L=ADS-L&P=R12869.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Douglas G. Wilson
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 7:07 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Poon tang" in the Philippines?

On 4/11/2012 11:43 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer<bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Poon tang" in the Philippines?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 10:57 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>> ----------
>> _Philadelphia [PA] Tribune_, 7 Feb. 1953: p. 12:
>> <<Okeh announces forthcoming Fletcher Peck waxing of "Moon Dog," backed
>> by "Poon Tang." If the people who censor record titles have ever been
>> GI's in the Philippines, they'll have to withdraw the latter title too.>>
>> ----------
>> _Afro-American_ [Baltimore MD], 14 Feb. 1953: p. 7:
>> <<But, Fletcher Peck's "Moon Dog" and "Poon Tang," satires on GI's in
>> the Philippines, might get the censors' hatchet.>>
>> ----------
>>
>> Of course there were plenty of GI's in the Philippines throughout most
>> of the 20th century. But it seems as though somebody thought the
>> expression "poon tang" had a particular connection to them.
>>
>> Anybody familiar with the music in question?
> Fletcher Peck may have written it, but The Treniers (aka The Trenier Twins)
> performed it. Wilson mentioned the song a few years ago:
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0702C&L=ADS-L&P=R3485
>
> Here it is on YouTube:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OiQwV-b6a4
--

Thanks.

I noted the Treniers song (tangentially) a few years back myself ...

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0407D&L=ADS-L&P=R9977&1=ADS-L&9=A&I=-3&J=on&d=No+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches&z=4

... and (assuming it's the same song) I guess the lyrics don't add much.

-- Doug Wilson

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