A slow-spreading(?) slur: "_anti_-slant[-]eye"

[Wilson Gray]

>From 2004:

"yeah.. i think my homegirl said it best when she said she's
_anti-_slant eye (she's asian).

http://cakalusa.xanga.com/165004234/item/


When I was at the Army Language School, back in 1960, a barracksmate,
upon receiving orders shipping him out to Japan, remarked:

"I'd better start taking my _anti-_slant-eye pills!"

Back in mid-'50's StL, a few potnaz and I used "anti," pronounced "ann
tie" as a vague pejorative:

Don't invite *him*, man! He's too _anti_.

Until I heard my barracksmate speak, I hadn't heard that now-usual
pronunciation of "anti" in years. And "slant-eye" is as old as dirt.
But citable instances of "anti-slant-eye" are surprisingly rare and
recent and I haven't
*heard* it anywhere, except for that one time.

"Little-nose," another slur directed at Asians, I've heard only in Los
Angeles and I find no citable instances of it.

-Wilson

-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org