The Slants

[Jonathan Lighter]

I believe that "slant" was first mentioned in news reports commenting
on the My Lai Massacre.

JL

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 6:53 AM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ronald Butters <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      The Slants
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We have the band, and they are China-Town dance rock. I have the =
> tee-shirt.
>
> http://www.myspace.com/theslants
>
> They are all boys (I can call them boys because I am 50years older than =
> they are and worked for them).
>
> See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slants
>
> I will bring the ED poem to Simon Young's attention the next time I =
> write to him. Maybve he can set it to Chinese dance rock music.
>
> The poem sounds like practical advice that might originate in the =
> thought processes of many an expert witness. I'm just saying.
>
> I note that Wilson protests that "SLANT-EYED" is "old as dirt." That may =
> be, but it doesn't appear to be all that old as a putative racial/ethnic =
> slur. In any case, why would he think that the relative scarcity of =
> "anti-slant-eyed" worth reporting, except to demonstrate that "slant" =
> itself is an ethnic slur? I find only 5 Google hits for "anti- yellow =
> skinned"--so what?
>
> JL's comment that he found only second-hand attestations to actual usage =
> during the Viet Nam era is interesting. If there wasn't much actual =
> usage, that would further strengthen my argument that SLANT is of =
> negligible importance as a slur--and hasn't even been used that way =
> since the 1940s. Of course, one wonders why the sources that do indicate =
> a Viet Nam War usage were saying that it was. Surely someone somewhere =
> had heard it used disparagingly. Because there were so few of them, it =
> would not be surprising if there were very few quotes from Viet Namese =
> Americans in the 1970s saying that they found the term offensive.
>
> On Mar 8, 2012, at 2:05 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> > On Mar 8, 2012, at 1:36 PM, Ronald Butters wrote:
> >=20
> >>=20
> >> [Although I personally think it is unnecessary to make a disclaimer =
> about this in a list-serv comment, I hereby add that I recently wrote a =
> pro bono report for TTAB consideration in support of a group of Asian =
> musicians who were trying to register the name of their band, THE =
> SLANTS. The TTAB turned them down on the grounds that their name, if =
> used by a group of slant-eyed people as a term of self-reference, was =
> "derogatory"; presumably, if they had been a group of Scandianvian =
> descent who wanted to show their love for Emily Dickinson's poem, "There =
> is a certain slant of light =85" it would have been OK.
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
> > Actually, I think the putative band, especially if it's an all-female =
> group, would have been better advised to explain that their name was =
> derived from this poem of Dickinson's--
> >=20
> > Tell all the Truth but tell it slant
> >=20
> > Tell all the Truth but tell it slant---
> > Success in Cirrcuit lies
> > Too bright for our infirm Delight
> > The Truth's superb surprise
> > As Lightening to the Children eased
> > With explanation kind
> > The Truth must dazzle gradually
> > Or every man be blind---
> >=20
> >=20
> > --especially given that the notion of "telling it slant" has been =
> revived in recent decades to describe the nature of the transmission of =
> distaff wisdom within a patriarchal society. We're all set now, we just =
> need the band.=20
> >=20
> > LH=20
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>
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>



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