The Slants

[Ronald Butters]

Here is a cite from a 1971 letter to the editor that suggests that a least one American used SLANT in a derogatory compound referring to a Viet Namese politician:

Us Should Demand Thieu Hold Two-man Viet Election .‎
Evening News - Sep 9, 1971
... recent events in South Vietnamese politics collectively to be the straw ... if these latest machinations .on the part of the slant-eyed little gangster ...

Of course, the writer may well have been a WWII vet. And this is 3 years after My Lai.

On Mar 9, 2012, at 7:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> 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
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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