The Slants

[Ronald Butters]

This one is actually NOT pejorative (the Ghurka warrior is viewed positively):

Holmes Alexander .Gurkha Pros Ideal For Vietnam.‎
Rome News-Tribune - Oct 9, 1967
He is the compact, slant-eyed, sturdy Gurkha from thus indepsndent, anti- communist nation ... They would make the Viet Cong rue the day they turned Red. ...

On Mar 9, 2012, at 10:36 AM, Ronald Butters wrote:

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

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