chink in the armor

[Benjamin Barrett]

Even if you're going for just nationality and ethnicity, you missed quite a few. See http://www.rsdb.org/races for a broad collection, including lots for white people ("me and you"?)

I also thought Lithuanians were called "Letties" or something like that. The RSDB has "Lit," but I can't find anything like "Letty" or "Litty."

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos

On Aug 2, 2013, at 6:30 AM, David A. Daniel <dad at POKERWIZ.COM> wrote:

> OK, at the risk of getting smacked down for all sorts of social offenses,
> here goes: Sometime between 20 and 40 years ago (best guess is mid-80's) I
> made up a joke (yes, totally made it up from scratch which means I am of
> even worse character than if I had simply heard it and passed it on) that
> goes thusly: In the days of old, at grand international jousting
> tournaments, when all the knights were riding around lancing each other, how
> could you tell which one was the Chinese knight? Of course, everyone now
> knows the answer: There's always a chink in his armor. Given my history with
> this joke, and given that it has always been met by groans and guffaws and
> instant recognition (that is, I have never, ever had a case of "huh?" from a
> native English speaker), I consider it highly unlikely that the commentator,
> in referring to Murdock's wife's divorce case, did not know exactly what he
> was saying and the implications thereof, but figured he was couching it in
> terms he could get away with.
> 
> Footnote: I think this was probably mid-80's because at that time I wrote a
> bunch of songs with my friend Gary (you can find the 1987 copyrights at the
> Library of Congress), one of which was called "Honky Talk," the chorus of
> which goes like this:
> 
> We got wops and frogs and polacks,
> We got slopes and gooks and chinks,
> We got niggers, spicks and beaners
> In greater quantities than you think.
> We got micks and krauts and limeys,
> We got kikes and ragheads too,
> And the only thing that we ain't got
> Is a name for me and you.
> 
> If I left anyone out let me know. Unfortunately, the recording of this has
> been lost to the mists of time. One of the other songs from the time,
> though, is on You Tube and can be seen here, if anyone is interested:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6vzk4nXVdY. It's called "Militant Smokers of
> America" - I'm the one in the hat.
> DAD
> 
> 
> 
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: chink in the armor
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> 
> "You people"?
> 
> My point is that this is an expression that is used precisely in this
> context (to the point of becoming cliche). So, the language must change
> in response to the ethnic identity of one of the subjects of the news
> story? Even though the two homophones are unrelated in origin? More to
> the point, without any actual evidence of malintent, is there any reason
> for the association to make a stink? It's really weak tea IMO.
> 
> We've had flare-ups over bogus etymology of "handicapped" and
> "niggardly", among others. I'm not in favor of that list growing.
> 
>     VS-)
> 
> 
> On 8/1/2013 11:51 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 1, 2013 at 3:54 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>> I see no reason to suspect any untoward intent.
>> You people never do. After all, since the use of the word, innocent or
>> not, never has any reference whatever to you,
>> 
>> I'm not going to bother to complete this.
>> 
>> --

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