[Ads-l] "slave"

[Jonathan Lighter]

My further opinion is, because Key was writing on board a British warship
while watching the very bombardment his poem was about, and since the vast
majority of British soldiers, sailors, sympathizers (many of whom fled to
Canada) and anti-American politicians were *not* black, that it is a
considerable stretch to insist that he was consciously gloating over the
deaths of freed slaves while employing a familiar oratorical phrase.

IMHO, mind you.

JL

On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 2:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I believe Snopes and some of the historians have dropped the ball on this.
>
> Have they any understanding, themselves, of what the song and its third
> stanza are about?
>
> Don't they know (Duhhh...Why should they?) that "hirelings and slaves" was
> a political idiom of the period meaning, essentially, "contemptible
> mercenaries and gutless lackeys."
>
> ECCO, ?1747: "Their Senators shall be Fools and Debauchees, Hirelings and
> Slaves."
>
> 1748: "And dare the Hireling slave recommend the suppressing of our JUST
> and LEGAL LIBERTY?"
>
> Etc.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 1:12 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This piece has been widely circulated over the last few days:
>>
>> https://theintercept.com/2016/08/28/colin-kaepernick-is-righ
>> ter-than-you-know-the-national-anthem-is-a-celebration-of-slavery/
>>
>> Snopes investigates:
>>
>> http://www.snopes.com/2016/08/29/star-spangled-banner-and-slavery/
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 12:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I stand corrected.
>> >
>> > I was too flabbergasted/dismayed/etc. to choose a more historically
>> precise
>> > term, something I'm pedantically inclined to do at all times.
>> >
>> > Google shows that Blake is not alone in his belief.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 11:57 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
>> >
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > > > On Aug 31, 2016, at 11:02 AM, Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>> > > >
>> > > > Sali,
>> > > >
>> > > > Do you consider 1814, when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written,
>> as
>> > > being during the colonial period of the US?  A very Anglo-philic
>> stance,
>> > > just what the British were still believing then?  :-)  I would say
>> there
>> > > were "enslaved African-Americans" in 1814.
>> > > >
>> > > > Joel
>> > >
>> > > Maybe it depends on whether to be an "X-American" you have to be an
>> > > American citizens.  As late as the Dred Scott decision (1850s?) it was
>> > > clear that legally slaves (or "enslaved persons") were not citizens,
>> and
>> > > thus perhaps on that basis were not (African-)Americans.  On the other
>> > > hand, they would have been considered American slaves, where
>> "American"
>> > is
>> > > more of a place name than nationality.  This is all pretty
>> hindsighty, of
>> > > course.
>> > >
>> > > LH
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > >      From: Salikoko S. Mufwene <s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU>
>> > > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > > > Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:51 AM
>> > > > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "slave"
>> > > >
>> > > > Just a minor correction, JL. From a historical perspective, there
>> were
>> > > > enslaved Africans, not enslaved African Americans during the
>> colonial
>> > > > history of the US or of the 13 English colonies. During that time
>> the
>> > > > class of Americans was very restricted, even some Europeans did not
>> > > > count as Americans.
>> > > >
>> > > > Sali.
>> > > >
>> > > > On 8/31/2016 7:06 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> > > >> Former tennis star James Blake has explained to CNN that "The
>> > > Star-Spangled
>> > > >> Banner" is "a song that advocates the killing of slaves."
>> > > >>
>> > > >> The "hireling and slave" in the song, of course, are not enslaved
>> > > >> African-Americans but redcoats, Hessian mercenaries, and cringing
>> > > Tories.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Proof? Read the lyrics.
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Of course, as D----d T---p has demonstrated, words don't mean much
>> > > anymore.
>> > > >>
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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."
>



-- 
"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