[Ads-l] _Sleepy Eyes_

Mon Apr 23 23:57:33 UTC 2018

Coincidentally (or not), one week ago Haaretz's publisher removed a tweet after using the expression, "swinging from trees," in response to a critic.  Not having read the article and not knowing what side they came out on, I can only presume that they were either trying to deflect critics by pointing out someone who was even worse, or were being unrepentent apologists for someone who comitted a similar sin.

But of course, as was the case with "chain migration," the best way to determine whether an otherwise neutral expression is a slur or not is to determine whether you generally agree with the speaker or not - if so, it's OK, if not, it's definitely a slur.

And if you have to speak German and have lived during the '40s to understand whether an expression is a slur or not, odds are that it is definitely a slur.

In a few minutes of searching old newspapers, I found no evidence that people are believed to have sleepy eyes.  I learned that Robert Mitchum was famous for having sleepy eyes and that a Pakistani man who held a Rabbi hostage in 2008 or so was described as having sleepy eyes.  But perhaps that description was only meant as an insult (an extremely subtle insult) to the presumably anti-semitic, Pakistani kidnapper who (presumably) would be aghast at being accused of having Jewish features if he were of the opinion that Jewish people have sleepy eyes.

It couldn't possibly be because Chuck Todd has sleepy eyes?  Nah!  That would be crazy talk.

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Sent: Monday, April 23, 2018 3:41 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: _Sleepy Eyes_

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Subject:      Re: _Sleepy Eyes_
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> > https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-is-trump-s-
sleepy-eyes-nickname-for-chuck-todd-anti-semitic-1.6026628

> like so many things these days, apparently behind a paywall.

Drat! I just googled "sleepy eyes" and that link came up
Is 'Sleepy Eyes' anti-Semitic? Trump's nickname for 'Meet the Press ...
<https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-is-trump-s-sleepy-eyes-nickname-f=
or-chuck-todd-anti-semitic-1.6026628>
https://www.haaretz.com =E2=80=BA U.S. News

4 hours ago - It is a distressing sign of the times that this is a question
even worth dwelling on. But on Sunday, shortly after Trump again denigrated
the host of NBC's =E2=80=9CMeet the Press,=E2=80=9D Chuck Todd, with his de=
signated
nickname =E2=80=9C*Sleepy Eyes*,=E2=80=9D angry charges of hate speech bega=
n to fly across
social media =E2=80=93 even though ...

but I see they embedded tracking info in the link, so I had to reject
signing up for a $1/mo sub I was able to read the article. You could try
just googling the phrase and see if it works; it's an interesting story in
that he's been calling Todd that since 2011(?) and just now it's become
a(nother) sign of his racism/use of racist dog-whistle terms.  Apparently
not a "true" Nazi slight but a neo-Nazi take on a list of "ways to
recognize a Jew" phrases that some sites now list.

"The only direct =E2=80=9Csleepy eyes=E2=80=9D reference is on the racist w=
ebsite =E2=80=9CGentile
Nation.=E2=80=9D This offers instructions on =E2=80=9CHow to recognize and =
identify a Jew=E2=80=9D
<https://www.gentilenation.com/uploads/3/1/0/2/31022531/how_to_recognize_an=
d_identify_a_jew_-_part_1.pdf>
through physical features, and bearing the creative byline =E2=80=9CJohn Do=
e Goy.=E2=80=9D

There is also a mention of =E2=80=9Csleepy eyes=E2=80=9D on an anti-Semitic=
 forum called
Stormfront, which claims to be for the =E2=80=9Cembattled white minority.=
=E2=80=9D

But searches in both English and German fail to uncover hard proof that
would back up the numerous assertions on Twitter that =E2=80=9Csleepy eyes=
=E2=80=9D was
common in Nazi propaganda as one of the criteria included in Nazi
instructions for the German secret police to identify Jews, and the
accompanying partisan clamor.
The closest reference is a description of Jewish eyes by a Nazi-trained
child contained in a story in an anti-Semitic children=E2=80=99s book publi=
shed by
Julius Streicher
<http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/story3.htm>, the
founder of Nazi newspaper Der St=C3=BCrmer
=E2=80=9CThe eyelids are mostly thicker and more fleshy than ours. The Jewi=
sh look
is wary and piercing. One can tell from his eyes that he is a deceitful
person,=E2=80=9D it states.

One left-wing blog outlined three possible explanations
<https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/22/1759169/-Knowingly-or-not-Trump-s=
-Attacked-Chuck-Todd-with-Sleepy-Eyes-an-Anti-Semitic-slur>

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/22/1759169/-Knowingly-or-not-Trump-s-=
Attacked-Chuck-Todd-with-Sleepy-Eyes-an-Anti-Semitic-slur

for the =E2=80=9CSleepy Eyes=E2=80=9D nickname:

=E2=80=9C1. It=E2=80=99s a complete coincidence

2. Trump used it knowingly (because there are =E2=80=9Cgood people on both =
sides=E2=80=9D).

3. Trump unknowingly integrated it into his vocabulary from e.g., his
father, his son, [Steve] Bannon, [Sebastian] Gorka or other anti-Semites he
hung out with.=E2=80=9D
As in many recent partisan Twitter wars, some of the most impassioned
arguments come from highly dubious accounts =E2=80=93 leaving one to wonder=
 who
benefits from creating bots that argue over Trump and anti-Semitism.

On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 5:14 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
wrote:

> > On Apr 23, 2018, at 2:19 PM, Andy Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > Nice overview of whether it's an actual anti-Semitic slur or just more
> > schoolyard stupidity, er, humor from the POTUS
> >
> > https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-is-trump-s-
> sleepy-eyes-nickname-for-chuck-todd-anti-semitic-1.6026628
>
> like so many things these days, apparently behind a paywall.
>
> arnold
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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