[Ads-l] _Sleepy Eyes_

Tue Apr 24 00:05:47 UTC 2018

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

Chuck Todd looks rather pop-eyed, IMO, but YMMV.

On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 7:57 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Andy
> Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2018 3:41 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: _Sleepy Eyes_
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Andy Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _Sleepy Eyes_
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> > > 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
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
>
> a
>
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
> 608 261-5738 wk
>
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-----
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