[Ads-l] Antedating of "Jungle Bunny" (Racist Slur)

[Jonathan Lighter]

>From Newspapers.com :

I

[1928 _Hollywood Daily Citizen_ (Apr. 6) 15: "How a Jungle Bunny Overcame a
Herd of Elephants" is an amusing story in the April issue.]

[1940 _Lansing [Mich.] State Journal_ (Nov. 29) 7: HER FAVORITE
SLIPPERS...Jungle Bunnies 79c  Soft, snuggly shearing, double leather
soles].

[1946 _Sun-Journal_ (Lewiston, Me.) (Dec. 9)  7: SLIPPERS For Her....
JUNGLE BUNNIES Sheepskin lined, blue or pink, $1.59. ]

[The slippers have rabbit faces on the toes.]



1941 _Star-Tribune_ (Minneapolis, Minn.) (Mar. 2) XIII 11: Where the jungle
bunnies spit on the sidewalks.

1944 _Hilo [Hi.] Tribune-Herald_ (Feb. 19) 3: While a "jungle bunny" swayed
her hips in savage abandon.

1945 _Charlotte [N.C.] Observer_ (Nov. 25)  III 15: Starting with some
jungle-bunny shaking a gourd and beating his abdomen in one-two time.


All from Internet Archive:

1949 _Blueprint_ (Belmont High School, Belmont, Mass.) 33: "Jungle Bunny."

1950 _Americn Kennel Club Stud Book Register_ (Jan.) 81: SPANIELS (COCKER)
... JUNGLE BUNNY...Black. July 10, 1948.

 1952 _South Side Times_ (South Side High School, Ft. Wayne, Ind.) (Dec.
18, 1952)  8: Merry Christmas to all the little jungle-bunnies - From momma
jungle-bunny.

III
And another sense entirely:

1948 _Denver Post_  (Mar. 29) 7 [GenealogyBank]: The "jungle bunny"...is a
professional hobo, Denver's railroad dicks say.


JL

On Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 10:32 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> jungle bunny (OED 1966, Green 1956)
>
> 1954 Journal of Educational Sociology Oct. 72 (JSTOR)
>
> The children ... openly joked about Negroes in imitation of the adults
> there .  They called Negroes "jungle bunny," "charcoal" and other equally
> uncomplimentary names.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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