[Lexicog] cotton-picking

[William J Poser]

I'm not sure that I see the point about "cotton-picking" being
racist. While, at least in the US, the people who picked cotton
were for a long time black slaves, as I understand it the phrase
has nothing to do with who did the work, it has to do with the
nature of the work. "cotton-picking" means "unpleasant and tediously
detailed" because (I am told - as a northerner I have no experience
of picking cotton) picking cotton involves pulling off each individual
tuft of cotton (you can't just knock them off as you can many kinds
of berries) and so is quite tedious and leads to repetitive motion
injuries. I have the vague memory that there is also something
scratchy on cotton plants.
--
Bill Poser, Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~wjposer/ billposer at alum.mit.edu


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease?
Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/RzSHvD/UOnJAA/79vVAA/HKE4lB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->


Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/