Expressions

[Tom Bisson <tbisson@doe.state.vt.us>]

First, thanks for a great list on the Celtics.

Second, thanks to all those who commented on the observation I made
regarding the expressions "gypped" and "kettle calling the pot black."
Third, accept my apologies for getting the list off track. (It's funny,
but there were three issues discussed in my original posting, two of
which were sports related and, I thought more interesting than the
"expression" comment, but no one has remarked on those other issues.)

Anyway, I have responded directly to some who have commented about the
expressions, but because of the volume of new responses, let me impose
on this list to add additional comments. I enjoy language nearly as much
as the Celtics and it appears that others on this list enjoy it too.
Again, sorry to those who are not interested and I promise that this is
my last posting on the topic.

I grew up and currently live in rural Vermont. I used the "kettle"
expression. When I was child growing up in Vermont, I was taught the
following rhyme by my parents and teachers (neither of whom were racist
to my knowledge)...

"Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, catch a nigger by the toe..."

I didn't even know what a nigger was so I certainly wasn't being racists
when I said it. But now I do know what that word means and how ugly it
is. Now I can't say that rhyme without being offensive. As a child,
nigger wasn't blatantly racist at all - as I said, we had never seen a
black person. In fact, I don't remember seeing a black person until I
was in junior high and I went to Montreal. The term nigger certainly was
part of our vocabulary well before any consciousness of race. However,
as we became more conscious of race and the term, we stopped saying it.
(my son learned the rhyme as "...catch a tiger by the toe." Both my wife
and I admit that we have to consciously not say nigger as it is the word
that most immediately emerges from childhood.)

The expression, "that's like the kettle calling the pot black" means
that someone is casting fault on another when they are guilty of the
same fault. What's the fault in this case? Being black. Does it mean
being black as in smokey from the fire or black as in nigger. You must
decide that for yourself and you may conclude that the
particular color in the phrase is unimportant. I tend to feel that the
color provides the subtext. If we choose another color, say blue, and
substitute the phrase, "that's like the ocean calling the sky blue," I'm
not sure it would be very meaningful. I would guess that listeners would
be confused and ask, are you talking about feeling blue as in sad? Or if
we said, "that's like the grasshopper calling the worm green," then
people would wonder if we were really talking about inexperience. So I
believe that the color black is significant. Perhaps one could say,
"that's like the kettle calling the pot smokey" but something gets lost
in that translation.

It used to be common, until about 10 or so years ago, that people would
use the phrase "I was Jew'd" or "He Jew'd me," or whatever. I remember
pointing out once that this comment was insulting to Jews, the response
was that I was crazy, that it had nothing to do with Jews (the speaker
had never made the connection) and if he didn't intend it as an ethnic
slur, then he could and should continue to use the term because it was
intent that was the most important. But it's funny how intent cannot be
ignored once consciouness of the connection is raised. Awareness lead to
intentional speech.  Anyway, I hear "Jew'd" far less often now.

I still hear Gyp'd quite frequently. When I mention the connection of
the phrase with Gypsy, people tend to be genuinely surprised and
frequently express something like "I never thought about it." Gypsies
are pretty much a forgotten ethnic group and, for many people, only
exist as some kind of cartoon image. I think the use of that phrase
contributes to that image and the eradication of this ethnic group.

Another term that I didn't mention before is "welshing." Such as "He
welshed on his bet" meaning that he reneged on a promise. I don't know
what the Welsh people did to deserve such a disparaging remark other
than to be not popular with the English.

Go Celtics!

 tom bisson