RSS Feeds
Categories
- Barack Obama (31)
- Bob Barr (1)
- Bullshit (5)
- Campaign Finance (1)
- Celebrity Endorsements (3)
- Charlie Crist (1)
- Chuck Norris
- Duncan Hunter
- Elephant Droppings (2)
- Florida (1)
- Fred Thompson (1)
- Fried Squirrel (2)
- Gaffes (1)
- Gov. Pawlenty (2)
- Hillary Clinton (26)
- John Cox
- John Edwards (2)
- John McCain (34)
- Local Republicans (4)
- Media (14)
- Michigan (1)
- Mike Gravel (1)
- Mike Huckabee (12)
- Minneapolis
- Minnesota Caucus (6)
- Minnesota elections (1)
- Mitt Romney (14)
- National Republicans (17)
- New Hampshire (3)
- Primary (6)
- Race Relations (2)
- Ralph Nader
- Republican National Committee
- Republican National Convention (16)
- Ron Paul (9)
- Rudy Giuliani (8)
- Sam Brownback (2)
- Sen. Norm Coleman
- Sex (6)
- Shameless Whores (4)
- St. Paul (2)
- Tom Tancredo
- cPod (1)
Archives
Recent Entries
- RNC host committee recruits steroid user to lecture us about Minnesota Nice
- Big Bet Politics: what craps and poker say about McCain and Obama
- Why Mitt Romney will be John McCain's Running Mate
- Submarines! Bullet proof luxury boxes! The RNC is coming.
- Romney: Non-proliferation is a liberal issue
- Norm Coleman Isn't Funny, But He's Trying to Be
- The Ralph Nader of 2008?
- Is Minnesota Really a Battleground State?
- Two Minnesota contests make list of seats that might flip from Republican to Democrat
- Everybody hates John McCain
Links
« Previous Post | Main | Next Post »
Irony, thy name is Lou Dobbs
Filed under: Race Relations
This is absolutely hilarious. Lou Dobbs works himself into a lather over Condoleeza Rice's recent statement that slavery is America's "birth defect." He begins to rant about how it's ridiculous that any politician would say that we have a problem talking about race. And it is at precisely this moment that Dobbs catches himself in the middle of saying, "cotton-picking."
So is "cotton-picking" racist in its origin? Although the phrase was originally coined by Bugs Bunny, it does seem to derive from a racial epithet:
Believe it or not the adjective cotton-picking comes from Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes cartoons and is used as a general adjective of disapproval, similar to damned. From a 1952 cartoon:Get your cotton-pickin’ hooks offa me!
Bugs may not have been the first to use it, but he gets credit for first recorded use.
But the noun cottonpicker is older. It dates to around 1919 and refers to a contemptible person. From Joel Chandler Harris’s Dizzed:
What are these boys from the South? Are they cotton-pickers, corn-crackers, stump jumpers, ridge-runners or bog-leapers?
It has also served as a derogatory term for a black person since at least 1930. While cottonpicker has distinct racist overtones, the adjective cotton-picking does not carry them, instead being a reference to the unpleasant nature of the work.
(Source: Historical Dictionary of American Slang)
Posted by Kevin Hoffman at March 31, 2008 4:44 PM
« Elephant Droppings | Main | Think Hillary opposed NAFTA? Watch this video and think again. »
Comments
I think this is the funnest thing I've seen in a long time. I wish I could personally thank Lou Dobbs for showing why it's so hard for him to talk about race.
Posted by: I am not Star Jones at March 31, 2008 9:38 PM
wow. 'nuff said.
Posted by: Jen at March 31, 2008 10:56 PM
I like wool...
Posted by: Helm Matthews at April 1, 2008 8:30 AM
Somebody should start a petition to not only drop Dobbs from CNN(shame on CNN, by the way), but to deport that monster from the country! He is a sad excuse for a human being!
Posted by: Dimitre at April 1, 2008 10:11 AM
Don Imus was fired; I think Dobbs should also be fired. Calling the secretary of state a cotton picker is pretty harsh. Also the rest of his show sucks.
Posted by: Ryan at April 2, 2008 12:39 PM
Too bad those that invade this country don't STOP & turn around.
BTW, how many of you know that his wife is Hispanic AND she agrees w/ him on the illegal immigration issues AND that his in-laws live on his property in a separate house & support him also.
Tell you a little story: I have a Scottish CLAN (notice the C is NOT a K) badge. One day I was at the grocery store while wearing it. The cashier commented on it & asked if it meant something specific or if it was just a pin w/o any significance. WITHOUT thinking I said "It's Clan badge." Unfortunately, I had to re-phrase it b/c the cashier was black & I assured her it was the word Clan w/ a C NOT a K & was a badge stating one of my Scottish ancestral names & NOT associated w/ The Klan.
I use a variety of phrases in my speech (regardless of the race of the person I'm talking to) incl but NOT ltd to:
"Are you out of your cotton-pickin' mind?"
"What a maroon!" (From Looney Toons)
It's unfortunate that ppl have to more & more lately "mind their tongue" when they speak even if no offense was intended...like I'm waiting for the day that saying a term like "black sheep of the family" will be forbidden to say.
And another diff btwn Dobbs & Imus is Dobbs STOPPED himself whereas Imus did not.
Posted by: TMJ at April 2, 2008 2:18 PM
Post a comment
City Pages Insiders
- Local food, music and news blasts
- Free Stuff
