Anditsdeeptoo, yeah.
But cracker was left out of the word play between RP and Chevy Chase in that SNL skit ,wasn't it ?
I think RP went to peckerwood ,ofay,and redneck,before he even got to honkey .I love that skit .I had 8 track tape with the best of SNL, on it.Yes, an 8 track.My mother wanted to kill me the day she heard that playing in the car. Any info on the origin of ol'fay???I know redneck was a term for whites that did manual labor, that melanin problem you mentioned.
beckyakasiddlypi,
CRACKER-This term is said to have originated in England before the 16th century, refering to the lower class whose diet primarily consisted of "crackers", actually biscuits. Many of their descendants were sent to the Georgia penal colony, hence "Georgia crackers." White people had invented this name for themselves before the first slave was brought to America, although it is still in use today by mostly older blacks referring to whites. Was probably redefined in the days of American slavery by the slavemaster's "Crack" of the whip.
OFAY-Pig Latin for "foe" - opposite of "friend." Used to be popular with political types who were down with their "African Roots."
bingolong, thanks for that link ,some of those descriptions ,to put mindly are informative.It's amazing how some of those words are just basic desriptions in another language,and others are outright ill thought degrading racial slurs.Real funny shit ,just the same !!
And I thought Archie Bunker had a large ethnic vocabulary!!!
bingolong,
thanks for the info...as for the link, bloody hell! that's what i call an education. i never knew there were so many imaginative ways to offend
bcddjjsc690,
If my memory serves me correctly he DID use the word cracker. And it's OFAY by the way.
I Googled it:
The commonly seen etymology of ofay—Pig Latin for foe—is of less interest than the more likely story of this word's origins. The word, which is first recorded in the first quarter of the 20th century, must have been in use much longer if it is, as some scholars think, borrowed from an African source. Although this source has not been pinned down, the suggested possibilities are in themselves interesting. One would trace it to the Ibibio word afia, “white or light-colored.” Another would have it come from Yoruba ofe, a word that was said in order to protect oneself from danger. The term was then transferred to white people, regarded as a danger to Black people throughout the wretched days of slavery and beyond.
" And I tell ya' one other thang...
somebody stole my piece a' chicken!"
"And I hopes ya' choke on tha' goddamn bone!!"
Richard Pryor from Which Way is Up