...
Love,
Money, and
Good work
is what a person needs.
The Dictionary is so funny.
They have little codes and abbreviations: "esp" is for "especially";
"usu." means "usually"
Why does "usu" have a . after it, and "esp" does not?
Another thing I may never know.
Walking out the door after work one cold night last week, someone behind me said the word "greaser." "Greasers." "Murmur, mumble, grumble greasers..."
Had the impression he was using that word as an epithet for our Hispanic co-workers.
Had additional impression that it may actually have been meant for me, though am not Hispanic -- maybe an experiment to see if I might
scold preach argue lobby
"at" him.
[Not even gettin' sucked in, babe! Not a chance! Not going down that road -- my car's out here warming up for a minute, and only road I'm going down is the one that leads to home...]
On the way into town, thought -- "he had the wrong word (can't these people even get their damn prejudices organized??)--when I think of the word "greaser" I think it's a guy -- probably a white guy, I don't know -- with slicked-back hair and a T-shirt with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in one of the sleeves. You know?
Like Fonzie, on "Happy Days."
They used the word that way in the movie "Shag" (so funny and charming, & such wonderful music !!) -- a girl says, "Oooh, he's a greaser."
The guy she's talking about is like the T-shirt cigarette guy I described above, NOT Hispanic.
AND -- the girl in the movie pronounces "greaser" with the "s" like a "z" which I thought was weird. I would tend to pronounce it the way the co-worker pronounced it -- with the "s" like the "s" in "savvy," or "Lisa."
(The girls in that movie are supposed to be living in South Carolina so wondered if the "greezer" pronunciation was some kind of Southern thing.)
-------------------
Instead -- get this -- the Dictionary wants us to pronounce it "gree'-zer" too! Like in the movie!
I was surprised. It only allowed that one pronunciation, no second option.
As for definitions, however, they gave me two.
"(1846) 1 : a native or inhabitant of Latin America; esp : MEXICAN -- usu. taken to be offensive
2 : an aggressive swaggering young white male usu. of working-class background"
So -- a "greaser" is BOTH --
Fonzie, AND
Che Guevara.
But only if you want to use that word, which we don't.
Hmm. An aggressive swaggering young white male.
Intriguing.
-30-
I love how you took that word and played with it. I had a brother in law who was quite a bit older than us and he was the only person who used the word 'greaser.' He used to be one (a swaggering, young white male) according to him.
ReplyDeleteI read the NYT articles you suggested and the comments. Wow. This thing is huge. I've not paid much attention to the wikileaks issue, mostly because I think it's more about saving face and embarrassment, but I could be wrong.
It certainly shows how vulnerable businesses can be and how immediate the internet makes everything.
Was there anything specific in those comments that caught your eye?
Yes, I'd pronounce it with an "s" and I was thinking "The Lord's of Flatbush" which I remembered as an early Sylvester Stallone movie -but didn't realise until just now, also featured Henry Winkler!
ReplyDelete