Re: Conrad: white men


"David Hatunen" <dhatunen@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:if37bg$677$17@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 24 Dec 2010 18:21:09 -0330, Cheryl wrote:

David Hatunen wrote:
On Fri, 24 Dec 2010 07:36:10 -0330, Cheryl wrote:

On 2010-12-24 6:16 AM, Marius Hancu wrote:
On Dec 24, 4:42 am, Marius Hancu<marius.ha...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"white men": are we talking race here?

[...]

To the white men in the waterside business and to the captains
of
ships he was just Jim-nothing more. He had, of course, another
name,
but he was anxious that it should not be pronounced. His
incognito,
which had as many holes as a sieve, was not meant to hide a
personality but a fact.
Yes, it sounds like it means race, although as I expect you know
it
could also mean honest or honourable in older books.

As compared to non-white men. It's still racist.


Well, I'm no expert on the literature of the period, but I had the
impression the term got somewhat disconnected from the 'he's
white-skinned, so he's honest etc' idea before that meaning passed
out
of common usuage. It seemed to be used to distinguish one white
person
from a group of others rather than whites from non-whites.

But as I said, I'm no expert. I merely pointed the usage out as one
that
might be encountered in older books.

Even in my day, "that's mighty white of you" was still used as a
means of
praising your selflessness. Everyone knew what it meant.

I have to wonder how many posters in this group were around in
America
prior to the social revolution of the 1960s and have a true
understanding
of what things were really like.

Here's one, but "around" ? At any rate, most of us were sentient and
able to read about the integration of schools. That may be when much
education of the public about segregation, Jim Crow laws, etc took
place. Mobile as the country was after WWII, I think there were only
a few small islands of knowledge even then. We were all too busy
trying to get ahead to really discuss "foreign culture". (I was born
and raised in small-town Wisconsin, and our regional "center" didn't
get TV until '56. Most newspapers were local/regional, and even the
radio stations tended to discuss local issues.)


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Conrad: white men
    ... His incognito, ... could also mean honest or honourable in older books. ... the implied making fun of others imagined racism is a racism of ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Conrad: white men
    ... ships he was just Jim—nothing more. ... His incognito, ... could also mean honest or honourable in older books. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Conrad: white men
    ... ships he was just Jim—nothing more. ... His incognito, ... could also mean honest or honourable in older books. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Conrad: white men
    ... ships he was just Jim—nothing more. ... His incognito, ... Well, I'm no expert on the literature of the period, but I had the impression the term got somewhat disconnected from the 'he's white-skinned, so he's honest etc' idea before that meaning passed out of common usuage. ... I merely pointed the usage out as one that might be encountered in older books. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Merry Xmas, Logic Hounds!
    ... In Eastern Europe most didn't know what "honest" meant. ... "It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of ... Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read ... Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the ...
    (sci.logic)