Date:  Fri, 10 Nov 1995 14:30:05 -0500

From:  "Joan C. Cook" <cookj[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GUSUN.ACC.GEORGETOWN.EDU>

Subject: Re: Political Blunder



On Fri, 10 Nov 1995, BRIAN E MULLINS wrote:



> Being from

> Detroit and then moving to Kentucky I have heard numerous racial slurs

> but this one is one I never heard. Is there such a slur? What does it

> mean? The only guess I have is one that once owned numerous slaves was

> "nigger rich."



Yes, it's a racial slur, but not about slaveowning. If you're used to

having lots of money, and you find $5 on the sidewalk, it's no big deal;

but if you win the lottery, you're rich. If you're used to getting by on

next to nothing, and you find $5 on the sidewalk, you suddenly *feel* rich.



How, in the context, Sen. Ford could've misheard "near rich" beats me;

[s] doesn't transmit well over phone lines, but [g] does, doesn't it?



--Joan



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Joan C. Cook                       Imagination is

Department of Linguistics                more important

Georgetown University                  than knowledge.

Washington, D.C., USA

cookj[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]gusun.georgetown.edu              --Albert Einstein

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