Subject:
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Re: WTB Train Parts
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 2 Aug 1999 02:18:50 GMT
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Reply-To:
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cjc@STOPSPAMnewsguy.com
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Viewed:
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464 times
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Mike Poindexter <lego@poindexter.cc> wrote:
> When one is generosity is described as "being mighty white," it does not mean
> that non whites are less generous. It means that they are giving something to
> somebody that is not theirs to begin with. When you said I could have all the
> xyz pieces (I forgot what they were), they were not yours to give in the first
> place. To say that I can have them is to give me something that isn't yours.
> That is what it is to be "white." This probably comes from the history of the
> proliferation of the "white man" into other Native American territories
> and "giving" the Indians reservations of land that was theirs to begin with.
>
> I just asked my wife what it meant (she is from Tennessee- I am from
> California). Her interpretation is that it is a racial statement. I think
> that the true and original meaning would be mine. However, over time, it has
> come to be a racial insult. That would most likely appear in the South, as
> there is more racial tension there.
I was born and grew for a while in California and grew up to adulthood
in Tennessee. I've heard people say "mighty white of you" in both
ways you describe.
Any kind of attempt to assign a meaning to a phrase like that is
doomed without context, but of the times *I've* heard it IRL the
meaning has obviously been of the sarcastic "gee, thanks a lot for
giving me X" when X is either something the giver didn't have to give
or had no right to give, or possibly when X was something of no value
to the giver or the receiver.
Don't know that I've ever heard it used IRL in a way that would imply
anything other than scorn for the person being called "mighty white".
--
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: WTB Train Parts
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| (...) <snip> (...) Just noticed what might appear to be a contradiction here. Not really, if memory serves. The few times I have heard "might white" mean something that could be interpreted as racist towards non-whites, it was also clearly meant as (...) (25 years ago, 2-Aug-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: WTB Train Parts
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| Larry, I think this may be a misunderstanding based on differences in meanings of phrases. Either one of us doesn't know the true definition or the definition has changed in different locales. When one is generosity is described as "being mighty (...) (25 years ago, 1-Aug-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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