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Carpal Tunnel
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Googling for the etymology of paleface I found this fascinating site which may be the answer I proposed!

vé'ho'e -- Cheyenne; whiteman, trickster

http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language/vehoe.htm


#50347 12/22/01 10:52 PM
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Hi ya, Akatsukami. Welcome to the AWAD board. How's things in the Ninth Circle of Hell? Here, have a seat, a bourbon and a cigar.


#50348 12/23/01 02:59 PM
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Akatsukami - Welcome aboard and thanks for the clarification on gwailo.

I felt very much a gwailo when I couldn't remember whether it was a Mandarin or Cantonese word....scuttled back to the lazy person's assumption that the language is Chinese.

Can you help again please?

stales (just another frumpy old (post) boomer grouch!!)



#50349 12/23/01 07:19 PM
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Thanks for the greeting and the tip both, Sparteye .

stales, gwailo is Cantonese. The Mandarin equivalent, IIRC, would be gui3lao3.


#50350 12/25/01 02:34 AM
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Hyla! Belated congratulations on your recent addiction. As was said by one of your relatives prominent in beer commercials, "This Bud's for you!"


#50351 12/25/01 03:46 PM
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The word white-eyes was used by the Alabama Choctaws both descriptively and derisively depending on context.
Such as...
"The treaty of 1801 was broken in 1804, as the white-eyes count the years."
or...
"Let's go kill the White-eyes"

Milum.


#50352 12/26/01 02:03 PM
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The word white-eyes was used... both descriptively and derisively depending on context.

    "The treaty of 1801 was broken in 1804, as the white-eyes count the years."

    "Let's go kill the White-eyes"


I'm confused (like a pea in a pod). Which of these uses is descriptive and which derisive?


#50353 12/26/01 07:02 PM
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In answer to your remarks above...
Well it's a stretch but you have a picky point. But here's an example more suitable for a pea who is in a linear pod...

Let us say that there were three definitions for Faldage.

(1) faldage: The lovable you.
(2) faldage: the act of semantically dissecting words and phrases in order to arrive at a clear transfer of information between speaking/listening entities.
and...
(3) faldage: to nit-pick meanings to the extent of obfuscating meaning altogether.

Now let us use the word in a sentence.

Don't faldage my remarks, you cur, I challenge you; a duel at ten paces!

You see, Faldage, context does gives meaning.


#50354 12/26/01 08:30 PM
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Don't faldage my remarks, you cur

Does this make me a triple eponym?

http://notmuch.com/Speak/BBS/Odds-And-Ends/463x1.html

http://notmuch.com/Speak/BBS/Odds-And-Ends/816x3.html

All seriousness aside, I'm still not sure which is supposed to be which.

"The treaty of 1801 was broken in 1804, as the white-eyes count the years." could be taken as derisive in its implication of treachery (or perhaps irrationality in method of year counting) on the part of the treaty signers or it could be a simple description of one characteristic, totally unrelated to anything about the moral proclivities (or counting methods) of the party involved. In fact, looking back on that sentence, I don't see that the breaking of the treaty is ascribed to either of the parties, merely peculiarity in reckoning time.

"Let's go kill the White-eyes" could be taken as derisive because of the obvious antipathy of the speaker to the object of the proposed action or as descriptive of the object simply to ensure that the listener not mistakenly kill the wrong group of people.

What it would seem to me to come down to is that the negative connotation assigned to any linguistically neutral term for a foreigner is only in the attitude of the user of the term.


#50355 12/26/01 08:48 PM
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