Posted by Ted_MI on 9/1/05 7:34pm
Msg #63378

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

Hi All,

I was going to a signing this afternoon (I swear this happened - honest injun) and I am driving by a cemetery and I see a big, like three feet high, brown gravestone with "GOING" engraved on it. My first thought was "well gee if a close relative was buried close by maybe that gravestone would have "GONE" engraved on it."

Reply by Anonymous on 9/1/05 8:14pm
Msg #63382

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

I cant believe the racism in the post .... sick ...

Reply by OnTheGoInFla on 9/1/05 9:11pm
Msg #63389

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

What racism? Maybe I am blind but I don't see any?

Reply by Anonymous on 9/1/05 9:35pm
Msg #63390

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

Look up the term Injun .... it is a deragatory term for a native american ... completely unecessary if you ask me

Reply by BrendaTX on 9/1/05 9:39pm
Msg #63391

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

Unnecessary? Yes.

Intentionally racist? No.

I am sure that now that you have brought that to Ted's attention, he will never use it again. He is not a racist.

I think you wanted to make trouble more than stop racism. Typical anon poster.

Reply by PAW_Fl on 9/1/05 9:54pm
Msg #63392

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

Maybe a better understanding of the phrase "Honest Injun" is in order. It is NOT meant as a derogatory remark in any fashion.

So, where does it come from...

: : : I'm sure it's 'honest Injun', where 'injun' is a corruption of 'indian' and is meant to imply that a particular 'red indian', as Native Americans were called a couple of 100 years ago, was an honest one, ie 'honest' by white man's standards, which were very different from the long standing native ones and not necessarily of the best!

: : : And it's usually used as a rejoinder when one's truthfulness has been questioned, as in "Are you sure it wasn't you who broke the window?" "Honest injun!"...

From Eric Partridge, "A Dictionary of Catch Phrases American and British":

: honest Injun (occ. 'Indian'): 'Honour bright!', you can take my word for it: orig. early 1880s, US; in Brit. use by c. 1895, mostly owing to the popularity of Mark Twain's books; obsolete by mid C20.

I have a hunch, not empirically supported, that the phrase is based on an idea that American Indians were extremely truthful whereas white people were prone to lying (cf. "White man speak with forked tongue").

HONEST INJUN - "from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, has been traced back to 1851, but it is probably much older than that. Originally it was probably an expression of sarcastic derision - 'as honest as an Indian.' But later it came to mean about the same thing as the British 'honor bright' or the American 'scout's honor' - a pledge of truth and honesty." From "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).

Reply by TitleGalCA on 9/1/05 10:20pm
Msg #63394

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

Good grief...here I was reading and re-reading thinking there was something about the headstones.

Ted - FUNNY joke!!

Reply by Evangelina Arvizu on 9/2/05 12:54am
Msg #63431

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

Oh jeezus h crimineey...haven't we got enough to deal with everyday. Talk about taking things said WAY out of context. I am part India de las Mexica y de Yoemem, and I was not offended. C'ripes, what with language changing so rapidly, today, I thought for a second that it could've been injun for search engine...after all, wasn't the NSA driving, looking for a sign or something? See how ridiculously, hillariously funny things, events, and people can be???

Reply by newlysmomva on 9/2/05 8:11am
Msg #63452

Re: O. T. - On the lighter side ........

Part Indian here...not offended. Liked the joke!!

Reply by Charles_CA on 9/2/05 12:36pm
Msg #63503

Obviously some poeple have too much time on their hands

Wow. Talk about going out of your way looking to be offended.

Reply by Teasa Mahar on 9/2/05 2:40pm
Msg #63525

Re: Obviously some poeple have too much time on their hands

We have become so politically correct that it's boring.

Reply by TLR_KY on 9/2/05 3:38pm
Msg #63534

Re: Obviously some poeple have too much time on their hands

I love Paw_FL. He's the coolest. I too am part Indian and saw no prob with the reference. Had to look at the post twice though and got it the second time. LOL

Reply by PAW_Fl on 9/2/05 9:33pm
Msg #63582

Re: Obviously some poeple have too much time on their hands

Does this mean I have a fan club? Maybe I should charge a membership fee too. Nah, too much bookkeeping.

So, TLR, you can be the president. (And the vice president, and secretary, and treasurer, etc. because I don't think there will be too many joining in. ) But thanks for the vote of confidence and lifting my spirits.