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Does anyone remember the expression "Mighty White of you"

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Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:19 PM
Original message
Does anyone remember the expression "Mighty White of you"
That used to PISS ME OFF to no end when I heard it. Good riddance.

Spike Lee had the best take of that expression in "She's Gotta Have It" btw...
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Midlodemocrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:21 PM
Response to Original message
1. Yup. I do. I didn't understand what it meant when I was a kid.
Of course, now I do.

Back in the 60s, I actually the 'Mighty White of You, Blackie' version. :puke:

Not from my folks, but some of our less progressive acquaintances.
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hvn_nbr_2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 01:24 PM
Response to Reply #1
40. Yeah, I didn't understand it either.
I grew up hearing it and even using it, without ever thinking about what the words actually meant. It was just an idiomatic expression, a string of words, that meant roughly, "That's a good thing to do," often with a snarky intonation. Then one day as I was just about to say it, it spun around in a different part of my brain or something, and it suddenly hit me what the words meant. There are a couple other expressions like that that I discarded in the same manner, but I don't recall right now what they were.
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trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:23 PM
Response to Original message
2. Absolutely.
It was quite commonly heard in my youth.
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KamaAina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:25 PM
Response to Original message
3. Mom even remembers "free, white and 21"
:wtf:
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 06:34 AM
Response to Reply #3
34. I remember that, so I'm probably as old as your mom.
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Dogtown Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #3
38. At the time
"free, white, male, and 21" would have been more appropriate, and we haven't come that far.

Baby.
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Iggo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 04:23 PM
Response to Reply #3
46. I heard it as "Free, white, and single."...(n/t)
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Iris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:27 PM
Response to Original message
4. What was Spike Lee's take?
I never saw "She's Gotta Have It" - should put in on my list.
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Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 07:17 PM
Response to Reply #4
19. Go see that movie
I can't even explain it.

She's Gotta Have It is one of Spike Lee's best.
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redqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:29 PM
Response to Original message
5. Remember it hell... I still fuckin hear it.
Ahhh... rural TX.
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suninvited Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 08:03 AM
Response to Reply #5
35. Very funny !
I live in rural Texas, too.

And someone said that to me yesterday. They did note the glare I gave them afterwards, however.
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nomorenomore08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:29 PM
Response to Original message
6. Funny how the connotation of behaving "whitely" seems to have changed, at least in popular culture.
I just thought of that "Simpsons" bit where Homer's watching a black comedian who's like, "Black people drive like this" (slouching, one hand on the wheel), and then, "White people drive like this" (sitting up straight, pressed against the wheel, looking nervous), and then you see Homer sitting on the couch laughing and saying, "We're so lame..."
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latebloomer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 08:04 PM
Response to Reply #6
23. Makes me think of the Richard Pryor bit comparing whites and blacksOn 1974's That Nigga's Crazy, he
Edited on Thu May-29-08 08:06 PM by latebloomer
"On 1974's That Nigga's Crazy, he repeatedly and hilariously observes that "white folks do things a lot different to niggas". "They eat quieter: 'Pass the potatoes - thank you, darling. Could I have a bit of that sauce? How are the kids coming along with their studies? Do you think we'll be having sexual intercourse tonight? We're not? Well, what the heck?' Black folks have more rhythm: 'OHeybitchwhe'thefood?' " There's no hatred there, just the observation that we're all the same, all different and all flawed."

www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Jan2001/ArticleOnRichardPryor.html


on edit- wish we had the function of editing the caption- screwed up there.
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graywarrior Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:30 PM
Response to Original message
7. I just watched a black & white movie that had the "free, white and 21" line in it.
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nomorenomore08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 05:35 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. Why 21? I thought the drinking age was 18 back then...
:P
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:39 PM
Response to Reply #8
10. Voting was 21. nt
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nomorenomore08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:56 PM
Response to Reply #10
16. Right! I forgot! So I guess they've had it ass-backwards in both those times and our times.
nt
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Crabby Appleton Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #8
17. In the '60s & '70s in Ohio, 18-20 year olds could drink 3.2% beer
(called low beer)not regular beer, wine or hard liquor. When I returned from Vietnam and was honorably discharged from the US Army, I was still 8 months too young to drink anything but 3.2. A lot of states had 21 as a drinking age then, then it went to 18 most places, then again back to 21.
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madinmaryland Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:37 PM
Response to Original message
9. Yeah. I even heard in CT
by a friend in teh 90's.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:42 PM
Response to Original message
11. My friend's mom says it real sarcastically sometimes.
Edited on Thu May-29-08 06:43 PM by LeftyMom
She's mostly native american though (and her kids are half japanese,) so I kinda doubt she means it in a racist way, so much as a intentionally wise-assed one.

I don't think I've ever heard anybody say it and mean it.
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Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 07:18 PM
Response to Reply #11
20. Irony
Gotta Love It

Go See "She's Gotta Have It"
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Reverend_Smitty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:43 PM
Response to Original message
12. I've honestly never heard that phrase in my life...
I can't imagine many people still say that kind of racist shit
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madinmaryland Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:47 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. Oh, its out there still.
There are so many of those little racist comments flying around out there, though they are quitely said among the said white population.
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:45 PM
Response to Original message
13. Actually, no.
I've only heard it recently, as an insult against conservatives.
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nomorenomore08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 07:10 PM
Response to Reply #13
18. That's the kind of thing I was getting at in post #6. Interesting how connotations change with time.
nt
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DeposeTheBoyKing Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 06:49 PM
Response to Original message
15. Yes, and I never liked hearing it
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NewJeffCT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 07:38 PM
Response to Original message
21. I only remember it from the Clint Eastwood movie where he walked into a black bar
and said that to somebody there.

But, in real life, I've never heard it outside of somebody saying it jokingly.
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nomorenomore08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-29-08 08:02 PM
Response to Reply #21
22. I can't wrap my head around people saying it any way BUT jokingly.
Although I guess it's no more nonsensical than the phrase "that's so gay," when you think about it.
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Lil Missy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 12:46 AM
Response to Original message
24. Yes, many years ago. And I always understood it to be a racist comment.
For some reason, I figured out what were unfair racist comments at a very young age, and did not repeat or care for them.

My grandfather, who had a major role in raising me, was extremely racist. This was back in the 60's. And I refuse to repeat the kind of things he said. Suffice it to say we had many interesting *discussions*, because I did not understand his comments or point of view.
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SeattleGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 12:55 AM
Response to Original message
25. My ex-husband used to say that sometimes.....
....and it was definitely meant as an insult.
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rebel with a cause Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 01:02 AM
Response to Original message
26. I remember it, didn't know what it meant,
Edited on Fri May-30-08 01:05 AM by rebel with a cause
but used it as an insult. Like someone thought they were better than you. I remember the "free, white, and 21" also. That was back int the fifties and sixties. There were several statements like that that slipped through my mother's defenses on what we should not say. Oh, when you said "good riddance" did you mean add "to bad rubbish". Another saying we used to insult (that didn't have any racial overtones that I know of). :shrug:

Edited because it has been so long, I got the one saying wrong.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 01:17 AM
Response to Original message
27. Yep. In my San Jose days. No one got off.
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krispos42 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 01:41 AM
Response to Original message
28. Um...
What does it mean? I've never heard of it before.

:blush:
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porcelain_doll Donating Member (124 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 02:25 AM
Response to Original message
29. Lol.
I remember people saying that. Sounded dumb.
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lligrd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 03:05 AM
Response to Original message
30. I Remember It - Meant Uppity Or "Elitist"
And was used as a sarcastic put down. Not really a racist term, more like the person it was used against was acting like a racist. Something along the line of: "Can you give me a ride?" "Hell no, get your own car." "Thanks Bud, mighty white of you."
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harmonicon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 04:14 AM
Response to Original message
31. I've never even heard it
and I can't really imagine what it would mean.
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khashka Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 04:19 AM
Response to Original message
32. I still use it
When I'm being sarcastic. Also "What do you mean "we", white man?" Sorry if that offends anybody. But I say it to my non-white friends, too, and most of 'em find it funny. I don't have a rascist bone in my body (my parents made sure of that., even though they are both racists.)

Khash.
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av8rdave Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 06:02 AM
Response to Original message
33. My brother used to say it all the time
Thankfully, he's grown up and learned a lot since those days.
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DS1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 09:09 AM
Response to Original message
36. Yep, but I didn't hear it until I was in the service
I grew up mostly in New Jersey.
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BarenakedLady Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 09:13 AM
Response to Original message
37. Yes
I haven't heard it used in a couple of years. My BIL says shit like that.
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billyoc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
39. I heard it not 2 hours ago, sad to say.
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Book Lover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 01:35 PM
Response to Original message
41. Um, yes
By a white woman who had married a black man; she would say it about people she thought were being assholes. She told me she heard it from her husband's relatives. Never said it myself, but in the context I know of it, it's not exactly racist.
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LeftinOH Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 02:14 PM
Response to Original message
42. Never heard it until this very moment....n/t
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Throd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 02:31 PM
Response to Original message
43. Is it denigratining to whites or to blacks? I'm confused.
I have heard that phrase a few times when I was younger and didn't understand it. Either way, it sounds boorish.
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Iggo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 04:21 PM
Response to Reply #43
45. When I was a kid in the 60's and 70's...
...it was denigrating to blacks.

I understood it to mean, "Thank you for doing somehting you didn't have to do, and wouldn't have done if you weren't a white man."
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Throd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #45
48. Thank you.
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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 02:33 PM
Response to Original message
44. I use it at home. nt.
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Schema Thing Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 04:52 PM
Response to Original message
47. yes. or no? I don't remember if I've ever heard it when the person
using it wasn't just trying to be funny or sarcastic.

I'm sure I have though, having grown up in Texas.
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