Think Progress and Crooks and Liars both note White House Press Secretary Tony Snow’s use of the term ‘Tar-Baby” at a press conference yesterday.
CBS REPORTER: Why not declassify [the NSA’s call records database]? I mean, the President did talk about the surveillance program a day after the New York Times broke that story. This would seem to affect far more people and it did sound like the President was confirming that story today when he was answering questions.
SNOW: If you go back and look through what he said, there was a reference of foreign to domestic calls. I am not going to stand up here and presume to declassify any kind of program. That is a decision the President has to make. I can’t confirm or deny it. The President was not confirming or denying. Again, I would take you back to the USA Today story to give you a little context. Look at the poll that appeared the following day […] something like 65% of the public was not troubled by it. Having said that, I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program… the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm or deny.
John Amato even links to three stories (1, 2, 3) that, he says, show people have been fired for using the term. I read those three stories, and no one gets fired…
That’s where Amato and TP lost me. Snow’s use of the term, while open to debate about it’s suitability for the occasion, is in keeping with the established definition of the term, and in character with Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus stories.
Is the term used as a derogatory term for black people? Occasionally, yes. Is more commonly used otherwise? Absolutely, as Kim Pearson’s examination details. In fact Toni Morrison has a Nobel prize winning novel tittled Tar Baby
, which was a modern take on the fable.
The only instance in my life I can recall hearing “tar-baby” spoken in public as an insult was in the Saturday Night Live “Job Interview” skit featuring Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase trading racist terms as part of a word association game gone awry.
All that’s somewhat besides the point. The question is was the usage racist, or was it perceived to be racist. Snow explained himself during the press conference and address the issue much more expansively, in a roundabout way, seven years ago in his column about David Howard and the word “niggardly.”
(JWR – Feb. 1, 1999) DAVID HOWARD COMMITTED A POTENTIALLY FATAL CAREER MISTAKE on Jan. 15, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. The then-head of the Washington, D.C., Office of Public Advocate, while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters, used the word “niggardly.”
Before long, a retinue of hot dogs and race-baiters took to the street corners, demanding swift justice. On Jan. 27, they won. Howard apologized for his language and then resigned.
Note several things: The word “niggardly” has no etymological relationship to the “N”-word. Howard used it appropriately.
More importantly, nobody ever accused Howard of racism. He’s a restaurateur who gave up his career to promote the candidacy of the District’s new mayor, Anthony Williams. Nobody ever accused him of lacking commitment. Some mayoral aides describe him as “the glue” of Williams’ election campaign. Nobody ever accused him of bilking the public. He worked long hours and took a pay cut to work for the city. Nobody ever accused him of insensitivity. He has lived in the city for 16 years. Nobody who endured through the Marion Barry era can be bereft of hair-trigger racial sensitivities.
Nevertheless, Howard is gone and, worse, the mayor lauded his decision, citing the need for people to exercise appropriate discretion when talking. If this episode doesn’t capture the sublime weirdness of our age, nothing does. David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who a) didn’t know the meaning of “niggardly,” b) didn’t know how to use a dictionary to discover the word’s meaning and c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance.
Our language makes us all susceptible to being suckered by the votaries of division and derision. The English tongue features more words and nuances than any other. Bigots regularly appropriate everyday words for vile uses. But do their abuses mean that nobody can use such locutions as “chink in the armor,” “a nip in the air,” “spic ‘n’ span” or “cheese and crackers?”
Some people are arguing that in the current case the answer to that last question is, “yes.” Basically they’re asking Snow to apologize for his expansive vocabulary; used correctly, and their misunderstanding of the reference.
As the folks at The Straight Dope note;
- Sure, you don’t want to offend anyone deliberately, but there’s a fine line between not being a jerk and examining every word you speak for nuances that might be misinterpreted by people who don’t understand them.
While Snow may want to clarify, he’s got no reason to apologize.
The only instance in my life I can recall hearing “tar-baby” spoken in public as an insult was in the Saturday Night Live “Job Interview” skit featuring Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase…
You’ve only heard it once? That proves… what? It proves it is something that isn’t said in public — and for good reason. It is wholly inappropriate.
Should Snow be skewered over it? I don’t think so. Should he apologize for the use – understanding that some Americans might have found it offensive? Absolutely.
I’m guessing y’all are Yankees, if “tar-baby” is considered offensive to you. Most Southerners, at least, know the story and know what a tar-baby is, and it has little to do with being black. It has everything to do with something that you get more and more stuck to as your futilely fight it because you take offense at… hmmm. So the term “tar-baby” might just be a tar-baby.
Next thing you know “Don’t throw me in that briar patch!” will be off bounds.
Oh, PLEASE!!! Tony Snow has NO need to apologize. If he feels generous, he can educate the ignorant on the origin of the term. The idiom “hug the tar baby” has nothing to do with race. Yes, tar is black, but the figure of speech is not derogatory at all.
There is an another idiom that is clearly offensive: “a n– in the woodpile.” It refers in an unambiguously demeaning way to blacks, and is absolutely rude and unacceptable.
It drives me crazy when people look for things to offend them.
Might have expected this from Lee. If the use of a perfectly apt idiom is misinterpreted by any uber-sensitive soul, the speaker must apologize. Because it’s all about feelings.
Apologize for what, Lee?
Because an idiom goes out of use, that’s because it’s “wholly inappropriate??”
Jesus man, get a grip.
And that fella who used the word “niggardly?” Give ‘im back pay and an apology.
I’m a 40 year old black man. I wouldn’t bat an eye if I heard the term used like Tony Snow used it unless someone pointed it out.
If you’re looking to be offended, eventually you will be.
Snow’s apology should consist of the following statement:
“I sincerely apologize that here in America, we have people so hopelessly stupid that they construed that statement as a racist remark. I will work closely with this administration to ensure that future stupidity is curtailed as much as humanly possible.”
Snow’s apology should consist of the following statement: etc. etc.
Well, I suppose that would be better than no apology at all – but you know what? – I’ll bet dollars-to-donuts that we see an apology within 72 hours.
The slate-grey and white color of this site offends me. Apologize.
People need to start realizing that often as not it’s the offended persons fault that they’re offended.
Geezus, help me, but Lee’s right…on one count. No doubt the WH will issue some sort of apology. But I’ll go Lee one further: You can fully expect the NAACP, the ACLU, Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al and the entire batshit crazy, race-agenda driven Left to make this into a case of “See! The Bush WH are racists!” And as usual they’ll look like the opportunistic idiots they already are.
If I’m wrong, then I guess I really rednecked this entry. (Oh well, no worries about the aforementioned groups coming after me for using that phrase. Of that I’m certain.)
But his name is Snow…so that means he used it to put AA’s down…right?
Come on!
Peter F – I agree that the left-wing wackos will be wacko over this. Still, Snow and the White House need to do the right thing despite the cackling from the far left.
If a pro football coach, or entertainer, or CEO used that term they would be held accountable – I can see the headliens now. So is anyone suggesting that the White House Press Secretary is above the same level of accountability?
Lee,
Could you point us to a handy list of terms we’re not allowed to use and why?
Because it’s hard to keep up, with the left redefining everything all the time.
“If a pro football coach, or entertainer, or CEO used that term they would be held accountable”
I seriously doubt it, unless they were direting the comment at a black person and the context clearly demonstrated that they used the phrase OUTSIDE OF ITS IDOMATIC MEANING.
Lee.
The right thing to do is insist that language not be bastardized by the perpetually offended stupids.
It is bad enough that constant misuse (see: decimation) eventually gets a notation, then a definition in a dictionary, but I am incensed that you can take a legitimate word, phrase or reference and turn it into something it most definitely is not.
He used a phrase “hug the tar-baby” that is a specific reference that your request for an apology may well epitomize. Are you going to apologize for being flat-out wrong?
OTOH, I wouldn’t be surprised for the WH to wimp out, it does seem to be their default position. Harry Browne RIP.
Some of these people must be intellectual cripples, er… make that retarded, no er… mental midgets?
When do we get an aplogy from the stupid for offending us with their stupidity?
(to lighten the mood)
Another bastardization the puts my teeth on edge is substituting the word “gender” for “sex” (as in male and female).
I teach 8th and 10th grade English, and I brought the house down when I told one 10th grade class (intentionally) that words have gender and people have sex…
Lee, you used the word “bet,” obviously offensive to people who are recovering habitual gamblers; you used the word “donut” which has been linked countless times to ridiculing police officers, and you used the word “white” repeatedly, undoubtedly bringing up numerous painful memories to minorities who have been terrorized by the actions of white clad white supremacists.
I expect nothing less than heartfelt apologies from you for the use of such insensitive words!
I expect nothing less than heartfelt apologies from you for the use of such insensitive words!
Jamie – The next time I’m on national TV in front of a room full of reporters I will issue that apology – I promise!
From the White House.gov website comes this quote, listed on a page titled “Ask the White House, Spontaneous Answers to Non-Prescreened Questions”. What is quoted below is a Q&A between Doug Eddy of Long Island New York and Dr. C. Rice.
It is clear from the context Rice placed the words “leggy Aunt Jemima tar baby pickaninny minstrel mammy” that she found the term to be derogatory or inflammatory. She used that term in the same vein as “house negro”.
Now if Connie Rice finds it objectionable, don’t you think an apology is due from Snow?
Ah – major correction to my comment above – that was a quote from whitehouse.org website – not whitehouse.gov – and was merely satire – mea culpa. I was caught by a satirist…
Interesting, though, how you managed to claim it was from “whitehouse.gov” in your own comment, Lee.
And it took you a second look to decide that this was satire? The idea that a White House official would use the term “liberal cretin” didn’t tip you off?
What “reality” are you based in??
Lee,
I have trees in my backyard that could tell that the Condi quote was not real.
Lee,
If you spent half as much time on trying to be happy as you do on trying to find offense to your sensibilities, you would be a happier pup.
I watched the original press conference. When later I heard mention of the firestorm over Tony declining to “hug the tar baby”, I assumed that it was because Helen Thomas was in the front row and Tony had gestured in her direction while speaking.
Just saying…
Ah, Lee:
Do you not read what you copy and paste because it would have been obvious to anyone that this piece is satire?
Of course, I often make the mistake in reverse, especially when reading 9/11 conspiracy theories. I assume it is satire but am shocked to find out that it is actually written in seriousness.
I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post I will not post.
Shheeez, that wasn’t so bad. I think I can get through this.
Sorry folks, I accidentally clicked the post button.
I think you were looking for whitehouse.org, field-negro.
Where’s the banjo solo? I must have missed something. This is a story? Will I win something if I say, “That was a niggardly use of the phrase ‘tar baby’?”
You’re all on acid. Or I am. Either way, it’s not a good fit.
If only I had disagreed with Paul in that comment, then it would have been deleted before anyone could have seen it. lol!
Lee,
I do belive you must be one of them LIBEEERRRALL
Crakers with kneepads and handful of chapstick!!
trying to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy…
The true error here is that one may kick a tar baby, an’ one may head butt a tar baby, but one does not hug a tar baby. For that Tony Snow needs to apologize.
http://www.uncleremus.com/tarbaby.html
Please Please Please Brer Fox, don throw me in the Briar Patch!
http://www.uncleremus.com/sharprabbit.html
Now ifn’ y’all want to have something to be offended about, read this story below, the accompanying analysis and the comment that follows the analysis. If Tony White as Snow who supports Intelligent Design had made a reference to a certain pond [see below] then we’d have somthin to bicker about.
http://www.uncleremus.com/negro.html
“Should Snow be skewered over it? I don’t think so. Should he apologize for the use – understanding that some Americans might have found it offensive? Absolutely.”
He definitely should apologize.
Snow: I’m sorry that you in the WH press corps are barely literate troglodytes who confuse outrage for enlightenment. In the future, I will have all of my speeches proof-read by a 4 year old to make sure you don’t get upset or confused. Thank you.
Who needs to be nice to these barely functional twits?
“Peter F – I agree that the left-wing wackos will be wacko over this. Still, Snow and the White House need to do the right thing despite the cackling from the far left.”
Apologize because the left is poorly educated?
Shouldn’t the NEA be doing that? Seems to be their fault more than anybody else’s.
-=Mike
I have to disagree with the Straight Dope quote… it’s not a fine line at all. There’s a huge gulf, a canyon, a great divide between being a jerk and examining every word you speak for nuances that may offend.
Welcome to the Wonderful World of PC, in which ANY word or phrase that you use can be construed as offensive or even “hate speech” by anybody with a psychotic sense of victimhood (or a political axe to grind).
Definition taken directly from Wikipedia:
The tar baby was a trap — a human figure made of tar — used to capture Br’er Rabbit in a story which is part of American plantation folklore. Br’er Fox played on Br’er Rabbit’s vanity and gullibility to goad him into attacking the fake and becoming stuck. A similar tale from African folklore in Ghana has the trickster Anansi in the role of Br’er Rabbit.
In Southern black speech in the 19th century, the word “baby” referred to both a baby and a child’s “doll.” Thus, the expression “tar baby” meant a tar doll or tar mannequin.
The story was originally published in Harper’s Weekly by Robert Roosevelt of Sayville, New York.
Years later Joel Chandler Harris wrote of the tar baby in his Uncle Remus stories.
This story is credited with the invention of the word “segashuate.”
———————————————-
Sounds to me like a race card was trying to be thrown out just to get Snow in trouble. Or ANOTHER “tar-baby” put up so when Snow took the bait, it would stick to him and slow him down some more. the left are kookier than ever….
Always found it hilarious to hear Lefties scream “right to free speech” and then clamp down with PC speech codes.
Political Correctness has done more to rob Americans of their civil liberties than ANY NSA program.
I wonder if Snow will bait Andrew Sullivan next by saying something like, “Anyone who believes in Leopold’s Rove Indictment probably believes in the Tooth Fairy.”
Did the left get this worked up when Hillary made a joke about Gandhi running a gas station?
Well, that didn’t take long, did it?
Oh, no, Brer Rabbit. All existing copies and every reference to the Uncle Remus stories should be gathered up and burned in the name of free speech. Plus everything that Samuel Clemens wrote, spoke or thought. It’s for good of the Children, doncha know? We have to make America safe for Democracy.
And the earlier suggestion that we should hug Helen Thomas makes me think about projectile vomiting.
“tar baby” and other words that have multiple, diverse meanings are what I’d call ‘Rorschach’ words…
– MikeB
Hello,
For the sake of accuracy, I should point out that the dictionary on “Tar Baby” that you reference in your post actually belongs to my former graduate student, Nancy Maurer, whose name is listed at the bottom of the entry. That particular site has one of those shared Front Page borders that just sticks my name and copyright on each page.
As for Snow’s reference,I can think of more important issues to fight about. However, as someone who used to do PR and media training, I would have told him it was a stupid thing to say. In order for Snow’s statement to be useful, he has to be reasonably sure of what it was likely to communicate. The positive communicative value of that phrase in 2006 is debatable.
Finally, I would remind those who think that people who object to the term are being oversensitive that idioms are dropped from the language all the time.
Regarding David Howard’s use of “niggardly” —
When I was a 7th-grade geek, my co-nerd Kevin and I would entertain ourselves by devising and then loudly reading such sentences as:
“The Rev. Falwell masticated with growing vigor while he watched the thespians shamelessly formicating all over Hollywood.” (Which of course means, “He chewed his food while the actors scurried about like ants.”)
The hope, of course, was that an ignorant classmate — or better yet, a teacher — would react with “Eww, that’s dirty,” whereupon we would utterly devastate them by pulling out the dictionary and proving that the words in question had perfectly innocent meanings.
Anyway, I always wondered whether Howard had used the word “niggardly” on purpose, to trick a colleague into revealing his ignorance of the word’s origins.
For Dave above, who quoted Wikipedia about “Tar Baby”… he conveniently left out the last half of that Wiki entry, which states:
The term also has a negative connotation. Again, according to [1]:
“The expression tar baby is also used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people (in the U.S. it refers to African-Americans; in New Zealand it refers to Maoris), or among blacks as a term for a particularly dark-skinned person.”
The dual connotations associated with the term have resulted in many issues for public figures that attempt to make use of the term to refer to a sticky situation.”
No matter what the original connotation, the newer, more offensive connotation clearly makes it inappropriate.
Tony Snow is a veteran journalist, was speechwriting director for the first President Bush and now is serving as Press Secretary for the second Bush. He’s a smart man who was hired for his mastery of the English language, among other things.
His use of “tar baby” was ill-advised, at the very least — no matter how correctly he used the phrase.
Btw, Kevin, Nobel Prizes are not awarded for a particular book, but rather a body of work, i.e. Toni Morrison’s “Tar Baby” is not a “Nobel prize winning novel.” In fact, the Swedish Academy made no mention of that particular book when they awarded her the Nobel in 1993.
She’s got a Nobel Prize for Literature, and it’s prominently mentioned on the cover of Tar Baby. Your assesment may be correct, but the publishers clearly want to associate the two – even if the committee does not.
I’m gonna decimate every single person who renegs on their obligations, or is niggardly in their attack on the tar-baby.
Tar BABY IS A RACIAL EPITHET ,DO your home work before posting
tar baby-
the doll smeared with tar, set to catch Brer Rabbit (1881); hence transf., spec. an object of censure; a sticky problem, or one which is only aggravated by attempts to solve it(colloq.);
a derog. term for a Black (U.S.) or a Maori (N.Z.).
something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself.
n. a “sticky problem” (20th century use).
A Black person (used in the U.S., 1940s).
A derogatory term for a Maori (used in N.Z., 1950s).
A Negro baby. Cf. Tar pot (sense 1) (U.S. colloquial, mid 1800s-present).
Tar baby was used as a racist term long before it was used otherwise, stop trying to defend the racist press secretary.
uh huh so why is it then that whenever shit like this happens its always white people who are the first to shout that its not racist. how do u know how he intended the phrase to be used an furthermore the phrase itself can be used as a racial slur, ive heard that term used many times by SOUTHERN people to describe black people. its offensive not only to black people who know what it means but to me as a white person who cannot think why a person in public office would chhose to use a term that could be construed as a racial slur, even if he didnt mean it as one he should be fired for bein a stupid dumb fuck. nigglet