From Stevie Wonder's "I Wish"
Looking back on when I
Was a little nappy headed boy
Then my only worry
Was for Christmas what would be my toy
Even though we sometimes
Would not get a thing
We were happy with the
Joy the day would bring
[Link]
The album Songs In The Key Of Life is one of the greatest in the history of American music. One of those tunes, "I Wish" starts off with the lyrics posted above - and as far as I knew as a "white guy" from Iowa, it was perfectly OK to use the term nappy headed. It was ok for Stevie. Now come to find out thanks to Imus, I'm not allowed to say nappy headed. That's racial according to the Reverend Al. That's ridiculous according to Reverend Merriam. What now... can Al presume to remove words from the dictionary? Nappy derives from nap: Etymology: Middle English noppe, from Middle Dutch, flock of wool, nap - a hairy or downy surface (as on a fabric). Nappy is a perfectly decent descriptive adjective.
As for the rest of Don Imus' little quip (and it was very brief), he was trying to make a joke at the expense of others. That's what comedians do (and Imus is not a very good one). You just have to make sure that "the others" are not Muslim, or black, I guess, or you'll receive either death threats or get fired, depending. Better to slam safer targets such as America, George W, or any person who is either white, Republican, Christian or Catholic, because friends, it is open season on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment