Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 19:37:39 -0700

From: Judith Rascoe boise[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WELL.SF.CA.US

Subject: Re: racist terms



I think Lew Sanborne may be on the money re "-est white person". I was

trying to figure out what I hear when I hear that pattern, and it does seem

to imply that a "white person" is expected to be less extreme in any given

behavior than an implied non-white person. It doesn't play, certainly, if

you use ameliorative terms: "She was the most generous white woman in Texas"

"He was the smartest white kid in Georgia" "They were the nicest white

people in North Dakota". The implication gets clear, fast.