BoxRec

Once again.....Tar baby refers to the fact that getting close to this guy Langford spelled a great problem for the person invading his space. He was murder on the inside.....just as a porcupine might be...or in the case of this descriptor a tar baby.


To get the same effect in a White form it might take the "molten marshmallow baby" to get the job done. Anyone take offense to that? Perhaps a bit less lethal, as I suspect the marshmallow approach would lose it's sticky properties as it cooled.

i found iron mike tyson inappropriate until
i found this picture:

man wrote:i found iron mike tyson inappropriate until
i found this picture:

agree buzz. but you did say that rubbing "niggardly" out of the lexicon makes sense to you! dumbing down never makes sense it only makes nonsense.
i recall that an american politician - apparantly a very decent one - lost his job due to the ridiculous consequences of his using "niggardly" correctly.
and, kevin mitchell, please take this handkerchief as i must tell you the celts were routed by the romans only 1700 hundred years ago. the apaches and the sioux have been all but wiped off the face of the earth in recent history and the aboriginals have virtually nowhere left to go in their vast homeland. (not to mention the tuscans!)
i hope you raise a glass to these forlorn people during the xmas period.

harry, I know it's never good to dumb down....but in some cases it's like wrestling with Jello. So it's one battle I was willing to concede because of the odds against victory. I prefer your "never say die" attitude though.


Injustice sucks. And yes I'll send out my best to all those you mentioned.

raylawpc wrote:

Mr E wrote:

harrygreb wrote:i dont think the "tar baby" nickname was inappropriate Mr E. it helps modern readers get a feel for the sociological climate of those times. please dont be offended but its a bit late to cry over the wrongs of the distant past.

I'm not 'crying' over anything. Sam Langford was a great fighter -- quick, cagey, tough, and a tremendous hitter. My point is that an insulting (even for the times) diminutive like 'Tar Baby' does not even begin to convey the kind of fighter he was. May was well say 'Gentle Mike Tyson' or 'Hurricane Ernie Terrell.'

I'm not so sure it was a racial epithet in the early 20th century. The term itself dates to the 19th-century "Uncle Remus" stories, and refers to a doll made of tar that traps the main character, the Br'er Rabbit. The more the Br'er Rabbit struggled, the more entangled he became. Thus, it was used to describe a sticky mess - which is what anyone who fought Sam Langford found himself in.

I guess it has racial overtones today, as discovered by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney when he referred to Boston's troubled highway commuter tunnel project as a "tar baby," and was chastized by some African-American leaders for using a "racially insensitive" term.

Hmmm. Well put. Okay, I hereby accept your reasoning and withdraw my nomination of "The Boston Tar Baby" for consideration in this category.

and i immediately send my best wishes to you Mr E this xmas and to you buzz
and all those posters who are able to see reason on this often unreasonably good website.