| 释义 |
Uncle Tom orig. U.S.
[uncle n. 2 b.]
The name of the hero of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel (1851–2) by Harriet Beecher Stowe, used allusively for a Black man who is submissively loyal or servile to White men. Also transf. and in extended use.
1922[see New Negro, new negro]. 1942,1960[see handkerchief-head s.v. handkerchief b]. 1971Guardian 15 July 3/1 Arafat was always attacked by the Marxist-orientated militants as being a Palestinian ‘Uncle Tom’, neither sufficiently radical or violent. 1972M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha i. 37 Some people consider him an Uncle Tom because he doesn't study Afro-American culture. 1975M. Bradbury History Man v. 84 The girl I'm living with..says I have a slave mentality... She says I'm an Uncle Tom. 1977New Yorker 22 Aug. 66/3 Pryor goes through his part pop-eyed, playing Uncle Tom for Uncle Toms. 1978Church Times 24 Feb. 2/4 Many parishes do have a youngster on the PCC, but... It's only tokenism. The youngsters are ‘Uncle Toms’, in a way. 1981Bull. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. May 41 Uncle Tom's virtues as a worker change when the vices of his condition have to go.
attrib.1953Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang (1954) §579/2 ‘Straight jazz’,..schmaltz,..unadulterated corn, Uncle Tom music. 1959‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene v. 88 The savage hostility to ‘Uncle Tom’ musicians, which for the first time split the community of jazz players. 1960[see Jim Crow1, Jim-crow, jim crow 3]. 1971Black Scholar Dec. 20 The harshest discrimination that I have encountered in the political arena is anti-feminism—from both males and brainwashed ‘Uncle Tom’ females. 1978G. Greene Human Factor iii. iii. 127 Been to the African University in the Transvaal where Uncle Tom professors always produce dangerous students. 1979Guardian 14 Apr. 8/8 You got an Uncle Tom figure there in your book?.. You know, kinda creepy black always trying to ingratiate himself with the white folks.
Hence Uncle Tom v. intr., to act in a manner characteristic of an Uncle Tom; also with it; Uncle Tom(m)ery, Uncle Tom(m)ing vbl. n., Uncle Tom(m)ish, a., Uncle Tom(m)ism.
1937Uncle Tomism [see nigger n. 1]. 1944C. Himes Black on Black (1973) 198 Here come a big Uncle Tomish lookin' cat in starched overalls. 1947S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal x. 52 Why, you gold-digging, uncle-tomming, old, black he-courtesan! 1950Patterson & Conrad Scottsboro Boy iii. iv. 219 The prisoners clowned for the white folks—the guards, the prison heads, and their families. It looked like a lot of Uncle Tom-ing to me, and I didn't enjoy seeing whites laugh at the coloured guys' pranks. 1960New Left Rev. Nov.–Dec. 49/1 Armstrong's clowning is just Depressing. It isn't that he ‘uncle toms’ but that the act is so automatic and lifeless. 1961Guardian 1 Dec. 6/5 The Uncle-Tommish innocence of the..Negro. 1967Listener 23 Feb. 264/2 Not all Jews will like it, though. One of my acquaintance finds it patronizing and demeaning, the Jewish equivalent of Uncle Tommism. 1967Punch 9 Aug. 210 An obligation..applies constantly to all underdog groups, constantly tempted by rewards to uncle-tom, to pull the forelock. 1968New Yorker 17 Aug. 21 The guests will be arriving any minute now. Please, Amanda, try to Uncle Tom it a little just for tonight. 1972Guardian 21 Oct. 9/2 The young black studies' teacher..was striking out against Uncle Tommery. 1976Gramophone Feb. 1321/2 Now today it has almost the opposite effect from what was intended. Many blacks relate it to the era of Uncle Tom-ism. 1979N.Y. Times 12 Feb. b13/1 To tell women that if they just behave nicer, if they shuffle and Uncle Tom a little more, that they will be more successful, is simply not accurate. 1981Cape Argus Mag. 24 Oct. 2/2 With..that substantial brush of Uncle Tommery with which his opponents have tarred him, Dr Cedric [Phatudi] is a walking..paradox... He has none of the stridency of a Chief Buthelezi,..or the bombast of a Matanzima. |