By now we are all probably aware of the media flash-mob that has erupted over presidential candidate Rick Perry’s badly named hunting ranch leased plot near Haskell, Texas. There’s quite a story in the New York Times about it here.
Seeing the word used today, it reminded me of an odd experience in west Texas earlier this year where I heard the term used before. I had forgotten all about it until today. I hadn’t intended to write a story on this at all, but curiosity about that event led me down an interesting set of rabbit holes, so I thought I’d share what I learned about this ugly and offensive term and how surprising the wide and varied use of it is.
In the spring, I was at a conference/tradeshow in Oklahoma and Dallas where I showed some of our weather equipment. Reader may recall I blogged about the Japan earthquake and Tsunami while in a hotel room in Oklahoma City. The next week I was in Dallas. Shortly after the conference closed, I had the misfortune of driving along a stretch of lonely highway 82 between Dallas and Lubbock. I had to go through Lubbock because I needed to go to Muleshoe, TX, where there was an unsurveyed USHCN station I wanted to add to the surfacestations.org station database, and Muleshoe (only to discover later that Juan Slayton had added it already) was so that had to be my route so I could connect to Highway 388 which goes NW from Lubbock to Muleshoe, and then on to Fort Sumner NM where I wanted to verify a Google street view on an MMTS. My GPS, as GPS’s sometimes do had me going on some backroads, including Munday, TX which I thought had an odd name and I got turned around for a bit and found myself headed south on 277 to Haskell. Got that solved and headed west on 222 to connect to 82.
I found myself in a pickle when I reached Guthrie, TX because I was getting low on gas, and I hadn’t seen any gas stations. From the 82 bypass around Guthrie I spotted what looked to be a gas station, so I double back, took the exit and went into town. It was a gas station alright, long since closed and there was nothing else in town. I was afraid I’d find myself stranded in Guthrie. I was struck by the fact that I was in the middle of one of the biggest oil producing states, and there was not a drop of gasoline to be found. There was no cell service that would support web browsing on my phone either, so I couldn’t search for one.
So I drove around just a bit in Guthrie, until I spotted somebody I could ask. It was like a ghost town, but I finally found someone (actually they found me because parked and waited and he rode by on a bike) and I flagged the guy down and asked where I might find some gas. He thought a moment and said “There’s no gas here, nearest is either Ralls or Crosbyton”. I asked where those towns were and he said: “on 82 (pointing west) out past the niggerheads, and then past Dickens”. I said “What? Niggerhead? Is that a town? and he looked at me like I was from another planet (I didn’t tell him I was from California) and he said “no that’s the hills, you’ll see em, and then ya go through Dickens, and Crosbyton, and then Ralls. One of ‘em should have gas.”
I did find gas in Crosbyton, after driving west on 82 through the hills the man described which you can see here in Google maps.
The term “niggerheads” was puzzling and odd, but I figured it was just some local colloquialism, and I didn’t give it another thought…until today.
So after being bombarded with all the news stories about how offensive this term is, and noting that some of the same people doing reporting lambasting Perry over the name of a ranch called “niggerhead” have absolutely no trouble at all calling people like me and the readers of WUWT “deniers” (Think Progress, Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, among others) which is also an ugly and offensive term due to the connection to “holocaust deniers”.
So, I thought I’d see what I could find on it. I figured if it was some sort of local colloquial term when I heard it in Texas last spring, I’d find it in older books and maps.
So in my first Google search, amongst all the news stories about Perry, I found my first clue as to why I heard the term, in Wikipedia:
The term was once widely used for all sorts of things, including products such as soap and chewing tobacco, but most often for geographic features such as hills and rocks.[citation needed] In the U.S., more than hundred “Niggerheads” and other place names now considered racially offensive were changed in 1962 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, but many local names remained unchanged.[1]
So that explained why the fellow I asked directions from used the term for the hills I’d drive through. The NYT article I cited above also mentions this.
I can understand how it is offensive, and I can certainly see removing it. But I think removing it is going to be a much bigger job than the bloodhounds in the mainstream media thinks. Just look at all the references to the word in science and engineering and geography:
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Nigger Head, an island in North Queensland, Australia
United States. Bureau of Fisheries – 1921 – Free Google eBook – Read
NIGGERHEAD GROUP. The shells of the niggerhead group distinguish themselves from all others of the Quadrula class by combining a … In buying mussels for button manufacture the price is often based upon the percentage of niggerheads.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen – 1911 – Free Google eBook – Read
One chamber casting (acting as a nigger head), is bolted centrally to the dry pipe in such a manner as to have the fingers … As the throttle is opened, steam is admitted through the dry pipe to the header which acts as a nigger head.
The vegetation of New Zealand – Page 157
books.google.com Leonard Cockayne – 1921 – 456 pages – Free Google eBook – Read
3- Niggerhead (Carex secta)-association. Here shock-headed masses of C. secta are dominant raised above the water on … Niggerhead -swamp contains many of the ordinary swamp-plants and many transitions occur between it and Phormium-
License my roving hands: poems and stories – Page 19
books.google.comJuanita Tobin – 2000 – 57 pages – Preview
NIGGERHEAD ROAD The squeaky, old doors have closed forever on a school, a drug store and train station with a telegraph office where matrimonial ads and baseball games were transmitted as well as business on the stock exchange and a …
International Association of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Iron Workers – 1905 – Free Google eBook – Read
THE MAN ON THE NIGGER HEAD. His legs are poor, he can’t go aloft, In the “bull” gang he is dead; But should the boss throw a line across He is first to the ” nigger head.” He keeps the line coiled neat and trim, But I have often heard it…
In the Alaskan wilderness – Google Books Result
books.google.com/books?id=BHUtAAAAYAAJ…George Byron Gordon – 1917 – Alaska – 247 pages
This is what is called nigger- head and muskeg in the language of the North. … on any map of Alaska), and prepared to do all the portaging ourselves. …
Highway to Alaska
books.google.com Herbert Charles Lanks – 1944 – 200 pages – Snippet view
16 Niggerhead and Horse Camp Lakes The next day I decided to explore ahead on foot, for there was no one in camp who seemed to know the condition of the road. They said that the last vehicle had got through way back in April, …
The Pennsylvania barn: its origin, evolution, and distribution in … – Page 263
books.google.com Robert F. Ensminger – 2003 – 348 pages – Preview
The development of the nigger head in central Pennsylvania was examined under ” Tying Joints and Bent Raisings” (see … The emergence of the nigger head may also result from a simplification of the double tie beam, which is commonly …
Journal of conchology: Volume 11 – Page 214
books.google.com Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland – 1906 – Free Google eBook – Read
Moreover the growth of the shells is very slow, the time required for a “nigger- head” to reach a size of three … The standard is the “niggerhead.” In 1897 the market value of this species in Muscatine ranged from 40 to 62 cents per …
The mineral resources of New South Wales – Page 402
books.google.com Geological Survey of New South Wales, Edward Fisher Pittman – 1901 – 487 pages – Free Google eBook – Read
There is another peculiar form common on the field, known as a nigger head. These nigger heads are usually oval or spherical masses of more or less opal- impregnated, fine grained silica ; they are of all sizes from 1 lb. to 1 cwt.,
California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current … – Page 258
books.google.com Erwin G. Gudde, William Bright – 2004 – 460 pages – Preview
and Niggerhead Mountain [Los Angeles Co. ] (which probably reflect the now obsolete term “niggerhead” in the sense of … Note that the term “Niggerhead” in place names may refer not to the head of a Negro, but rather to a flanged drum …
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So clearly, the offensive term is well established in literature and placenames. It will take time and effort to remove it.
Remember the photo at the top of this story? Guess what the name of it was up until about a year ago.
Even politically correct California suffered (until recently) from a place called “Niggerhead Mountain” of which you can get an interactive map of right here at this link: http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=Los+Angeles&feature=Niggerhead+Mountain
And while it still shows up in map databases, it too has recently been renamed:
History professor works to rename mountain in Los Angeles
Thanks to the work of a Moorpark College history professor, a Southern California mountain will be renamed to honor the man who first settled in the area and erase the original racial slur.
Good for him, it is the right thing to do. But it just goes to demonstrate that the current inhabitants of a place often get stuck with unfortunate names of the past, and that doesn’t necessarily make somebody who lives by that mountain in Los Angeles county a racist.
It also doesn’t make the people of Queensland, Australia, who have an island named “niggerhead”, racist. Wikipedia says:
Nigger Head is a small island in the Northern part of Shelburne Bay in far north Queensland, Australia about 30km North of Cape Grenville, Cape York Peninsula in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Queensland, Australia.[1] It is so named because it is an isolated coral outcrop; such outcrops were previously known as Niggerheads by British sailors.
And here it is, currently in the Australian Government Geoscience page:
I wonder if any Australian political candidates ever go fishing or diving near that island? Wow, wouldn’t that be a bombshell?
So clearly, with all the citations of “niggerhead” I found in books, maps, placenames, and professional journals, there’s a lot of work to do to erase the ugly and insensitive term. There’s also a lot of places where the term is used and there’s no outrage (yet).
In light of this, I think we all should cut Rick Perry some slack, because the one presidential candidate who would be the most offended by the term, Herman Cain, isn’t. From CBS News:
Cain said he is “done with that issue,” making the following comment in response to reporters’ questions: “Was I satisfied with Governor Perry’s explanation about the name of the ranch where he went hunting? And I said, ‘Yes I am. Next question.”
I suspect Perry told him some of the same things I learned about placenames and geography.
Now if we can just get those same reporters in the MSM to stop labeling skeptics with another ugly and offensive term “deniers” like Andy Revkin’s recent NYT story where he even goes so far as to promote a map, “A Map of Organized Climate Change Denial“, I and many others will feel far less offended.
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Note to commenters and moderators – I will NOT tolerate anything offensive related to this story in comments. All such responses will be deleted. – Anthony
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[snip – I see your point, but as you say in the comment best to leave this one alone – Anthony]
We’ve had the same PC mentality over placenames here in Australia, too. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Brown. Years ago, a red-head would often accrue the nick-name “Bluey”; so (as the linked article tells) it was perfectly reasonable for a fair-skinned rugby player to acquire his nickname.
In the context of the time, it was perfectly acceptable. In the context of today, not so, and when the stadium was demolished it was proper to move on. But the PC mob want us to be ashamed of the past at every opportuinity…
I first came across the term when working in the NW Territories of Canada. This was in the late 1970’s and I was working at the time for the Geological Survey of Canada. We were encouraged to call the offending muskeg features “grassy tussocks”.
Also came across several streams with a similar, but shorter name in Canada, and the western US, that have long since had their names change to Negro Creek, but on old maps still had the original name. These were for the most part descriptive of the prospector who at one time mined on that creek. The term was not considered insulting, at least in white or native communities of the west and north, until the 1960’s (told to me by a mixed black and Indian guy in the Yukon Territory whose father was responsible for the name of one such creek). By the 1980’s all the maps got changed to reflect the times.
Perhaps also of interest, since we are on the topic of racially charged words and political correctness. How about that word “niggardly”? Seems to get people in a heap of trouble.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22
Here in Switzerland (and in Germany) we have Mohrenkopf – Moor’s Head – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate-coated_marshmallow_treats , and there is no embarrassment at all with this traditional name. Check out all the names in the Wiki article to see the idea is all across Europe.
I can vouch for the use of the term in Alaska in describing muskeg tussocks. When walking through such a bog you want to either stay on the very tops hopping nimbly from one to another (not so easy as the age and weight creep upward) or slug through the mud around them.
My Oxford Companion To Ships And The Sea has ‘..metal bollards that are so frequently found in British naval dockyards consisting of an old ship’s gun planted breech downwards and with a cannon ball slightly bigger than the bore fixed in the muzzle of the gum.’ Nautical terms are a rich source of offensive jibes (or gybes).
So bollards and bores pretty much sums up this latest tea cup storm.
I once worked with someone who took offense at the use of “jig” for a dance or a particular tool type. It’s should only be offensive if it was meant to be so, don’t you think? If we find the word “denier” offensive should it be never used again or erased everywhere?
Even when things are less colorful, it still causes upset. Driving through Western Maryland I sometimes have to cross Negro Mountain, which is named for a free black who fought heroically on the mountain during the French and Indian War. And like the turning of the seasons, there’s always a new generation that reacts in mock horror and wants to rename it. The latest bill was earlier this year.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Md-Bill-Seeks-To-Rename-Negro-Polish-Mountains-115490874.html
It failed in committee. The previous attempt to rename the mountain was by Pennsylvania lawmakers in 2007.
Reminds me of when I was in Arizona a few years ago, some group was fighting to change the name of “Squaw Peak” because it was considered offensive (supposedly) to American Indians. I believe they won, too, though I don’t remember what they changed it to.
I kind of understand the point, but at the same time it’s a shame to see history wiped out in the name of political correctness.
On a related note,
Where I grew up in England there were 2 nearby villages. One called Ugley and the other called Nasty
I recall cycling past the Ugley village hall and there was a sign outside that said,
Ugley Women’s Institute
Nasty was too small for either a village hall or a WI branch.
There is an important omission in the NYT article. They note that: “the name was changed — painted out — soon after Mr. Perry’s father, Ray, joined the lease that gave him hunting rights about 30 years ago.” What they fail to note is that it was the Perry family that painted it over. So the real story is that the Perry’s are responsible for getting rid of the Niggerhead name, while the lede on the story in pretty much every newspaper has tried to charge the Perry’s with abiding the name. This is worse than burying the lede. They are inverting the lede, and in the NYT case, only half unburying it in the body.
A rather niggardly use of language by the early explorers. Perhaps they and Perry should be punished./
But not the Washington Post reporter who likely used a regional name, in fact drenched the entire matter in a sauce of racism, that was buried over 40 years ago.
Years ago I worked with an engineering crew building logging roads on the west coast of Canada. These are gravel roads, cut into the sides of mountains, in often very difficult terrain. Occasionally a big boulder is left buried in the road, and as the road wears down it gets the appearance of the top of a skull. Naturally enough at the time they earned the nickname “niggerheads”.
Over time as the road wears these become quite a hazard and must be removed. However, getting a large boulder out of a road can be surprisingly difficult even with heavy equipment, and does a lot of damage to the road.. The crew had a quick fix.
The standard practice was to place a 100 pound sack of ampho on top of the boulder and set it off with a cap and fuse. It did very little damage to the road, but the top foot or so of the boulder would shatter and some spade work would level things out quick enough.
Eventually in the early 70’s word came down from management that we were not to call them “niggerheads” anymore. From them on we were to call them “loggerheads”. This actually proved quite popular because there was quite a rivalry between the loggers and the engineers, each viewing the other as the source of all that was wrong in the world. The bast crew doubled up their efforts to removed the troublesome “loggerheads” every chance they got.
“I had to go through Lubbock because I needed to go to Muleshoe, TX,”
Aaargh! Now you’ve gone and offended mulish-Americans, Anthony!
^ Awesome story about how ‘loggerheads’ got their name.
sigh 🙁
http://tinyurl.com/5wa4h4v
but on a lighter note:
http://tinyurl.com/63byd
It’s interesting that the use of terms that many find offensive are often still used in places that would normally be described as ” off the beaten path”, like the area Anthony described in his post.
My family grew up in a tiny fishing town in the middle of nowhere, that stood beside a Native American reserve. My grandfather, a fisherman, was quite close to the tribe, and I still have good friends there. They have no shame in calling themselves ” Indians”, in fact, use it quite frequently. While many agree this is not a PC term, as Native Americans are by no means from India, the very people the term applies to use it frequently.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, many Natives i know living in the city abhor the term, and prefer to be called First Nations.
I’m not suggesting that smaller towns and villages are any less ” civilized” or anything like that, indeed, the best places to relax, IMO, are out in the country. But it’s interesting to see the evolution of language and terms none-the-less.
Well since there is a logical explanation then I think people should stop reacting to it. I agree that it does sound very offensive but that’s how it’s called. It would be better for all concerned if they change it though.
Don’t believe the word “nigger has any wide usage in Australia as a pejorative term. So it wouldn’t be high on a list of “offensive” word. Actually the most offensive things around now are the campaigns and agenda driven policies aimed at wiping out offence. Be that as it may, I’d hazard a guess that Nigger Head is likely named after the popular fish otherwise known as Blackfish. As far as I know the fish aren’t offended although, no doubt, they would prefer that we didn’t hook them.
In marine work, there are cleats or bollards for tying up a boat or ship., The type which were a short vertical cylinder with a flared top were known as “niggerhead bollards”. In England, the catalogs listed them as “negrohead” rather thzn niggerhead.
Jewfish and blackfish are two popular fishing species in NSW. It was not uncommon for fishermen or even media reports to speak of catching plenty of “jews and niggers” over a weekend. Nowadays one still hears the expression “jewie”, but not the other. In the media, they say “mulloway” and “luderick”.
“Jewfish” was a reference to the species’ great marketability to kosher buyers, so hardly offensive. The other I’d call offensive and worth censoring; though if the word was apparent – maybe – on a rock on someone’s rented property, I wouldn’t devote a slab of the New York Times to the matter.
Of course, when the Journal of Reference talks of circling the wagons in West Texas, they are only maintaining a long tradition…of sloppy, biased reportage through puerile writing.
Didn’t Herman Cain take offense to this also? And he is a republican, correct? You know, the flavor of the week candidate (Pailn’s words) from the republican party..
Say goodbye to free pizza.
Prior to my retirement I used to teach a couple of courses in one of the local universities.
During one of my lectures, I had occasion to refer to “the black market”, in the context of the parallel economy in Germany in the aftermath of WWII.
One of the students, a young white girl, became quite outraged at this and accused me of being “offensive to black people”. She even went so far as to file a complaint with the department head.
In the subsequent disciplinary hearing, I was instructed to use another, less offensive, term.