tired fools

when i was a kid my dentist once told me i had a monkey-bite. when i asked him what he meant, he told me to go home and look up hottentot in the dictionary. i did. i guess dictionaries were a little less politically correct then, right now the compact oxford reads:

Hottentot

/hott’ntot/

• noun & adjective used to refer to the Khoikhoi peoples of South Africa and Namibia.

— USAGE The word Hottentot is now regarded as offensive with reference to people (where Khoikhoi or, specifically, Nama, are the standard terms) but is still standard when used in the names of some animals and plants.

— ORIGIN Dutch, perhaps a repetitive formula in a Khoikhoi dancing song, transferred by Dutch sailors to the people themselves, or from German hotteren-totteren ‘stutter’ (with reference to their click language).

many times since i’ve been asked all sorts of ethnic background questions, whether i’m jewish, polish, spanish, italian, but most of all black. i guess it’s the thick lips and curly hair.

for christmas ita bought me a dna ancestry test. and i finally have the results.

That’s 80% european, 16% native american, 4% sub-saharan africa, & zilch east asian.

one would typically expect up to %4 non-indigenous, but the 16% native-american means, in all likelihood, that i have an inca great-great grandparent. or something.

rob always said i loved america.

god bless it.