IVing IV " 'woods"...calling Ishmael Reed

[Mark Kohut]

Another winner for Robin. Man, you're good. 

Thanks. 

--- On Fri, 12/4/09, Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: IVing IV " 'woods"...calling Ishmael Reed
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Friday, December 4, 2009, 9:17 PM
> On Dec 4, 2009, at 5:50 PM, Mark
> Kohut wrote:
> 
> > P. 292 "how soon you want all them 'woods suckin all
> on you dick in gratitude?"
> > 
> > Ah, what's "'woods mean", do we know (or think?) Or,
> what is missing that is expressed by the apostrophe?
> 
> Peckerwood:
> 
>     Peckerwood (or simply Wood) is a racial
> slur 19th century
>     southern Black Americans used to
> describe poor whites. Blacks
>     saw blackbirds as a symbol of
> themselves, and the redheaded
>     woodpecker as a representation of
> working class whites. They
>     considered them loud and troublesome
> like the bird, and
>     sometimes with red hair like the
> woodpecker's head plumes.
>     This word is still widely used by
> southern blacks to refer to
>     southern whites
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peckerwood
> 
> > yes, we know wood is the not-usual-slang for an
> erection, a woody.....BUT
> > is that what it means here?
> > 
> > Here is an older meaning.
> > (archaic) mad, insane, crazed
> > 
> > With this definition just learned, I might say in
> context it means something like "crazies from the
> hood"?......
> > 
> > anyone, anyone?
>