Random Question: H.N.I.C.

[Ben E Lou]

OK, I know this one might be hard to take seriously, but I'm genuinely curious. Does anyone know if there is a specific origin of the term "H.N.I.C.", or is just something that came out of black culture over time. I heard it used as a joking term in my family/neighborhood as long as I can remember. The first "public" use I know of was in the movie "Lean On Me," when Joe Clark takes over as principal and informs the faculty that he is the HNIC. After he leaves, the white assistant principal turns to the black assistant principal and asks what it means, and she tells him. That scene being done that way would indicate to me that at the time that movie was released (late 80's?), the term was still unknown to most whites. As I said, I know I heard "HNIC" as early as the mid-to-late 70's. Anyone?

[Ben E Lou]

The Lean On Me quotes...(just found 'em....and by the way, that was '89.)

Joe Clark: There's only one boss around here, and that's me. The HNIC.
[Exits.]
Mr. O'Malley: "HNIC"?
Ms. Levias: Head nigger in charge.

---

LATER IN THE MOVIE...
Dr. Frank Napier: If you're so hot on discipline then, goddammit, start by accepting mine. Because contrary to popular opinion, I'm the head nigger in charge!

[HornedFrog Purple]

Actually it goes back to our slavery. The HNIC was usually the most light-skinned child of the plantation owner. It was the origin of "Ole Tom who worked for the Massa" and that eventually became Uncle Tom.

There are some old blues songs all about Ole Tom.

This is what I was told from my dad and my grandfather when I was a kid. My grandfather played a harp.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by HornedFrog Purple

Actually it goes back to our slavery. The HNIC was usually the most light-skinned child of the plantation owner. It was the origin of "Ole Tom who worked for the Massa" and that eventually became Uncle Tom.

There are some old blues songs all about Ole Tom.

This is what I was told from my dad and my grandfather when I was a kid.

Yes, I was aware of the preferential treatment of the light-skinned child, didn't know that he was called HNIC way back then. Thanks for the answer! I heard the older folks use the term, but I never bothered to ask where it came from back then.

My grandfather played a harp.

"Where I come from, you don't blow no harp, you don't get no pussy."

Can anyone name THAT movie???

[HornedFrog Purple]

crossroads

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by HornedFrog Purple

crossroads

Dang, you're good.

Funny story: I was unaware that there was a recent movie by the same title. When I told my wife that I wanted to rent Crossroads one weekend recently, she gave me a very funny look and asked why I wanted to see a Britney Spears movie...

[HornedFrog Purple]

Crossroads is one of my favorite movies of all time. The scene with a young Robert Johnson and the Devil still gives me chills to this day. I don't have an ounce of musical ability, but that was a great story.

[Peregrine]

Crossroads is one of my favorite movies of all time. The scene with a young Robert Johnson and the Devil still gives me chills to this day.

My brother is teaching in the Mississippi Delta with Teach for America, we went down to visit him last weekend, all kinds of great blues stomping grounds down there. I picked up a book by a bluesman who knew Robert Johnson, pretty cool. He might have sold his soul, but maybe a bunch of others did too, that's some great music. Got a bunch of good CDs to bring home!

[HornedFrog Purple]

I love Delta Blues. I have a bunch on vinyl I inherited from my grandfather that I have been slowly converting to CD.

Peregrine, if you are getting started this is the best Robert Johnson CD set I have found.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...9&loc=109&sp=1

It has a big booklet in it and is the best cleaned up recordings I have heard. It is two CD's and has every known recording of Robert Johnson.

[Noop]

How many of our members are non-white?

[LionsFan10]

I'm non-white, Latino (Puerto Rican) decent here.

[Peregrine]

Yep, I have that one HornedFrog. I was looking for some older Skip James stuff, and found a CD of a lot of his 1930's music remastered off the old vinyl, pretty cool. My brother is teaching in Helena, Arkansas, which was a big blues spot back in the day, for Sonny Boy Williamson (II) etc. My brother's house is right next to the radio station KFFA that does King Biscuit Time. They have a great blues festival down there every October.

[Anthony]

is that the "Crossroads" with the Karate Kid?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

is that the "Crossroads" with the Karate Kid?

Yup.

[Anthony]

i saw snippets of it when it was played on tv years back. i've never seen an actor who was playing a guitarist look more uncomfortable with a guitar in their hands. all i remember is him wearing some bad blues-man hat and looking like he was the victim of bad casting.

might have to check it out again if people say it was a good movie and there's a scene with RJ with the Devil.

i have an RJ box set - "King of The Delta Blues Singers", its in cassette tape format. it also has a huge booklet. i only bought it cuz my guitar hero at the time - Jimmy Page - was heavily influenced by RJ and Led Zep stole a lot of ideas off of RJ.

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Noop

How many of our members are non-white?

*Queue raising of hand*

[HornedFrog Purple]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

is that the "Crossroads" with the Karate Kid?

That's Lightning Boy. Willie Brown was Blind Dog.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by HornedFrog Purple

That's Lightning Boy. Willie Brown was Blind Dog.

is this a movie about blues-playing Superheroes?

if it's not i'd really want to see such a movie.

"I've got power, I've got might/
But that don't mean spit against that ole kryponite"

oh man, the possibilities are endless.

[Senator]

The blues ain't nuthin but a good man feelin bad.


HFP - burn me EVERY record he left you!

[bbor]

I'm a little dissapointed that it does'nt mean Hockey Night In Canada

[Peregrine]

HFP - burn me EVERY record he left you!

Heh, me too!

HFP, we went to the Delta Blues museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, pretty neat place. They have a thing about the legacy that blues left for rock, it's pretty neat. One of the members of ZZ Top found Muddy Waters old broken down cabin he grew up in and took some of the planks to make a guitar out of! They take that guitar around to show the links between the musical styles.

[HornedFrog Purple]

That is one place I have written down to go to when I retire if not sooner.

Will do on the CD's!

Some of the records I have are Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt and Bessie Smith (if you never heard her... man her voice is haunting)

[Peregrine]

Some of the records I have are Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt and Bessie Smith (if you never heard her... man her voice is haunting)

Wow, good stuff. I have a good bit of Son House, his story is really interesting, how he was a big bluesman in the 30s and 40s, then basically went back to his normal life working on a train, forgotten by everyone, until he was rediscovered in the 60s and found out he had become famous!

HFP, did you see the Blues series PBS did a while back? Some really really good documentaries featuring different aspects of the blues. The one featuring Blind Willie Jefferson's Soul of a Man was particularly good, talk about a haunting song!

[Cringer]

The HNIC "history" is interesting. On a side note, i just learned how the terms "Cracker" and "Honkey" came to being. Heard the explanations from a black comedian on the Bob & Tom Show this last week, of course none of the white people even had a clue where they came from.

Are the origins of these commonly known? Because i had NO clue.

[Peregrine]

Cringer, I've heard that both those terms have very disputed origins, I've heard about 5 reasonable sounding explanations for both, pretty much wildly different.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Wow, good stuff. I have a good bit of Son House, his story is really interesting, how he was a big bluesman in the 30s and 40s, then basically went back to his normal life working on a train, forgotten by everyone, until he was rediscovered in the 60s and found out he had become famous!

HFP, did you see the Blues series PBS did a while back? Some really really good documentaries featuring different aspects of the blues. The one featuring Blind Willie Jefferson's Soul of a Man was particularly good, talk about a haunting song!

Yeah Son House was actually the one who revived the Robert Johnson and the Devil legend. His stuff is just pure raw. Many people have now given him credit for inventing delta blues. When you listen to it, you can just picture the roadhouses he was playing in.

[Fritz]

I feel a blues trading group forming. Count me in.

[Peregrine]

Good point, when I read Lomax's book I was really surprised about the raw and brutal nature of the environment the early blues developed from. It's a great book if you haven't read it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

[HornedFrog Purple]

Yes, you can learn a lot of stuff about a culture/country/nation's history through their music. It is something I have always wondered about why it is not touched upon much when taking history courses even in college. I have always thought it would be an excellent teaching tool.

I am also a WWII buff and I have learned more from listening to the music, old time radio shows and news reports than I ever did in a book about the pulse of the country during those times.

[Fritz]

Originally Posted by HornedFrog Purple

Yes, you can learn a lot of stuff about a culture/country/nation's history through their music. It is something I have always wondered about why it is not touched upon much when taking history courses even in college. I have always thought it would be an excellent teaching tool.

I am also a WWII buff and I have learned more from listening to the music, old time radio shows and news reports than I ever did in a book about the pulse of the country during those times.

I had one professor that felt that you had to see and hear period arts to get a better understanding of the subject matter, so he would throw in some. You had to pay attention as well, because you would be tested on the material.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by bbor

I'm a little dissapointed that it does'nt mean Hockey Night In Canada

Me, too

But, I think if there were another hockey thread on this board, people would start exploding left and right.

SI

[Fritz]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Good point, when I read Lomax's book I was really surprised about the raw and brutal nature of the environment the early blues developed from. It's a great book if you haven't read it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

Lomax has a number of CDs out as well.

[Celeval]

How white does it make me that I never heard the term (well, never remembered - since I've seen the movie years ago) before this board?

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by Celeval

How white does it make me that I never heard the term (well, never remembered - since I've seen the movie years ago) before this board?

Not as white as those of us who instantly thought "Hockey Night In Canada" when we first saw it.

(Yep, I was another one)

[tucker342]

Oh... I though you had just made it up Skydog

[BigJohn&TheLions]

Former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young had a nameplate on his desk that simply had the initials "H.M.F.I.C." Gotta love it!

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Noop

How many of our members are non-white?

I guess all European FOFC members are white... I know MIJB, 3ric, Darkiller, andy m & myself are white.

[Alf]

dola

Back to the other topic of this thread blues and since SkyDog is a guitar hero, what blues songs would you recommend if I wanted to play a few easy to play "classics"

I am just 5-6 months into guitar (and I love it).

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Cringer

The HNIC "history" is interesting. On a side note, i just learned how the terms "Cracker" and "Honkey" came to being. Heard the explanations from a black comedian on the Bob & Tom Show this last week, of course none of the white people even had a clue where they came from.

Are the origins of these commonly known? Because i had NO clue.

I had heard what Cracker referred to before, but was unaware of Honkey.

There is a pretty elaborate "Racial Slur Database" on the net which has definitions of some of the terms here, but i don't know how correct any of their definitions are.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

I had heard what Cracker referred to before, but was unaware of Honkey.

I had heard that one at a young age since I was raised on James Bond movies and one of the goons refers to him as a "Honky" in Live and Let Die. Some line about taking a honky out back and wasting him or something like that.

SI

[stevew]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I had heard that one at a young age since I was raised on James Bond movies and one of the goons refers to him as a "Honky" in Live and Let Die. Some line about taking a honky out back and wasting him or something like that.

SI

You never watched the Jeffersons? I knew that Honkey was a slur to whites, but I didnt know why it was.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

You never watched the Jeffersons? I knew that Honkey was a slur to whites, but I didnt know why it was.

Go figure: I actually saw James Bond movies before I saw Jeffeson reruns (the original run ended when I was maybe 4 or 5). It was because when my dad would take a nap on the living room couch on weekends, it was almost always watching either watching James Bond, Charlie Chan, Colombo, or a Humphrey Bogart movie.

For the record, I think Live and Let Die actually predates The Jeffersons

SI

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Alf

dola

Back to the other topic of this thread blues and since SkyDog is a guitar hero, what blues songs would you recommend if I wanted to play a few easy to play "classics"

I am just 5-6 months into guitar (and I love it).

SkyDog, any hint ?