News:

Welcome to the new (and now only) Fora!

Main Menu

Haint Blue

Started by nebo113, August 02, 2020, 12:27:30 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

apl68

I've always assumed it was a variation on "haunt."  About the only person I've ever actually heard use "haint" is an uncle who referred to a high-performance motorcycle as "running like a haint."
All we like sheep have gone astray
We have each turned to his own way
And the Lord has laid upon him the guilt of us all

Economizer

In my vast southern multicultural experience, I understand that haint was a personification through the use of the word haunt to depict ghosts or spooks verbally. It was used commonly in the poorer African-American cultures in the Southeastern U.S.
So, I tried to straighten everything out and guess what I got for it.  No, really, just guess!

EdnaMode

I thought perhaps haint blue had to do with the (typically) cobalt blue of the bottles used on the bottle trees. These are meant to trap the haints and keep your home safe. Or at least that is what I was taught.
I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now.


mamselle

Wow. Like they'd been reading this thread, or something....

M.
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Reprove not a scorner, lest they hate thee: rebuke the wise, and they will love thee.

Give instruction to the wise, and they will be yet wiser: teach the just, and they will increase in learning.

hmaria1609

Quote from: mamselle on August 24, 2020, 02:43:08 PM
Wow. Like they'd been reading this thread, or something....

M.
Saw the same thing here!

mamselle

Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Reprove not a scorner, lest they hate thee: rebuke the wise, and they will love thee.

Give instruction to the wise, and they will be yet wiser: teach the just, and they will increase in learning.

nebo113

Quote from: Catherder on August 24, 2020, 02:00:22 PM
This just showed up:

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-the-color-haint-blue-means-to-the-descendants-of-enslaved-africans?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Thanks for the link.  Unfortunately, it does not reference original sources as to the origins of the term.  I am trying to move beyond the "we-all-know-it" sources.

Catherder

Could you contact the author, Shoshi Parks?  I looked her up and she does have a doctorate in archaeology/anthropology. 

Try shoshiparks@gmail.com


nebo113

Quote from: Catherder on August 25, 2020, 05:47:16 AM
Could you contact the author, Shoshi Parks?  I looked her up and she does have a doctorate in archaeology/anthropology. 

Try shoshiparks@gmail.com

Thanks.

The Future

Did you ever get a reference source for this?  Back in the Fall, I went to USC-Beaufort (in Beaufort SC) Library to look through their reference collection for an answer.  I did not find it in art reference books, nor local history reference books.   The color and history was mentioned in a lot of books, but no official source on etymology. 

nebo113

Quote from: The Future on April 19, 2021, 10:51:51 AM
Did you ever get a reference source for this?  Back in the Fall, I went to USC-Beaufort (in Beaufort SC) Library to look through their reference collection for an answer.  I did not find it in art reference books, nor local history reference books.   The color and history was mentioned in a lot of books, but no official source on etymology.

PMing you.

mahagonny

Haint whatcha do. it's the way how you do it.

mamselle

Partly right.

Depending on whether you're thinking of Ella's version:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fCXNTCWig

or the one Frankie Manning usually danced the Shim-Sham to:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhnNhr1spoM

That was one possibly rendering.

The band in the second one sings the lyrics, using the 'h' both for 'hain't' and 'hatcha'--so, not watcha, just to be pedantic about it.)

Frankie was in his 90s in this video, that's his son Chazz Young dancing with him.

There was also a global video of the shim-sham, in honor of his 95th birthday, here:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTFh_Ty6YcE

He died just shortly before the celebration; this is a tribute to him:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m34eD21QzUw

M.
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Reprove not a scorner, lest they hate thee: rebuke the wise, and they will love thee.

Give instruction to the wise, and they will be yet wiser: teach the just, and they will increase in learning.

nebo113

Quote from: mamselle on April 20, 2021, 07:47:44 AM
Partly right.

Depending on whether you're thinking of Ella's version:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fCXNTCWig

or the one Frankie Manning usually danced the Shim-Sham to:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhnNhr1spoM

That was one possibly rendering.

The band in the second one sings the lyrics, using the 'h' both for 'hain't' and 'hatcha'--so, not watcha, just to be pedantic about it.)

Frankie was in his 90s in this video, that's his son Chazz Young dancing with him.

There was also a global video of the shim-sham, in honor of his 95th birthday, here:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTFh_Ty6YcE

He died just shortly before the celebration; this is a tribute to him:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m34eD21QzUw

M.



Oh my goodness.  Never seen the Shim Sham.  Michael Jackson's Moonwalk is robotic by comparison!