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re: So "Ole Miss" is what slaves used to be forced to call the plantation mistress
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:13 pm to thelawnwranglers
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:13 pm to thelawnwranglers
Essentially. They put the name "Ole Miss" on the yearbook and the name just stuck.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:14 pm to thelawnwranglers
One tradition that's not changing is the university's nickname, "Ole Miss." The phrase was how slaves once addressed the mistress of the plantation. It's ubiquitous on campus, on signs, sweatshirts and in the football cheer.
"Ole Miss has been here since I can remember, it needs to stay," says Tommy Lee, a 1982 Ole Miss grad. "That is our slogan: We are Ole Miss."
University chancellor Dan Jones also defends the "Ole Miss" name against its critics, saying that the "vast majority of people associated with the university — that includes our faculty, our staff, our students, our alumni — think that the term 'Ole Miss' is a term of endearment."
"Ole Miss has been here since I can remember, it needs to stay," says Tommy Lee, a 1982 Ole Miss grad. "That is our slogan: We are Ole Miss."
University chancellor Dan Jones also defends the "Ole Miss" name against its critics, saying that the "vast majority of people associated with the university — that includes our faculty, our staff, our students, our alumni — think that the term 'Ole Miss' is a term of endearment."
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:17 pm to Henry Jones Jr
I read the article you linked and like the train story, but.....from the comments below it....
quote:
Much of the above is just wrong. When directly asked where the term Ole Miss came from, Miss Elma Meek, who supplied the term, stated that she took the name from the language of the ante-bellum “Darkey”, who knew the wife of his owner by no other title than “Ole Miss”. (My article on this is dated 1936) How much plainer can she be? This was done in 1896. She and the annual staff members knew, and lived around, many, many former slaves. Did those University students never talk to their Parents, Granparents or Aunts and Uncles about the “old” days? Did they never know or talk to former slaves? Please go Google “Ole Miss” with “WPA slave narrative” out to the side. You will see well over 100 uses of this term by the former slaves in the 1930s, in these interviews that are reproduced on the internet. I have gone through the 5 printed Mississippi volumes of these interviews and that term is used all through the five volumes as well as all the other state volumes. Does the author of the above think this term somehow vanished in 1865 and that Miss Meek, and the members of the annual staff never heard it? Did the former slaves cease using it in 1865? The University was named for a train and no one remembers that, or ever wrote it down in a school history? Nobody challenged Miss Meek and her account? Maud Morrow Brown, who was on that annual staff, who knew Miss Meek, and taught at Ole Miss and lived in Oxford all her adult life never set the record straight? Maude did not because she knew the truth because she lived it. Ole Miss is a slave term of respect. Get over it, don’t make up Fairy Tales. Miss Meek’s picture IS in the 1896 annual. I saw it online last night. So apparently, she was on campus and in contact with other students at the time. There was never any train connecting line between Oxford and Sardis, as claimed by the author. The “Old Miss” train never came through Oxford. W. C. Handy, in his autobiography, and another book, never claimed his song had anything to do with naming the University. Why would he not have been proud of that? Extrordinary claims call for extraordinary proof. I do not see that proof here. This is an unbelievable reach.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:18 pm to Old Sarge
Sounds like a complete urban legend to me. And not the "I'm having an honest-to-God heart attack, I swear! So I need to switch conferences for reasons other than being scared of the future" kind of Urban legend.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:20 pm to Henry Jones Jr
quote:
Essentially. They put the name "Ole Miss" on the yearbook and the name just stuck.
just skimmed the story, but it appears the name of the year book was ole miss, and they just put that name on a train drawing?
It's a hard question honestly I doubt many associated the two first I am hearing of it
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:22 pm to Old Sarge
I'm going to go with the guy that researched and wrote the story instead of a comment from a random person.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:24 pm to Old Sarge
2d verse of Dixie:
"Ole Missus marry wil de weever"...
"Ole Missus marry wil de weever"...
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:27 pm to Henry Jones Jr
What about the Chancelors comments?
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:28 pm to Old Sarge
quote:
And even many black students here say they like the name, and see it as just a name.
It's like saying, "oh it's cool. I have a black friend." He even acknowledges the offensiveness of it in his defense
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:31 pm to Henry Jones Jr
quote:
I'm going to go with the guy that researched and wrote the story instead of a comment from a random person.
That random person is probably Charles Eagle.
Not saying that lends any credibility to his comment.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:41 pm to Henry Jones Jr
quote:
No and only uninformed dumbass delusional State fans like to say that's what it means but it isn't.
It was literally displayed on your school website for many years -- until the enigma that is Coach34 called enough attention to it that your university removed it.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:43 pm to Henry Jones Jr
quote:
Essentially. They put the name "Ole Miss" on the yearbook and the name just stuck.
Twelve years prior to the train showing up. Nice try.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:45 pm to Old Sarge
I really like when people use "Mississippi" in reference to them.
How do the fans feel of being called that?
How do the fans feel of being called that?
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:45 pm to Smalls
Damn this looks bad for Ole Miss
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:50 pm to Henry Jones Jr
Not surprised it comes from WC Handy.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:52 pm to Henry Jones Jr
Thanks for this, that's a neat article.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:52 pm to Old Sarge
That sounds really apocryphal, unlike the fact that Ole Miss hasn't won a conference title since integration or that UK has a more a recent SEC football title than Ole Miss.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 10:57 pm to Old Sarge
You're just now scratching the surface.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 11:07 pm to Old Sarge
Its easier to type "Ole Miss" and "State" Than Mississippi since it is a longer word.
Posted on 10/26/14 at 11:09 pm to Old Sarge
Honest Abe is the biggest traitor/tyrant in the history of this country.
He should have been hung in front of the citizens. No President has ever pissed on the Constitution as much as Abe did.
He should have been hung in front of the citizens. No President has ever pissed on the Constitution as much as Abe did.
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