July 08, 2012, 19:51
KallehSweetback
In the book I am reading the author said that
sweetback means a man who lives off the earnings of his woman. I haven't heard this before and couldn't find it online or in a dictionary. Have you heard it?
July 08, 2012, 21:08
tinmanFrom the OED Online:
sweetback n. U.S. slang a woman's lover, a ladies' man; a pimp; also
sweetback man (cf.
sweet man n. below).
1929 in P. Oliver
Screening Blues (1968) vi. 206 Had a man, good old sweetback.
1935 A. J. Pollock
Underworld Speaks 117/2
Sweet back, a pimp.
1950 R. P. Blesh & H. Janis
They all played Ragtime ii. 39 The dapper, foppish ‘macks’ or ‘sweet-back men’..got their gambling stakes from the girls.
1974 Black World Sept. 25/2
Long Black Song tells us, here in the 1970's, that the days of darky entertainers, superflies, sweetbacks, and Melindas, if not over, are numbered.
sweet man n. U.S. slang =
sweetback n. above.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark
Amer. Thes. Slang §443/5
Beau,..sweet man.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark
Amer. Thes. Slang §508/3
Pimp..sweetman.
1952 S. Selvon
Brighter Sun ii. 21 Look how Ah take up meself and leave sweetman life in town.
1959 V. S. Naipaul
Miguel St . xi. 118 Eddoes was a real ‘saga-boy’. This didn't mean that he wrote epic poetry. It meant that he was a ‘sweet-man’, a man of leisure, well-dressed, and keen on women.
1972 J. Maryland in T. Kochman
Rappin' & Stylin' Out 211 Damn, Rev., that's some real cruel shit, suggesting a sweet man [pimp] be iced.
July 08, 2012, 21:11
zmježd In the book I am reading the author said that sweetback
means a man who lives off the earnings of his woman.Well, I've seen the movie
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (
link) by Melvin Van Peebles, and the main character is kind of a pimp, so I guess I have. It was made in '71, so I guess it's been around in AAVE (
link) for a while.
July 09, 2012, 20:30
KallehInteresting, Tinman & z. I didn't find much online.
I really need to do something about getting online OED again.
July 11, 2012, 20:56
KallehI suppose a pimp could be similar to a sweetback, though, I see a pimp as doing a little work (albeit not that upstanding of work!).