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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

coonery en · NOUN

Etymology

From coon + -ery.

Meanings

  1. (derogatory, ethnic, slur, uncountable) The behavior of a "coon"; in present usage now typically meaning a black person who behaves in a subservient way to whites
    • Following E. Patrick Johnson's theory of appropriation, Amber Johnson argues that “social media users frame Dodson's identity as coonery, which appropriates gay, black masculinity in limiting ways.” 2017 September 5, Lyndsay Michalik Gratch, Adaptation Online: Creating Memes, Sweding Movies, and Other Digital Performances, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 36:
    • Spike Lee I think there's a lot of stuff out today that is coonery and buffoonery
    • Many early cinematic depictions of blacks were merely unrehearsed coonery performed just to entertain the white masses, or simply minstrel shows from the vaudeville stage featuring happy darkies, dancing around as buffoons and jigaboos. 2009 September 2, S. Torriano Berry, Venise T. Berry, The A to Z of African American Cinema, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN:
    • While a Stepin Fetchit movie, a Jimmie Walker sitcom, or a Flavor Flav reality show may have earned charges of coonery, they also brought laughter and pride to black viewers who at some level appreciate that these artists demonstrate[…] 2012 August 27, Yuval Taylor, Jake Austen, Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 20: