Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 February 17

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February 17

UNC Asheville

Does anyone know who the really tall (quite a disproportinate giant) who played basketball for UNC Ashevhille in about 2006 is? Is he in the NBA now? I believe it was 2006, when they visited UVA during probably the spring break holidays. (or some other holiday)vLihaas (talk) 08:13, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

College Basketball Reference [1] lists the UNC-Asheville roster for 2005-06 here [2]. It lists C.J. Walker as a 7' 1" center, who might be the player you remember [3]. He didn't do much in his four years as a college player, so I doubt he turned pro. There's another college player of the same name who is currently considered a decent prospect, but he's a 5' 9" guard; the shared name does make it harder to search for info about Walker the giant, however. --Xuxl (talk) 08:36, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Or maybe Kenny George? (7 ft 7 in, UNC Asheville, 2006–2008)? ---Sluzzelin talk 10:06, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Yes, it must be Kenny George. He only started playing in the fall of 2006 [4]. He was more successful than Walker, and according to our article, had a (very modest) pro career in Europe. He would definitely stand out even in a crowd of players averaging 6'6" or so. --Xuxl (talk) 10:34, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Yeah , George soundas familiar.

Thx.Lihaas (talk) 12:52, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Dinah Washington

The singer Ruth Lee Jones changed her stage name in 1942 to Dinah Washington. Where did this name come from? The article on the racist verse "Niggers in the White House" prints the 1903 version, including the lines "Or, if this does not overflow/ Teddy's cup of joy,/ Then let Miss Dinah Washington/ Marry Teddy's boy." So far as I know, Booker T. Washington (part of the subject matter of the verse) did not have a daughter Dinah - suggesting that, by 1903, the name "Dinah Washington" must have been in widespread currency as a generic term, perhaps meaning a young black woman. Can anyone shed any light on the history of this? Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:08, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Nadine Cohodas's biography of DW doesn't mention those lyrics.

"Hampton and [Joe] Glaser claim credit for giving Ruth a new name. But verifiable chronology suggests it was [songwriter] Joe Sherman who came up with "Dinah Washington." "You ought to have something that rolls of people's tongues, like rich liquor," he explained, and to him "Dinah Washington" fit the bill."

The author speculates on the choices of "Dinah" (tribute to Ethel Waters and her famous version of the song "Dinah"; the name had also recently been popularized by Dinah Shore >> "So 'Dinah' would strike a chord with blacks and whites"). Moreover she points out that the chosen name had the same rhythm as "Billie Holiday" and "Ella Fitzgerald". Nadine Cohodas, Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington, Random House LLC, 2007, ISBN 9780307427380, p 30. Not saying what you found is a coincidence, just that I couldn't find anything corroborating a connection. Interesting find, in any event. ---Sluzzelin talk 15:15, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Ms Cohodas has a different idea of rhythm to me, if she says that "Billie Holiday" and "Ella Fitzgerald" have the same rhythm. Holliday's stress pattern is strong-weak-strong-weak-weak, while Fitzgerald's is strong-weak-weak-strong-weak. Dinah Washington is rhythmically congruent with Billie Holiday, but not with Ella Fitzgerald. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:25, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Yes, that's a fair point. I guess she meant more in terms of two-syllable first name / three-syllable surname. I don't think it was pronounced FITZgerald in the 40s either. (I do hear the first syllable a bit more pronounced than it is in "baNAna" for example, probably due to the 'tzg' cluster, like something between an amphibrach and an antibacchius). ---Sluzzelin talk 15:55, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

There was no "Dinah Washington" in Booker T.'s family as far as I know, but "Dinah" had become a stereotypical name for a black girl in the early 20th century, like "Sheila" later became for an Australian woman. I assume comes from a real or perceived popularity of the name with Black American parents at the time. You could buy "Dinah" dolls [5] [6]. It was particularly used to refer to a grotesque caricature of a black woman who "ate" money in a form of mechanical piggy-bank [7] [8]. So I suppose that "Dinah Washington" in Niggers in the White House is an imaginary young female relative he might have. Paul B (talk) 16:03, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

P.S. Did the Dinah Washington ever perform with Booker T. & the M.G.'s? Paul B (talk) 16:06, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

That's interesting, thanks. Do we know whether the "Dinah" stereotype derives from Uncle Tom's Cabin - [9] - or pre-dates it? I suppose we'll never know for sure whether Lionel Hampton or Joe Sherman were aware of the 1903 verse, but it does seem like a remarkable coincidence. Re the PS: Not that I know of, but perhaps she knew Booker T. Washington White? Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:34, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Another early use of the name Dinah is in the 1890s song I've Been Working on the Railroad; the middle eight of that song is a borrowing from an 1830's song; and the Wikipedia article notes that Dinah was a "generic name for an enslaved African woman". The name itself derives from a biblical character, Dinah. --Jayron32 16:45, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

The footnote you refer to explains a passage about "Dinah" as a symbolic personification of black womanhood in a speech given in 1850, so yes, it seems to precede Uncle Tom. Paul B (talk) 17:06, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Looking at this list of slave names in the late 1700s, Dinah does seems to have been very common long before Uncle Tom [10]. I assume these are names given by the slave owners. Of course the Biblical Dinah was carried off and held captive, so I guess it may have been thought of as "appropriate". Some baby name websites say that the name has been shunned because it was perceived as a slave name. Paul B (talk) 16:53, 18 February 2014 (UTC)