South's Exception
Sirs:
I am sure that it is a very foolish thing for me to expose myself in a discussion with such a learned gentleman as Leslie White of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Michigan [TIME, Sept. 20].
However, the records on "spittin' image" should certainly be kept straight. I don't think that the expression has anything to do with saliva.
It originated, I believe, among the darkies of the South and the correct phrasing—without dialect—is "spirit and image." It was originally used in speaking of some person whose father...
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