What are "N...-toes?"

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John Hartwell

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Since this appears to be an edible, of the candy/snack variety), I thought I'd ask here.

I have before me a McMinville, Tenn. newspaper from January 2nd, 1881, which contains a brief story about Billy and Tommy, who, one Christmas Eve sneak out of bed to try to catch Santa. Well, as the story goes, Billy taking fright at the scary shadow of his sister's doll flickering on the wall by candle-light, lets out a yell and jumps behind the chair.
To ease their excitement, the boys proceed to empty their stockings of all the goodies they contain (sounds like a good idea to me!) Ashamed of his panicky reaction, Billy wants to make sure Johnny wouldn't spread it around:
ntoes.jpg
My question is about thise "n...-toes." What are they?
 
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It's a derogatory ( once considered humorous ) name for the Brazil nut.
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http://philosophyofscienceportal.blogspot.com/2010/05/brazil-nutsa-comodity-of-past.html

When one buys a can of 'mixed nuts', there will usually be a few of these larger hard fruits mixed with the regular peanuts, cashews, almonds ect.

More about the nickname here:
http://nonprophet.typepad.com/nonprophet/2004/04/nutty_racism.html
I never heard that before,i remember when growing up we had a candy IIRC was called sugar babies,would not be PC today if they were still made.
 
Thank you all.

Soon after posting the OP, I found the answer myself, courtesy of Blessed St. Google, our "Answerer of All Questions" (which I expect will shortly start replying to all inquiries with: "42").

That's an entirely new one on me. Always loved Brazil nuts, regardless of how ridiculously hard it is to get at them.
 
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Holy gee whiz. New one to me, too. " Finally our sales V.P. who hails from Pennsylvania had the same reaction as I did. We agreed that if we ever even said that in our own home our mothers would have slapped us so fast we wouldn't have had time to duck. " From the link, anyone else in PA never hear it?

Can't claim sainthood on the part of Pennsylvania though. When my son began school, once got off the bus using yet another er, descriptive term for something- learned it in discussion with the bus driver. He'd never heard it so thought it just fine. You get your kids knee pads for dirt bikes, that helmet for riding anything at all, see them covered in pads for football, teach them to swim so falling into the pond means they're only muddy, go to gun safety class before going hunting and heck, point out it's not a terrific idea to climb that rotting tree. Tough to protect them from everything.
 
It was what Brazil Nuts called in Kentucky. I do like Brazil Nuts. They are so hard to open.

We get them in the mixed bag of nuts at grocery store at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Always put nuts in large silver bowl with old silver nutcracker and nut pick so people can open the nuts and enjoy them. My Grandma did this, then my Mom and now me.
 
My wife introduced me to that name some years ago. Since then things have changed
quite a bit and she will jump on anyone who uses that derogatory word around her. I'm
not much on change when it comes to our natural and social environment in most cases
but this is one change that I can agree with.
 
Brazil Nuts. People I was around when I was little always called them by the "N" word. I didn't know the difference until I was older. Just how they were referred to by people. It wasn't right to call them that but many did. I never even see Brazil Nuts anymore.
We used to call them that, also. And it wasn't till I was an older child did I learn what that actually meant. A few years ago I actually used that term in conversation! Not out of racism or disrespect. I guess old habits die slow. Thankfully I was talking with my brother who said, "I haven't heard them called that in decades." We were talking about trick-or-treat experiences and one neighborhood lady used to hand out walnuts and Brazil nuts.
 
Never heard that one before, certainly don't use it in England. However, my generation and those older used to call a blood-blister a 'Black Man's Pinch.' Haven't heard anyone say it for donkey's years though.
Never heard of a black man's pinch or donkey years. You Brits might speak English but you don't speak American. :smile: We used to say coon's age to mean an indefinite long period of time. But that is falling out of favor.
 
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Never heard of a black man's pinch or donkey years. You Brits might speak English but you don't speak American.") We used to say coon's age to mean an indefinite long period of time. But that is falling out of favor.

We apparently speak the 'Queen's English' but you could have fooled me, she only speaks like .5% of the population :whistling:

Funny you mention the word 'coon'. Had heavy use here in the 70's and 80's - on TV as well - and not in a good way either. That was most definitely a dodgy word like the 'N' word, because 90% of folk here wouldn't know what a raccoon was if they fell over it!
 
While it was often used in reference to Brazil nuts, it was also a term used to refer to chocolate-covered cream-drop candies.

1534722310359.jpg

My Grandmother & her sister from Southeast Kentucky loved those candies and referred to them as such.

There is a story that after my Granny's sister moved to Michigan in the 1960s, she went to a local store and casually asked the black female clerk behind the counter for a bag of "n----- toes." The young clerk looked at her, as if to say "did you really just say that?" and then my Grandaunt realized the mistake that she made. She apologized and pointed to the cream drop candies and said that was what she meant. The young clerk shook it off and told her that she understood no offense was meant & made the sale.
 
Coon (Raccoon) hunting was a big moneymaker for folks up in North Missouri. I mean about everyone in our neighborhood hunted them. The hides were pretty good money then. I have no idea now. I hadn't thought about that in years. I used to coon hunt, always cold as hell out when we hunted. It was also a word used heavily up there. I don't think I ever heard it used on TV back then. I don't hear the word used at all down here anymore. We have a lot of raccoons down here, big ones, too much garbage in town for them to eat, and very destructive, really tore up a roof of a place I used to live.
 
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