shuck and jive
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Shuckin' and jivin' (or shucking and jiving) is African-American slang for joking and acting evasively in the presence of an authoritative figure. It usually involves clever lies and impromptu storytelling, to one-up an opponent or avoid punishment. In ''Ribbin', Jivin', and Playin' the Dozens: The Persistent Dilemma in Our Schools'', Herbert L. Foster writes: "Shuckin' and jivin' is a verbal and physical technique some blacks use to avoid difficulty, to accommodate some authority figure, and in the extreme, to save a life or to save oneself from being beaten physically or psychologically."


Origin

According to the linguist Barbara Ann Kipfer, the origins of the phrase may be traced to when "black slaves sang and shouted gleefully during corn-shucking season, and this behavior, along with lying and teasing, became a part of the protective and evasive behavior normally adopted toward white people." According to the 1994 book by
Clarence Major Clarence Major (born December 31, 1936) is an American poet, painter, and novelist; winner of the 2015 "Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts", presented by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. He was awarded the 2016 PEN Oakland/Reg ...
, ''Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang'', "shuck and jive" dates back to the 1870s and was an "originally southern 'Negro' expression for clowning, lying, pretense"."Martin: 'Shucking and jiving' and the campaign trail"
CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs, January 11, 2008.


Racial overtones

The use of the phrase in modern American politics has generated charges of
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...
, especially as such usage increased since 2008 and is usually directed at
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
figures. In 2008, New York Attorney General
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...
was criticized for saying of the Democratic Party candidate
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
, who was running against Cuomo's favored
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
: "You can't shuck and jive at a press conference." Roland Martin of
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
said that "'Shucking and jiving' have long been words used as a negative assessment of African Americans, along the lines of a 'foot-shufflin'
Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...
." Similarly, on October 25, 2012, the former Republican Party vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin generated controversy when she stated: "President Obama's shuck-and-jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end." In September 2013,
Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...
referred to President Barack Obama's strategy on Syria as "Operation Shuck and Jive". He was criticized by Joan Walsh, ''Salon'''s editor-at-large, as "a racist troll". At the 2008
ESPY Awards An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...
, Justin Timberlake used the phrase to compliment the agile play of African-American basketball player
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. He was most recently an analyst on ESPN ...
. This segment was cut out of the broadcast by
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
due to "the phrase's racial overtones".


Other uses

''Shuckin' and Jivin': Folklore from Contemporary Black Americans'' is a 1981 book by
Daryl Cumber Dance Daryl Cumber Dance (born January 17, 1938) is an American academic best known for her work on black folklore. Biography Daryl Veronica Cumber was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Allen and Veronica Bell Cumber. She attended Ruthville High School in ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuckin' And Jivin' English phrases African-American culture