nigger-shooter

1866 Galveston Daily News (TX) [17 Aug 3]/1 (newspaperarchive.com), “Nigger Shooter” is the name of a new fangled machine which is in general use amongst the boys for throwing shot, pebbles and china berries. . . How the name “nigger shooter” was adopted for them, the sapient youth of Galveston alone can tell. 1876 in 1969 PADS 52.53 seIL, I had a job on hand making Nigger shooters for Dr’s children. 1893 St. Nicholas 21.154 New Orleans LA, I am told that of late years the popularity of the blow-gun has been largely transferred to that fiendish thing made of a forked stick and a rubber strap, . . known in New Orleans by the ribald name of nigger-shooter. I hope I have been misinformed. 1901 Hoosier Democrat & Clark Co. Reg. (Charlestown IN) 21 June 1/2, There still remains that pesky little wood and rubber nuisance commonly know[n] as “rubber shooter’[’] or “gumbo shooter,” or still more commonly by the old-fashioned name, “nigger shooter.” 1909 DN 3.352 eAL, wGA, Nigger-shooter. . . A slingshot. 1915 DN 4.227 wTX, Nigger-shooter. . . A sort of sling shot, composed of a wooden handle and two rubber bands ending in a leather “pocket” from which stones are shot. Every boy in Texas is proficient in its use. 1939 Big Spring Daily Herald (TX) 10 Feb 3/4, For many years before adults made the startling discovery that “nigger shooters,” or rubber sling shots as they are now politely called, were dangerous, pitched battles with green walnuts were part of the day’s routine on camp. 1941 O’Donnell Great Big Doorstep 2 sLA, ‘Let me try!’ Evvie whispered. ‘Give me the nigger-shooter.’ 1961 Folk Word Atlas N. LA map 1306, Boy’s weapon made of rubber strips on a forked stick . . nigger shooter 46% [of 275 QRs] . . others 3% bean shooter, nigger killer, sling. 1965 Western Folkl. 24.192 KS, A forked stick, rubber bands, and an “apron” cut from an old shoe-tongue which could be used to project marble-sized stones with considerable force and accuracy and was most commonly known as a “nigger shooter,” . . and . . as a slingshot. 1965 DARE FW Addit ceOK, A “nigger shooter” has one solid piece of rubber from post to post. 1968 Moody Coming of Age MS 16 [Black], Ed made us a “niggershooter” each. This was a little slingshot made out of a piece of leather connected to a forked stick by a thin slab of rubber. 1969 Des Moines Register (IA) 10 Sept 7/2, Jefferson, Ia.—An 18-year-old Jefferson youth has asked the City Council here to take the term “nigger shooter” out of the city code. . . “I suppose he’s . . got a valid point,” said [Mayor] Pauley. “This is an old ordinance that was enacted in a time when the word nigger shooter meant something to everybody, but I suppose nowadays most kids wouldn’t even know what the word meant.” 1970 Tarpley Blinky 231 neTX, A favorite boyhood weapon . . is constructed by attaching two rubber strips to a forked stick. The majority of informants call this weapon a nigger-shooter. . . Another name . . is nigger-killer. 1970 DARE (Qu. F49) Inf TX85, Nigger shooter—a rubber band used to shoot at birds. [1977 Corpus Christi Times (TX) 11 Mar sec B 11/4, Remember the tree fork you used to cut . . to make a (bleep)-shooter, or slingshot or rubber-shooter?] 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance Gulf Region, 11 infs, Nigger-shooter(s) = (homemade) slingshot(s). 1994 DARE File cnOH (as of 1920s), In Akron, I remember, a slingshot was called a nigger-chaser, but it may not have been the general term and there were many Southerners around. The term was also applied to a type of firework that whizzed along the ground.