Shalom Everybody-
Today, I was sitting in church and like Elite Ivy, thinking about the things posted on the board entitled YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN A BLACK CHURCH, when all of a sudden I hear the speaking Pastor of the day say "I'm as happy as a coon eating grapes".
Now mind you I currently attend an Assemblies Of God / AOG Church (Caucasian Pentacostal if you will), so I was like, "Whoa, what did he just say?".
The congregation laughed when he said this...even the African-Americans were smiling and nodding their heads.
As for me, I sat in shock! I have understood the term "coon" to be defined as a short form of the word racoon....but I also lived in the Midwest where it was used as reference to "colored" folks.
After looking it up in the Webster Unabridged Dictionary this evening, I found it to be defined as l. racoon [Collog.] 2. A Negro; vulgar term of prejudice and contempt. [Slang]
What I'm having a problem with is not the word "coon" but the meaning of the phrase:
I'm as happy as a coon eating grapes
It's unclear to me why when greeted with, "Hi, how are you doing"? One would respond back with, "I'm as happy as a coon eating grapes".
I posted this long message to ask if any one has heard of this phrase and if you have, what does it mean?
Please enlighten me---I know I had a time with Hebrew and the STRONG'S Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible for a class I took ...but this has taken me to another level of word/phrase usage!
Shalom throughout your week!
Coon Phrase
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