English Language & Usage Asked on April 1, 2021
Someone suggested to me that the idiom "to shine someone on" is racist in origin.
I’m not talking about shine on or shine or any of those other uses. What I’m referring to is shining someone on meaning in either of its meanings listed here, but mainly the first one:
shine (one) on
- To deceive one or to tell one a lie, especially in order to deflect or avoid responsibility for something.
He told me he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol, but I think he was shining me on.
Don’t shine us on, Marty. We know you’re the one who screwed up the accounts!- To insult, provoke, or aggravate one.
After the neighbors complained about my Christmas lights, I decided to shine them on a bit by adding even more to my house.
If you really want to shine him on, you should bring his sister to the Christmas party as your date.
Don’t shine the immigration officer on, or you very well might get booted out of the country!
TFD Online, Farlex Dictionary of Idioms
I can’t find any etymology for this. I’d like to know when and how it came about because if its roots are racist (shine being an offensive term for a Black person), I want to avoid it.
According to GDoS “shine” in shine someone on and other related expressions is a euphemism for shit (a US black usage).
Shine someone on (v.) (also put someone on (the) shine, shine it on, shine on someone) [euph. shit n. (1)] (US black) to ignore, to disdain. 1968
- 1968 [US] ‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 41: Shine it on, v. Forget about it; don’t pay it any attention.
- 1969 [US] Cressey & Ward Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 808: If an initiate arrives on the scene and presents an image of being ‘rowdy,’ ‘lame,’ or ‘uncool,’ he is immediately ‘put on the shine’ (shunned).
Answered by user 66974 on April 1, 2021
It's a hard phrase to search for. A Google N-Gram search for "shine him on" offers a number of hits in accord with the definitions in the questions.
In the following, the phrase is described as an "old theatrical expression." In this case an actor says the script writer recognizes the script's weaknesses, and thus the actor doesn't have to "shine him on:"
All His Jazz: The Life And Death Of Bob Fosse By Martin Gottfried (1990)
Answered by Xanne on April 1, 2021
in our (white) working class neighborhood we used this to imply that someone was being duped, or ignored, or deceived in some way.
"He said he would, do it, but you know he's just shining us"
"if you can't come and get me, just stop shining then, I'll find another ride"
"I asked her to come, but I guess she said "shine on that!" after I was gone.
Just my opinion, but any racist origin could be the stereotypical newsstand shoe shiner, convincing a less wary victim to "sit down, sit down it will only take a second boss"and with enough spit, and polish, and hustle, an old boot might briefly pass as new. The shine won't last and you've wasted a nickle.
Answered by Iam Theman on April 1, 2021
It is black vernacular in America. I think it refers to smiling at someone when they're a clueless dipshit and you just tolerate it for the duration of the interchange. It could also refer to the smile of the shoe-shine toward his customers, but that's a much earlier reference. It could be the root. It basically is about a power interchange with a racist or privileged white person.
Answered by David DeLong on April 1, 2021
Shine can come from the german/jiddish "der Schein" resp. "der Anschein" which translates to "its superficial appearance" with a connotation that what's behind the appearance is not what the appearance suggested. "Der Schein kann trügen" = "appearances can be deceiving" or "der Schein trügt" = "of deceiving appearance"
Answered by Axel on April 1, 2021
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