Hello all, Not knowing David Frears, I won't make any assumptions on his beliefs, motivations, or meanings regarding his use of the phrase "white enough." On the other hand, the question of whether that phrase can be offensive is, I think, an important question to consider, interested as we all are in the use of language, the meaning of humor, and the question of race in American culture. I did some initial research into the use of phrases like "white enough" after the original post, as I was not familiar with the usage. I haven't found much information of the derivation of this usage. Can other members of the listserve help on this point? As someone who studies humor, though, I must disagree--firmly but respectfully--with the post of Mark Coburn in his defense of Mr. Frears' language. Mr. Coburn's premise is fine, but the examples of humor he chooses are only two types of joking--we could call them "stereotypical" (blonde jokes) and coping (Alzheimer's, etc.). While these are excellent examples, they do not directly pertain to the case at hand, other than to point out that what we joke about doesn't define us, as murderers, misogynists, racists, etc. But not all jokes are the same. Try replacing the blonde joke in the example with any of the hundreds of jokes that mock the intelligence or capabilities of African Americans (or other races, or on women as a group). Clearly, it would no longer be "blithering twaddle" to question the suitability of the joke. In America, as in most other places, jokes involving race do not exist only at the level of "meta-reality" but on the level of everyday reality where language has complicated meanings and those who don't laugh at a joke are not simply starchy fools. Plus, some jokes just aren't very funny...(see the blonde joke, for an example). Anyone who studies humor will readily admit that jokes about Alzheimer's patients by their caregivers do not mean that these jokers are cruel people (although Freud might find some repressed anger or resentment there somewhere). People who understand humor also know that different kinds of jokes have different connotations, not all so innocent as those aimed at agnostic insomniacs, and that joking about race is fraught with cultural complexity in America. I'm not actually sure the use of the phrase "white enough" was meant as a verbal joke, but, even if it was, this does not erase the question of what that kind of humor would mean. As those interested in Twain, we all know that humor is a complicated subject that goes beyond the merely funny. Tracy Wuster American Studies, UT Austin