mystical magical Negro
n.— «Addressing issues ranging from Quentin Tarantino’s gratuitous use of racial epithets to the stereotype of the “mystical magical Negro” who appears in such films as “The Green Mile” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” Lee kept the house in stitches. Referring to the character of Bagger Vance, Lee commented, “They were hanging ’em high in Georgia then. If Bagger Vance really did have magical powers, wouldn’t he help out his brothers? Do you really think his number-one concern would be helping Matt Damon with his golf swing?”» —“FESTIVALS: 11th Cinequest Makes Digital Official; Leacock and Spike Lee Tell It Like It Is” by Cynthia Gentry indieWire Mar. 13, 2001. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Megan from Savannah, Georgia, is curious about a phrase her father used: down cellar behind the axe, a phrase whose meaning she never quite understood. Down cellar, meaning “down in the cellar,” is common in New England and the Canadian Maritimes...
A Navy veteran recalls hearing the Southern expression fat lighter from his wife’s family in Troy, Alabama. It denotes an old, resin-rich pine wood that becomes highly flammable as it ages. Fat lighter is prized as kindling and often called fat...