shucking and jiving
Deliberately deceptive clowning
Shucking and jiving describes evasive, deceptive, or performatively deferential behavior—originally the strategic compliance Black Americans adopted around white people during slavery and segregation.
The term has broadened to mean any kind of shuffling avoidance or insincere talk: Quit shucking and jiving and give me a straight answer.
Some consider the phrase offensive when applied to Black people, given its historical weight.
- deceivingCausing false belief
- lyingStating known falsehoods
- foolingTricking or joking
- playing dumbPretending not to understand
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
smooth talking · song and dance · minstrel shows · survival mechanisms · signifying · cultural resistance · slavery · code-switching · masquerade · evasion · trickery · misdirection · plantation life · Jim Crow · double consciousness · dodging · feinting · saving face
shucking and jivingkeeping it real
Maintaining genuine behavior
being honest · showing one's true colors · being oneself · sincerity · authenticity
shucking and jivinggetting to the point
Stating the essence plainly
telling it like it is · cutting to the chase · straight talk · candor · forthrightness