Tonto

From Spanish tonto (“fool”), from Western Apache kounʼnde (“wild rough people”).

Tonto

1. Sidekick of the Lone Ranger
2. A member of the Tonto Apaches.

Tonto (plural Tontos)

1. A sidekick.
   • 2004, Lee Godden, ZenWise Selling: Mindful Methods to Improve Your Sales, page 141:

     Salespeople may see themselves as Lone Rangers, not in need of any help, save for the occasional advice from a Tonto (or technical sales specialist).

   • 2006, Douglas Snauffer, Crime television, page 130:

     Hardcastle realized he couldn't go it alone and would need a “Tonto.” He found his trusty sidekick in “Skid” Mark McCormack

   • 2010, Stephen Arterburn; Jack Felton, More Jesus, Less Religion: Moving from Rules to Relationship, page 133:

     So do you have a Tonto in your life? If not, find one and make that person your trusted companion.

2. A Native American who accepts a subservient position to a white person.
   • 1982, Iron Eyes Cody; Collin Perry, Iron Eyes, my life as a Hollywood Indian:

     They called Indians like him — that is, any Indian who tried to make it by working within the system — a "Tonto."

   • 1999, Ellenor Ranghild Merriken, Looking for country: a Norwegian immigrant's Alberta memoir, page 21:

     Once more, Beyond the Survey takes up the topic, introducing a character Mowees (obviously an "Indianificarion" of the common Metis name Moise) who unfortunately never rises above the level of a Tonto figure.

   • 2002, Jim Sleeper, Liberal racism, page 130:

     Law Schools, a critical race theorist likened Kennedy to a Tonto figure, the fictional Indian whose loyalty to the Lone Ranger set him apart from, if not against, his tribe.

   • 2003, Benjamin DeMott; Arthur Asa Berger, Supergrow: essays and reports on imagination in America, page 11:

     An example: The Black Panther Chairman abuses the black Supreme Court Justice (the latter having just denied a Cleaver plea) as an "Uncle Tom, a bootlicker, a nigger pig, a Tonto, and a punk."

   • 2007, Lisa Alther, Kinfolks: falling off the family tree, page 20:

     But clearly she's a Two Hearts, not a Tonto.

   • 2007, Jabari Asim, The N word: who can say it, who shouldn't, and why, page 185:

     In the best circumstances, he was devastatingly witty and slyly subversive; in the worst, he was merely a Tonto with an Afro.

• Tonto (Lone Ranger character) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tonto Apache people on Wikipedia.Wikipedia