"Little" xxxx. From early R&B to Rap.

[David Bergdahl]

Not only in AA-communities: my Irish-Swedish-American family differentiated
"Big Larry" (b. 1909) from "Little Larry" (b. 1936) even when "Little
Larry" was 2" taller than his dad.

--On Monday, March 10, 2003 2:01 AM -0800 Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
wrote:

>> Why would the appellation "Little or Lil' " be very common in Black
>> English?
>> Because the performers started at a very young age and were truly
> "little?"
>
> That, plus in many instances in the African American community,
> especially for males, "big" and "little" were/are used to distinguish
> the father from the son with the same name-- Big Joe and Little Joe.
>
>
>
> --- Sam Clements <sclements at NEO.RR.COM> wrote:
>> While waiting for my son today, I was listening to "the oldies."
>> And heard
>> a familiar song by Little Anthony and the Imperials.  And then I
>> thought of
>> Little Richard.
>>
>> And then I thought about my son's devotion to Rap and Hip Hop, with
>> more
>> singers than you can shake your booty at who have the name "Little"
>> before
>> their given name.  There's Little Wayne.  Lil' Romeo,  Lil' Kim,
>> and many
>> others.
>>
>> So I got out my Billboard top 40, and discovered Little
>> Caesar(1961), Little
>> Eva(1962), Little Joe(1957), Little Joey(1962), Little
>> Milton(1965).  Most
>> are listed as R&B("Black") singers.  I don't know how many were
>> Afro-American, but that is the question I pose.
>>
>
>
> =====
> Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor - English and Linguistics
>  & University Editor
> Department of English
> Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
> (757)727-5769(voice);(757)727-5084(fax);(757)851-5773(home)
> e-mail: margaret.lee at hamptonu.edu   or   mlee303 at yahoo.com
>
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