Race/racism and the late Prof. Frederic G. Cassidy

[Beverly Flanigan]

Wow, your memory may be better than mine, Wilson--but I'll rent the video
again and check it out!

At 11:00 PM 11/3/2006, you wrote:
>My impression of the sub-titling of "The Harder They Come" is slightly
>different from yours, Beverly. It seems to me that the subtitles
>appear only when the dialogue is such any native speaker of any
>variety of English can understand what's being said. Otherwise, the
>viewer is on his own! :-) As when the fair-complexioned detective,
>switching into creole, said to the black peasant:
>
>"Me stop chase Ivan. Me start chase you!"
>
>-WIlson
>
>On 11/3/06, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Race/racism and the late Prof. Frederic G. Cassidy
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>I forgot to mention what is perhaps obvious: Fred's father's Canadian
>>English would not have been British either, and it probably sounded less
>>"British" than his mother's Jamaican English (I'm not referring to Creole,
>>of course).  Incidentally, I was always under the impression Fred was
>>"mixed," since I first met him in 1978 or so.  (I actually got a letter
>>from him in 1960, telling me he had no more financial aid for me at
>>Wisconsin--so I went to St. Louis U instead; but I still have his lovely
>>letter!)   As someone else pointed out, the "Black" majority in Jamaica
>>comes in all shades.
>>
>>One more incidentally: If you see "The Harder They Come," you'll note that
>>the film starts out with English subtitles for the Creole dialogue and then
>>drops them about halfway through on the assumption that the audience will
>>have caught on to the "Patois" by then--not always a safe assumption!
>>
>>-----------------
>>It's common for many Jamaicans to speak both Standard Jamaican English
>>(SJE)--which is not really "British" English but sounds closer to it than
>>to American English--and Jamaican Creole (JC).  The schools teach SJE, but
>>the vernacular of most people is JC, especially young people in their peer
>>groups; a varied continuum exists between the two.  I suspect this is what
>>is meant in the passage below.
>>
>>At 09:03 PM 11/1/2006, you wrote:
>> >On the web I find a memorial resolution of the University of Wisconsin
>> >faculty containing the following information:
>> >
>> >"Cassidy's interest in Creole English came naturally enough -- he was born
>> >in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1907, to a Canadian father and a Jamaican mother.
>> >He grew up hearing their two varieties of standard British English and the
>> >Creole variety of the Black majority as well."
>> >
>> >I'm not certain how to interpret this, but it sounds like his mother was
>> >Jamaican but not a member of the Black majority.
>> >
>> >Fred Shapiro
>> >
>> >
>> >--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
>> >Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
>> >   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
>> >Yale Law School                             ISBN 0300107986
>> >e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
>> >--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
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>
>
>--
>Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
>complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
>a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
>race. He brought death into the world.
>
>--Sam Clemens
>
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