Heard on the Judges

[Wilson Gray]

Hm. I can't tell whether you're teasing me or not, Margaret. IAC, IMO,
FWIW, that "get down" is ultimately related to "I'm, etc., down wit'
it 'n' jus' cain't quit it!", which I first heard ca.1957.

-Wilson

On 5/31/07, Margaret Lee <mlee303 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on the Judges
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:    Thirty-ish black woman from Chicago:
>
> "He put on party clothes, _get-up gear_."
>
> Back in the day, a person having a good time could be said to be
> "steady [st^dI] gettin' up / gittin' up."
>
> -Wilson
>
>   Did "gittin' up" evolve into the more contemporary AAE phrase, "get down," to have a good time?
> -----
>
>   Margaret
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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