[ADS-L] Heard on Th e Judges: "sucks"

RonButters at AOL.COM RonButters at AOL.COM
Fri Apr 11 18:37:28 UTC 2008


See:

Something Within: It Does Not Suck To Be A Black Woman!
Nov 30, 2007 ... You're right, it does not suck to be a black woman. It's
tough, but I wouldn't trade my culture or gender for anything in this world. ...
somethingwithin-rjweems.blogspot.com/ 2007/11/it-does-not-suck-to-be-black
-woman.html - 125k - Cached - Similar pages

and

"Unsaved People Suck" at http://www.cafepress.com/landoverbaptist.38641475

Not sure the latter are African American Baptists, but it does show how
widely received "suck" for "stink" has come in 21st Century American talk. My
perception is that "X sucks" is widespread among all Americans, especially younger
people, though maybe I'm just talking to middle-class African Americans?

In a message dated 4/11/08 10:46:28 AM, hwgray at GMAIL.COM writes:


> Spoken by thirty-ish, black, male defendant:
>
> "I'm great as a father, but I _suck_ as a boyfriend."
>
> Judge:
>
> "Why is that?"
>
> Defendant:
>
> "Because I like to cheat."
>
> I fear for the vocabulary of the dialect. This is the first time
> that I've heard "suck" as slang used naturally in the wild by a black
> person. In all other cases, the person has used it in mockery of lame
> white slang. Back in the day in Saint Louis, the word mocked was
> "neat," used by white teenagers instead of "cool." E.g., if someone
> did something lame, the bruz might say, "Gee, guy, that was really
> _neat_!"
>
>




**************
Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.

  (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list