nyaa nyaa/ naa naa (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Oddly, I've heard neither this nor "olly-olly-oxen-free" in the wild.
Like the "razzberry," it's one of those things that white people write
that they do or say.

--
-Wilson
-----
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.
-Mark Twain


On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: nyaa nyaa/ naa naa (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The number of nyaas cited is correct for my idiolect.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 10:06 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: nyaa nyaa/ naa naa (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
>> To me, the taunt has 6 naa/nyah's, not five (Naa-na naa naa NAA naa).
>> And either Naa or Nyah would have been acceptable when I was in school.
>> A good friend of my wife, who grew up on the Florida panhandle, doesn't
>> say that, but rather "neener neener neener" with the same sing-song
>> cadence.
>>
>> Besides the "The Band" song, another cultural referent may be the tail
>> end of the Journey song "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" (see 3:40 at
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRt0d1O4tiE ).
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of
>>> Jonathan Lighter
>>> Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 6:55 AM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Subject: nyaa nyaa/ naa naa
>>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> ----------------------
>>> -
>>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject: Â  Â  Â nyaa nyaa/ naa naa
>>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
>>> -
>>>
>>> A while ago I indirectly called attention to the stereotyped childhood
>>> taunt melody, "Nyaa nyaa nyah  NYAA nyaa!"
>>>
>>> I suggested ironically that that's what "all the people were singin'"
>>> on "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
>>>
>>> Even though the lyrics there are clearly "Na na na na na na," etc.
>>>
>>> OK. Twice in the past couple of weeks CNN news anchor Soledad O'Brien
>>> (b. 1966) has had occasion to do the taunt. But what she said clearly
>>> both times was "Naa naa naa NAA naa!" (No /j /).
>>>
>>> To me (b. Neolithic) this variant is weird. (Really.) Â Is Suffolk Co.,
>>> L.I., that different from NYC? Or is English going to hell like they
>>> say?
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>>
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> Caveats: NONE
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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