"88," White Power for "Heil Hitler"

[Joanne M. Despres]

On 28 Aug 2002, at 19:32, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> Work with slang and language use in general among working class (and
> even marginal) subcultures has led me (perhaps especially as  a
> former student of David Maurer's) to conclude that such speakers are
> hardly deaf to nuance and implication in their language use. I might
> have even suggested the opposite (since they are the source of so
> much which is new in language, particularly, perhaps, in lexicon).

I'm sure you're right about that.  I shouldn't have let my personal
distaste for rednecks and goombahs with pretensions to mystical
insight prejudice my views about the capacity for linguistic
creativity among the homicidally inclined.

Only half joking,
Joanne