Offensive vernacular?

[Beverly Flanigan]

I tend to agree on the hierarchical put-down theory, but I certainly
wouldn't call it a "mild rebuttal."  It is an extremely offensive piece, to
my mind, regardless of the color or origin of the secretary.  I say that
because we've had several secretaries who are "local"  (and why shouldn't
we?), and they've occasionally written the way they speak, including using
generalized past tense "done."   (Misspellings are another matter and
totally irrelevant here.)  Visitors will sometimes ask us why we
(linguists, of all people!) tolerate such usage in the office, and we
answer, truthfully, that we value their skills more than their speech.  So
their!

At 08:03 AM 2/12/2004 -0600, you wrote:
>First, my lifelong experience with people of color (here in South
>Louisiana and
>New Orleans) tells me that the parody bears very little resemblance to any
>such
>vernacular. It is more representative, I believe, of an amorphous, generally
>uneducated, person responding to a perceived rebuke. My guess is that this
>exchange, if it happened, is of a hierarchical nature (i.e., a mild
>rebuttal to
>a secretary who had the audacity to "correct" a professor?).
>
>sally donlon
>
>
>
>Sam Clements wrote:
>
> > What I would want to know is--why did your colleague choose to write this
> > stupidity to his secretary in this instance?  It sounds like an urban
> legend
> > or some exponentially forwarded message that is sent in e-mail to my
> mother.
> >
> > Is your colleague in the habit of doing this kind of thing in an official,
> > office situation?    Did "Joyce" (not her real name) talk in a similar
> > manner in her email?  WHY did he choose to reply to her the way he did?
> What
> > did his message have to do with her message?
> >
> > SC
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Joseph Nardoni" <JNardoni at AOL.COM>
> > To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 10:12 PM
> > Subject: Offensive vernacular?
> >
> > > Hi, a colleague of mine is taking some heat for sending the following
> > email
> > > message.  I will give a brief situation. He missed class one day, and
> > forgot to
> > > tell the secretary he would be out, so she couldn't tell his students who
> > > came looking for him.  She sent him an email request to remember next
> > time.  This
> > > is what he wrote:
> > >
> > > Shucks, Joyce, (not her real name), ya know, ah plumb forgot.  Mah Dean
> > > alreddy new it, 'n ah told mah classes on Frahday ah wuddn't be their.
> > Guess some
> > > folks wuz out thet day.  Ah'll dismember it neckst tahme.
> > >
> > > Some people at my college are claiming this language is a clear
> attempt to
> > > use a vernacular that "has been ascribed derisively, to people of color."
> > >
> > > While I'm not a linguist, it seems to me that this sounds more like the
> > > dialect of a southern white hillbilly, or even a parody of one, ala Li'l
> > Abner.
> > >
> > > What I am asking for is your considered opinions as to what dialectal
> > > influences you see in this language, and any information you have that
> > would suggest
> > > this kind of language has been ascribed in derision towards people of
> > color.
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > > Joseph Nardoni
> > >