Offensive vernacular?

[Sally Donlon]

Point taken, IF the secretary indeed used non-standard dialect on a regular basis.
I guess I was giving the prof a bit of the old benefit-of-the-doubt in that I
couldn't forsee that he were enough the cretin to actually mock such a speaker.

sally



Beverly Flanigan wrote:

> 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
> > > >