Wrong and Holla

[Benjamin Barrett]

I think that accent must be the identifying marker that sets it apart from
the more normal use Larry Horn cites. It includes a sense of being
aggrieved.

The accent I think is also why I think of the use of phat, and why I felt
from the first time I heard "wrong" that it was a faddish use doomed to die.

Benjamin Barrett

>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]
>On Behalf Of Gwyn Alcock
>
>I picked up "wrong" from co-workers in Northern California
>about six years ago.
>
>Usually the stress of the sentence will be on wrong, the final
>word in the
>sentence: "This is _wrong_."
>
>It can refer to something ill-formed or incorrectly done,
>something or a situation that's rotten (literally or
>figuratively), offensive, or unjust. Usage can range from
>jesting or teasing to quite serious.
>
>Gwyn Alcock
>Redlands, California
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society
>[mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf Of Benjamin Barrett
>
>Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 6:16 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Wrong and Holla
>
>This quarter, a student has used wrong and holla in interesting ways.
>
>He uses wrong as a predicate to mean unfair. "This is wrong,"
>he proclaims, meaning the way a paper was graded was wrong.
>