CP Time

[Dennis R. Preston]

Wilson, I have heard this for a very long time and from folk who are
most definitely not boojies (and who definitely do not have /s/ after
'person"). But my momma told me a long time ago that I was runnin
with the wrong crowd.

dInIs

PS: Truth is, I have rarely heard the "full form"; only when some
lame asked what it meant.



>On Nov 4, 2004, at 12:24 PM, Mullins, Bill wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>>Subject:      CP Time
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>  From the comic strip Boondocks:
>>http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/11/02/
>>
>>Huey:  I dreamt I talked to God last night . . .
>>Huey:  He said, Don't worry about the election 'cause everything would
>>work
>>itself out soon.
>>Huey:  Of course, to God, "Soon" could be, like, 50 million years.
>>Caesar:  Yeah, He's been on C.P. time lately.
>>
>>
>>I've seen/heard "C.P. Time" as "Colored People Time", but never in
>>such a
>>mainstream form.
>>
>
>Aaron probably recked without the ADS, figuring that "the other group"
>would be too lame and unhip to have any idea what the reference was.
>Or, perhaps, he just didn't care, since he uses a lot of in-group
>references in his work. If this kind of thing interests you(-all),
>you(-all) may want to watch Chappelle's Show on Comedy Central. He's
>the sketch-comedy version of Richard Pryor, so to speak. Or as it were.
>
>FWIW, I know this only as "colored people's time," with the possessive
>"s" pronounced, since I've heard it used only by  boojies as a down
>(sic) of the underclass types who, with their lack of couth, their rap
>music, and their blink-blink (sic) persist in interfering with the
>upward progress of the Talented Tenth. Bill - or, rather, William -
>Cosby, EdD, you know what I'm saying.
>
>-Wilson Gray


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736