CP Time

[Wilson Gray]

On Nov 4, 2004, at 6:56 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: CP Time
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> --------
>
> "Better had" go way beyond St.Louis, bro. And you're right; I shoulda
> listened to my momma more. But, if she hadn't collaborated with my
> daddy givin me these 5'10" genes, I coulda been a NBA star.
>
> dInIs (who once guarded the Big O, to his [i.e.,mine] everlasting
> basketball shame)

The Big O? Really? That's interesting! Though no more so than any of
your other posts, of course.;-)

-Wilson

>
>
>
>
>> On Nov 4, 2004, at 3:35 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: CP Time
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> --
>>> --------
>>>
>>> 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
>>> "people"). 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.
>>
>> If I wrote anything that implied that I thought that "CP time" was a
>> fresh term, I apologize. It's probably two days older than water. As
>> far as my experience of the living use of the term is concerned, "CP
>> time" is the pretty much the only way that I've ever heard the term
>> used. However, I've never heard "colored people time," only "colored
>> people's time." However, I do not doubt that there are speakers who
>> say
>> the former.
>>
>>  As for your moms, you better had listen. Yo momma she tellin you
>> straight. (The "better had" is a St. Louis BE-ism that merely adds
>> emphasis and has no effect on the tense of the main verb.)
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> 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
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African
> Languages
> A-740 Wells Hall
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824
> Phone: (517) 432-3099
> Fax: (517) 432-2736
> preston at msu.edu
>