"di?nt" (with glottal stop)
James A. Landau
JJJRLandau at AOL.COM
Tue Nov 16 16:45:00 UTC 2004
In a message dated Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:31:21 -0500, Wilson Gray
<wilson.gray at RCN.COM> writes:
> Until ca.1961, I never heard the glottal stop used by anyone, black or
> white, except in British movies.
Di?nt you ever hear anyone say "uh-oh" when something went wrong or use
"uh-uh" (sometimes spelt "unh-uh") as a negative mumble? MWCD10 has "uh-oh" dated
with a surprisingly late 1971 as pronounced "usu with strong glottal stops
before the vowels) and "uh-uh" dated as "ca. 1924" as pronounced "two [nasal] m's
or two [nasal] n's preceded by glottal stops".
English, the only Indo-European language to have dispensed with gutturals in
recorded history, is also the first Indo-European language to introduce
glottal stops!
> I first noted its use by kids in Roxbury (the
> Harlem of Boston, as it were) about ten years ago.
"How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea/ or my cousin in Rox-bur-ee?"
so Charlie on the MTA was African-American?
> one of my own brothers, a Federal judge in California.
an ambiguity here: is the Honorable Judge the son of your father and/or
mother?
(can't find the reference): I don't doubt your are right about Frederick Law
Olmstead. I have not read any of his work, and I could not remember when
mentioning him whether he was considered an Abolitionist or merely a reporter.
An interesting rumor I heard yesterday: Cheney is going to resign as Vice
President and Bush is going to appoint Colin Powell in his place. Highly
unlikely, I think---had Powell been interested in elective office, he would have run
for something back in the 1990's. I must say that Powell would make a better
President than either Bush II or Kerry.
- James A. Landau
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