pig as college slang(was "di?nt" (with glottal stop)

[Wilson Gray]

On Nov 18, 2004, at 8:39 AM, David Bowie wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
> Subject:      Re: pig as college slang(was "di?nt" (with glottal stop)
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> From:    Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> : On Wed, Nov 17, 2004 at 01:56:21AM -0500, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
> :: somebody else wrote:
>
> ::: Of course, pig=police goes back to the 1800's.  It just reached
> ::: mainstream in the 1960's, as opposed to being invented at that
> ::: point.]
>
> :: Is it certain that the 19th-century slang was continuous with the
> :: 1960's US college slang? Partridge thinks so, but ....
>
> : I thought (<tm> useless suggestions) that it has been an intentional
> : coinage by the Black Panthers, not based on the earlier use.
>
> Of course, even if the Black Panther(s) who came up with the epithet
> *thought* that it was a new coinage, it may not have been. Linguistic
> items
> have a way of remaining below the surface, unnoticed, only to burst
> into
> consciousness without any of the vectors for it realizing they weren't
> coming up with something completely new.
>
> David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
>     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.


I agree. A lot of "modern" black slang is just a recycled or
exaggerated (WRT pronunciation) version of old-time black Southern
country talk. Of course, now that I've made this claim, I can't think
of any examples to back it up. Well, thangs be that way. Oh! That's an
example right there!

-Wilson Gray

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