Assorted comments

[Wilson Gray]

On Nov 28, 2004, at 12:26 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Assorted comments
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>> How is the word, funky, pronounced in BE? It's pronounced as though
>> something like "fonky," right? Now, suppose that there was an ordinary
>> word of American English, hunky, that was originally used as a term of
>> opprobrium for certain peoples of Central-European extraction. Now,
>> how
>> would this word, hunky, be pronounced in BE? It might well be
>> pronounced something like "honky," right? Is that a reasonable
>> supposition?
>
> I hope it's reasonable, because it's my supposition too.
>
> -- Doug Wilson

It's good to find a kindred soul. I don't like to assign African origin
to any aspect of black-American culture to Africa, unless there's no
possibility of American origin or if there's clear historical evidence
that leaves me no choice. IMO, the building of a whole new culture
under the most arduous of circumstances, a culture that has influenced
the cultures of the rest of the world, I find that far more interesting
and impressive than hearing some fool say, "Oh, no! None of that's
original!. It all came from Africa!"

-Wilson Gray