Wolof hip

[Beverly Flanigan]

So other people are more articulate?  What does this mean??  Sounds like
the old "primitive language" idea--except that now we're the primitives!

At 12:35 PM 11/29/2004, you wrote:
>The late appearance of "uh-huh," etc., in print may partly reflect the
>superprescriptionist idea that they "aren't words"; second,  their
>spelling, until regularized, would be problematical. It may be that many
>potentially earlier cites are disguised in phrases such as, "He answered
>with a grunt."
>
>Dalby may be right, of course, but white people can be quite inarticulate.
>The native grunt-and-groan elements of English may always have been
>sufficient.  What about "um-hmm"?
>
>I see no way of resolving this question on the basis of current knowledge.
>
>JL