Ofay etymology (speculative)

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 6, 2004, at 6:49 PM, 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: Ofay etymology (speculative)
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>
>> The derivation of "ofay" from "au fait" (= socially proper; genteel; a
>> term of apparently limited use in black speech) was already set forth
>> by
>> me in Comments on Etymology, vol. 23, no. 5, Feb. 1994, pp. 9-11 and
>> then
>> reprinted with a few revisions in Gerald Cohen: "Black Slang _Ofay_
>> 'White
>> Person' Derives From _Au Fait_ 'Socially Proper; Genteel'" in the
>> volume I
>> co-edited/co-wrote with Barry Popik: _Studies in Slang, part VI_ (=
>> Forum
>> Anglicum, vol. 24), Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1999, pp.48-51.
>>
>>     In the same volume (pp. 52-53)  I also have a brief article titled
>> "Black Slang _Ofaginzy_ 'White Person,'" which I speculate derives
>> from
>> French (C'est) au fait ainsi (= It's correct thus, i.e., this way).
>> On a
>> general note I concluded that we should not overlook the
>> French-speaking
>> blacks of Louisiana and their possible contributions to American
>> English.
>
> I had no knowledge of this.
>
> Back in 1994 it must have been a challenge to establish the currency of
> this "au fait" (the on-line newspaper databases weren't developed yet
> in
> 1994, were they?); my quick search of MoA and other databases shows
> mostly
> the more 'correct' use of "au fait" ("expert"/"familiar"/etc.).
>
> "Different minds think alike sometimes."
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>

Given that "au fait" is stressed on the second word, whereas "ofay" is
stressed on the first syllable, does anyone have an explanation for
that difference? The general tendency of English to shift stress to the
initial syllable in a wide variety of contexts and dialects? As Flip
Wilson (a distant relative, perhaps, Doug?) once put it: "Gorilla.
That's GO-rilla, spelled 'G-O-dash-R[ar@]-I-L-L-A.'"

-Wilson Gray