y'all-omigod-bonics

[Baker, John]

        I raise the question because, in my experience, this kind of
extended and purportedly humorous vocabulary list is most often offered
by someone who is a member of the group in question.  I'm not sure,
dInIs, if you mean that you would not bet that the author is a
Southerner, that you would not bet that the author is not a Southerner,
or that you consider the question too doubtful to place a bet at all.
I, however, would bet a modest amount that the author is a Southerner
who considers that he or she personally does not exhibit all of the
pronunciations described.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Dennis R. Preston
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 6:30 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: y'all-omigod-bonics

Nearly everyone in the US considers him or herself to be "familiar"
with Southern (and African American) speech and (caught unawares) is
quite willing tom offer an "imitation" of it. IN our numerous studies of
perception of US varieties, the "South" is always the most salient area,
even among northern respondents. I wouldn't take no bets on the author
being a southerner (and, of course, inaccuracies in the representation
would not decide the matter in one direction or the
other)

dInIs





>  Are you sure it's an outsider perception?  The one thing we can say
>with some confidence is that the author considers himself or herself to

>be quite familiar with this "Southern slang."  I would guess that it
>was written by a Southerner.
>
>John Baker