Hastings-haters

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wilson, it would be a better world if we ALL dressed as clowns.

  JL

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Hastings-haters
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Cambridge was also the originator, I believe, of that now-old
chestnut, "Where all the white ladies / white women at?" He was their
driver, but, in the routine, when he came back to pick up the ladies,
he played it to give the impression that he was their pimp. This was
back when pimps, in L.A., at least, still dressed in three-piece suits
and not like clowns. He used it in his stand-up at the Troubadour in
Hollywood.

Speaking of the Troub, the first time that I saw Richard Pryor was
when he opened for Nina Simone there. Pryor is the only comic that
I've seen, with my own eyes, _literally_ cause members of the audience
to roll in the aisles, clutching their sides and straining to catch
their breath.

-Wilson

On 12/1/06, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: Hastings-haters
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Godfrey Cambridge was a riot. The more I think about that joke, the weirder and brillianter it gets .He played a CIA agent in _The President's Analyst_.
>
> JL
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Hastings-haters
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My guess is that he threw that in for laughs, as was the case with
> Fats Wallers's "One never knows, do one?" and Godfrey Cambridge's,
> "Now, what brand of men's underwear comes in all the colors of the
> rainbow (or words to that effect)? Why, Jockey do!"
>
> BTW, a note in today's ZDNet/Mac has the headline, "Step off,
> haters!'' When nerds start using a word or a phrase, you know a story.
> [That last is a saint-Louis BE-ism that means something like, "you
> attain a fuller understanding of the situation."}
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 11/29/06, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
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> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
> > Subject: Re: Hastings-haters
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On 11/29/06, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > >
> > > On 11/29/06, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> > > >
> > > > In his announcement that he would not seek the chairmanship of the
> > > > House intelligence committee, Rep. Alcee Hastings released a statement
> > > > ending with this line:
> > > >
> > > > "Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet."
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > That's presumably the hiphop sense of "hater", short for
> > > > "player-hater" (defined by the new OED entry as "a person who is
> > > > jealous of the success of others", with cites back to 1993).
> > > >
> > > > Interesting to hear that term coming from a congressman, as opposed to
> > > > a rapper, sports star, etc.
> > >
> > > No, it isn't. It might not even be interesting, if Hastings were
> > > white. But there's certainly nothing interesting about a black person
> > > talking black. I've been known to do it myself, from time to time,
> > > when circumstances warrant. And "hater" is no longer a shortened form
> > > of "player-hater." Like the cheese, it now stands alone.
> >
> > Point taken, Wilson. I guess what made it interesting (to me) was more
> > the context than the speaker. It wasn't in conversational speech but
> > at the end of a formal statement written in the typical register of
> > "officialese." (First sentence: "I have been informed by the
> > Speaker-elect that I will not serve as the Chairman of the House
> > Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the 110th Congress.")
> > The unexpected stylistic contrast of the "haters" line gives it the
> > pizzazz of a good punchline.
> >
> >
> > --Ben Zimmer
> >
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>
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam Clemens
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam Clemens

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