vacate and other terms

[Margaret Lee]

"Conversate" is considered a back formation (from the noun _conversation_).  I hear "funeralize" all the time; it's a common term in the AA community. I used to hear HU (historically black college) students use "blase, blase" quite frequently, but so much lately. I think it developed from "blah, blah," used in the same way, to indicate idle chatter, or "whatever."

  Margaret Lee

Barbara H Hudson <bhhudson at AUXMAIL.IUP.EDU> wrote:
  On Sat, 4 Feb 2006 00:04:45 -0500
Automatic digest processor
wrote:

this reminds me of the way some AA people use the word "conversate" to
mean talking to someone.

ex. I was conversating with this young lady, when....

While I'm here, I wonder if others have heard or seen the term
"funeralize" For example. He died Thursday morning, and he will be
funeralized this Saturday.

Finally how about the term "blase blase" (pronounced BLAH ZAY BLAH
ZAY) to mean unspecified chatter (kind of like the way they used
"yadda yadda" on Seinfeld). ex: I was telling her how it happend, I
go, "blase blase" and she said, .....

BHH

Barbara Hill Hudson, PH.D
Professor Emerita
Department of English
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
Professor of English & Linguistics
  and University Editor
Department of English
Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
757-727-5769(voice);757-727-5084(fax)
margaret.lee at hamptonu.edu   or   mlee303 at yahoo.com

---------------------------------
 Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org