Chimney (and "nation" and "community")

[Wilson Gray]

WRT the BE course, I certainly agree with you, Charlie. The first time
that I heard black people from Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia
speak, their BE sounded so weird that I nearly couldn't understand
them, especially the Philadelphians. After I'd lived in Saint Louiis
for a while, the speech of my East-Texas relatives began to sound so
country that I had problems keeping a straight face. After I moved to
Los Angeles, I found that, though I had no problem understanding the
local BE, its speakers had problems with my Saint Louis dialect. E.g.,
the locals heard my "fade," a white person, and "shade," a black
person, as "fabe" and "shabe." Very strange. And, of course, there was
that Saint Louis horse = [hars] / hoarse = [hors] thing that they had
to deal with.

-Wilson

On 1/24/07, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Chimney (and "nation" and "community")
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Doug's phrasing--"the real-estate selling community, such as it is"--made me think:
>
> Somewhat analogous to the use of "nation" in its expanded sense (though without the frequent--and saving--lightheartedness) is the rampant current use of "community."  I wonder what kinds or degrees of commonality qualify a number of persons to be called a community?
>
> A few years ago in the English department to which I belong, the old "Black English" course was being revised. The individual who would be teaching the reformed course proposed naming it "English in the African American Community." I opined that "English in African American Communities" (or, more concisely, "African American English") would make more sense--that residents of Jamaica, Toronto, New Orleans, Harlem, Watts, Sapelo Island, and rural Alabama hardly constitute a single community. (As is usual in such debates, I lost!) I suppose calling an assortment of persons a community makes things seem sociable and harmonious . . . .
>
> --Charlie
> ____________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:32:35 -0500
> >From: Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
> >Subject: Re: Chimney
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> > . . . Members of the National Association of Realtors call themselves Realtors. Many people commonly misuse that term (to the occasional displeasure of NAR members) to refer to any member of the real estate-selling community, such as it is . . . .
>
> >--doug
>
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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.
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-Sam'l Clemens

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