till (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Bill, you poor child! :-) That's way out! Here I was with "Hope I
Don't Crap [Out]" or some such title in mind, his first recording, and
you're talking about what may be his second or even his third! No
wonder that our memories of that bit don't quite coincide!

As I sort of recall, I bought the LP in L.A., some time in the '60's.
In 1973, I definitely remember that I introduced my white (well,
Jewish) roommates to The Great Mr. P. What I can't recall for certain
is whether I really did buy the album in L.A. in the "60's and my L.A,
roommate mailed it to me in '73, when I introduced my roomies to him,
or whether I recalled that Richard existed and decided to buy a copy
of the LP locally, in order to introduce my roomies to him.

Way back when, ca. 1965-67, Sharon (Earl's old lady, not mine; but
that's another story) and I went to the Troubador in Hollywood to see
Nina Simone. Somebody named "Richard Pryor," of whom I'd thitherto
heard not so much as a whisper, was opening for her. However, Sharon
said that she had heard that he was funny. That let me know  that he
was supposed to be a comic or something.

That night, a star was born. From then on, Richard practically owned
the Troub as its headliner. He's the only comic that I've ever seen
who *literally* rolled people in the aisles, holding their sides,
choking and gasping for breath. Well, black people, anyway.

Usually, I never say and don't believe this kind of stuff. But, for
Richard, I make an exception. You really can't understand how funny
Richard was, unless you're black, because so much of his material
depended upon parodies of life as blacks live it or hope that they'll
live it or wish that they could live it.

-Wilson

On 7/23/07, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: till (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> Wilson -- in 1973, I was eleven years old, and "That Nigger's Crazy" was
> my first exposure blue comedy albums, adult black humor (and speech),
> and a bunch of other things.  It distressed my parents that I found it
> so funny (and it distressed my dad that _he_ found it so funny).  And
> since I was allowed to have TNC, my brother (two years younger) was
> allowed to have Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album.
>
> There were lots of expressions that this fishbelly-white churchgoing boy
> heard for the first time off that album.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society
> > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> > Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 1:47 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: till
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: till
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > -----------------
> >
> > Bill suggests that "Perhaps this line followed the one quoted
> > by Wilson??" Or perhaps the line that Bill quotes preceded
> > the one that I quoted. I'm easy WRT this point. The rap makes
> > sense, either way.
> >
> > What's interesting to me is that "pitch a bitch" was new to
> > Bill, at least at the time that he heard the CD (or was it
> > the LP?). Spears dates the phrase only to "late 1900's" and
> > doesn't specify U.S. black use. I've been familiar with this
> > phrase since about 1950. The LP dates to no later than 1973.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> >
> >
> > On 7/23/07, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> > > Subject:      Re: till
> > >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > ---------
> > >
> > >
> > > >I should point out that "half pas(t)" occurred only in
> > this locution
> > > >and not in ordinary speech. To quote Richard Pryor:
> > > >
> > > >Q. "What y'all waitin' for?"
> > > >A. "'Leven-thirty. Don't nothin' start happenin' till
> > eleven-thirty."
> > >
> > > As I recall it, the answer is "Leven-thirty.  We gonna
> > pitch a bitch
> > > at ele= ven-thirty."
> > > (Perhaps this line followed the one quoted by Wilson??)
> > >
> > > This was the first time I ever heard "pitch a bitch", a
> > phrase which
> > > has se= rved me well over the intervening years.
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > 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'l Clemens
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
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'l Clemens

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