Expressions that mean duh

[Wilson Gray]

As quiet as it''s kept, the most common form of this question among
black St. Louisans, at least when I lived there in the '40's, '50's,
and early '60's, was, "Will a nigger steal?" Of course, this usage was
ironic, the underlying assumption being that white people always think
the worst of black people, so why fight it? Just roll with the punches
and make a sick joke of it.

-Wilson

On 3/26/07, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Organization: Haskins Laboratories
> Subject:      Re: Expressions that mean duh
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Patti Kurtz wrote:
> > Not exactly a dialect question, but a language one.  I'm trying to come
> > up with some different expressions that we use to mean "well, duh"-- in
> > response to a question whose answer is obvious-- for example "Does the
> > sun rise in the east?"  (these are for a novel I'm working on)
> >
> > Is there a name for those?  And can you folks cite some examples?
>
> I don't know if there's a name for them. But:
>
> "Is the Pope Catholic?"
> "Does a bear shit in the woods?"
> "Is the sky blue?"
>
> --
> ==============================================================================
> Alice Faber                                      faber at haskins.yale.edu
> Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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-----
                                                      -Sam'l Clemens

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you through times of no dope.
-----
                                         -Free-Wheeling Franklin

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