Do-Rags and Bling
Wilson Gray
hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu May 17 20:37:21 UTC 2007
The following is of no value and, perhaps, not even of interest, since
I've have forgotten all the relevant details, e.g. the date. But WTF?
Can't hurt. Might help.
Anyhow, FWIIW, several, perhaps even many, years ago, there was some
sort of TV documentary on black life in (pre-Katrina) New Orleans. One
of the featured characters was a black teen-ager standing on a street
corner rapping about something that failed to engage my interest. I
noticed only that he stayed using the term, "blang-blang," i.e.
"bling-bling," for jewelry, because I couldn't figure out why he
wasn't saying "bling-blink," given that the the term was clearly
underlain by ordinary-English "blink-blink." The relevant phonological
rule is widespread throughout BE and Southern speech in general.
Indeed, this rule was a feature of the speech of no less a figure than
Elvis Presley, for example. IAC, I ultimately decided that there had
probably been some kind of re-analysis that separated the derived from
the original and the link between "bling-blink" and "blink-blink," was
broken, leading to hypercorrection of "bling-blink" to "bling-bling."
There it is.
-Wilson
On 5/17/07, Sarah Lang <slang at uchicago.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Sarah Lang <slang at UCHICAGO.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Do-Rags and Bling
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just 3 things:
>
> - This list has talked about his since at least 2002
> (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?S2=ads-l&q=do-
> rag&s=&f=&a=&b=)
>
> - I have to say, as, well, probably the only person on this list who
> actually lives in "the ghetto" (no, wait, I don't need to use quotes--
> I think being next door to the projects and having hype neighbours
> covers me) . . . "do-rag," outside of an "athletic" sense (I'll
> excuse myself from jargon I'm not familiar with), is a very
> particular item. The current use of nylon was simply the cheapest
> solution to keeping hair and/or braids out of the way/tired back,
> whichever.
>
> -As for nappy/nappy-headed, my (clearest) personal experience with
> this is trying to buy fake hair (I make wigs: http://
> www.arimneste.com/IMG_2247a_5.jpg) at the store down the street.
> After the glares and stunned silence, a few women came over to help
> me. When helping me, they asked if I wanted something "nappy/nappy
> headed [various uses through our conversations when describing
> various types of hair "ie that is too nappy"]." This meant "do you
> want curly/frizzy etc. or straight hair?" Quite remarkably (although
> this was after it was clear I was not on some sort of social
> anthropology project), this term was neutral in terms of tone.
> Although the women themselves were clearly not fans of nappy hair.
>
> -Bling is actually something I never hear, so I am curious if it is
> no longer used in AAVE/BE; although I've been meaning to ask someone
> about their rims (youtube Chris Rock rims ;) ).
>
> S.
> PS "other species"!? Seriously, how did you think that would be taken?
>
>
> On May 17, 2007, at 4:19 AM, Ron 'Hollywood' Parro wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Ron 'Hollywood' Parro <ronparro at EARTHLINK.NET>
> > Subject: Do-Rags and Bling
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> >
> >> I wear a 'do-rag' and I learned to love them during a trip to Sturgis
> >> during bike week. The purpose of the do-rag' is the same as a the
> >> common practice of wearing of baseball hats. When you are having a
> >> bad
> >> hair day you need to cover it up! It also makes a fashion statement
> >> and might be ghetto related but I don't think that has anything to do
> >> with why the bikers wear them.
> >>
> >> I think you're too sensitive about that ghetto thing. Gold teeth
> >> are a
> >> part of the whole 'bling' culture that people who live in the ghetto
> >> can't really participate in as much as they might want to so it
> >> actually is symbol of getting out of the ghetto. The case could be
> >> made that the ghetto use of bling comes from the hip-hop culture and
> >> do-rags come from functionality and possibly the older habit of women
> >> to wear a scarf to cover their hair.
> >>
> >> On May 16, 2007, at 10:00 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> >>>
> >>> From: Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
> >>> Date: May 16, 2007 12:40:34 AM MDT
> >>> Subject: Re: "Nappy-headed who'es" redux
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> 'Sorry, Wilson. Didn't mean to over generalize. Or appear to.
> >>> I'd say the meaning of 'male of the species' in this context is both
> >>> specific (humans: as exemplified in the book of the same term by
> >>> Alex
> >>> Mindt,
> >>> Delphinium Books, Apr. 2007, ISBN 9781883285289, and the 1969 TV
> >>> movie,
> >>> written by Alun Owen and directed by Charles Jarrott, using the
> >>> phrase as
> >>> its title) and unspecific. And unfortunately so: Though it's true
> >>> that men
> >>> of assorted racial and ethnic backgrounds wear do rags, I was
> >>> referring more
> >>> specifically to the African American, and most specifically to those
> >>> whose
> >>> do rags less often serve the original, intended (do-keeping) purpose
> >>> than
> >>> they serve as a fashion statement, of sorts.
> >>> In that a fashion statement is 'something,' I was both inaccurate
> >>> and
> >>> unfair
> >>> in stating the rags do 'nothing.' (I wonder, though, is it most
> >>> accurate to
> >>> say the rag is making the fashion statement or that the wearer
> >>> is, by
> >>> donning the rag?)
> >>> While you're absolutely right in suggesting it probably is of no
> >>> importance,
> >>> in the grand scheme of things, whether a hair cover does or does not
> >>> perform
> >>> a function, I respectfully suggest that it is in fact true that a
> >>> hair cover
> >>> always performs _some_ function, whether it's so simple a
> >>> function as
> >>> protecting the wearer from the affects of sun, rain or whatever,
> >>> or a
> >>> more
> >>> complex function as participating in the making of a fashion
> >>> statement, or
> >>> the representation of the wearer as a member, follower or even a
> >>> pretend-follower of a group, club or whatever.
> >>> Oh, and for the record, I understand that women made famous the do
> >>> rag look
> >>> during World War II (Safire, 'The to-do over 'do' and the do-rag,'
> >>> NYT,
> >>> 3/7/05) and that both men and women wear them now. But my original
> >>> comment
> >>> reflected my perspective, as coincidentally expressed in a Columbia
> >>> News
> >>> Service Report on 5/23/03
> >>> (http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2003-05-23/293.asp)
> >>> that
> >>> the do
> >>> rag look is "in-your-face ghetto," and I happen to intensely dislike
> >>> the
> >>> practice of people of whatever race or whatever background making a
> >>> point to
> >>> look, in their perception, as if they came from or were of a like
> >>> mind with
> >>> people unfortunate enough to live in a true ghetto.
> >>> That I am not alone in finding fault with the ghetto look was
> >>> exemplified
> >>> earlier this year in the reaction to some U. of Connecticut Law
> >>> School
> >>> (white) students' behavior at an off-campus party. According to The
> >>> Smoking
> >>> Gun
> >>> (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/
> >>> 2007/0125072uconn1.html),
> >>> "do rags, gang signs and gold teeth" were both worn _and_ shown off
> >>> to the
> >>> world via postings on the web. Other UConn students and
> >>> administrators at
> >>> the law school criticized at the 'Bullets and Bubbly' party as
> >>> "racially
> >>> insensitive," according to that article.
> >>> (the other) doug
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >>> Subject: Re: "Nappy-headed who'es" redux
> >>>
> >>> Geez, the other doug, that's harsh! "The male of the species"? To
> >>> what
> >>> species do you refer? What is the source of your implied claim that
> >>> the 'do rag' is peculiar to the male of the 'do rag-wearing species?
> >>> What is the basis of your stated claim "the male of the [un-named]
> >>> species is better known for the do-nothing 'do rag'' hair cover"?Why
> >>> do you think that the 'do rag is a do-nothing hair cover? What
> >>> does it
> >>> matter whether a hair-cover perform a function?
> >>>
> >>> IAC, the purpose of a (hair-)do rag, whether worn by a man or by a
> >>> woman, is to hold a hair-do in place until that hair-do has set.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >> Ron 'Hollywood' Parro ;>{)
> >> http://www.greality.com/Hollywood/
> >> "Footprints on the sand of time are not made by sitting down."
> >> Native American Proverb
> >>
> > Ron 'Hollywood' Parro ;>{)
> > http://www.greality.com/Hollywood/
> > I'll bet the reason more people don't graduate from rodeo clown
> > school
> > is because they don't pass Being Funny While Getting Gored in the Ass
> > 101.
> >
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