Heard on the Judges

[Wilson Gray]

Mid-twenty-ish white woman:

"He was talkin' on the telephone and he was _doin'_ this _number_:
"Listen to this! Listen to this!"

I guess that "do ... number," as opposed to a simple "VP ..." - e.g.,
she didn't say, "... he was saying ..." or whatever - is not peculiar
to black speech.

The woman didn't mention where she was from, though she did mention
having been to North Carolina. FWIW, her speech was r-ful and [ei]
tended toward [^i] or [ai].

-Wilson

--
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

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