Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE

[Wilson Gray]

(White) people have made the same observation WRT the way that I talk
to relatives and (black) friends on the telephone. If they only knew!
They've never heard the register that I would be using, if I knew it
wadn no white foke ovahin me. I'm always amazed that so slight - to me
- a shift in phonetics is sufficient to grab people's attention the
way that it does

-Wilson

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 10:40 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
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>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  My daughter observed that I talked differently with the garage
>  mechanic than at home or with friends. I can't readily give examples
>  from my own speech, though.
>
>  m a m
>
>
>  On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 10:03 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>  > Some may recall that I once claimed that, regardless of a speaker's
>  >  usual register, he tends to move it toward the working-class norm,
>  >  when using slang or slang-like expressions.
>  >
>  >  Middle-class, black, male speaker complaining about his cheating wife:
>  >
>  >  She was unbelievable, your honor! She _wadn_ cool at at all. She would
>  >  call me at work to find out when I was coming home, so that she would
>  >  know how much time she had to do her _thing [TaeIN]_!"
>  >
>  >  -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
>  >
>  >  ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>  >
>
>
>
>  --
>  Mark Mandel
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>  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