Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE

Wed Apr 9 14:04:07 UTC 2008

I know the phrase, "bird-turdin'" only from my time in the Army in the
late 'Fifties and early 'Sixties. It always struck me as what might be
called "joke slang." I ROTFLMAO, when I first heard it. People use it
because it's funny and not because it's useful. Then, after it's been
used so often that it becomes "tired," as it were, it dies.

Cf. obsolete BE, "looks like two shades blacker than Bell Telephone."
This one had two things going against it: referring to someone as
"black" to his face was once *extremely* hurtful and dangerous, worse
than "nigger" - to quote Richard Pryor, "I ain't 'black!' I'm
'colored'!" - and "Bell Telephone" began to produce telephones in
colors other than black.

OTOH, "smells worse than ten gallons of Git-Back" is still alive and
kicking. (White folk, please try not to ask me what "Git-Back" is.
Just think about it. Its meaning is perfectly clear.)

-Wilson

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 1:18 AM, Dennis Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
>  Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  You ain't just (a-) -----
>
>  is a nice little frame.I wonder how many "you
>  ain't justs" are out there and if the Ur-form is
>  "You ain't just (a-)whistlin' Dixie"?
>
>  dInIs
>
>  PS:  I had not heard the bird-turd version (and
>  it may be my first encounter with v. "turd").
>
>
>  >---------------------- Information from the mail
>  >header -----------------------
>  >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  >Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>
> >Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE
>  >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
>  >You ain't jus' a-bird-turdin'.
>  >
>  >-Wilson
>
> >
>  >On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 11:29 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>  >>  ---------------------- Information from the
>  >>mail header -----------------------
>  >>   Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  >>   Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>  >>
>  >>  Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE
>  >>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>  At 5:02 PM +0200 4/8/08, Dennis Preston wrote:
>  >>   >Almost certainly the case, and recall that I continue to be
>  >>   >interested in people providing me with even further examples of
>  >>   >obligatory nonstandards.
>  >>   >
>  >>   >E.g.,
>  >>   >
>  >>   >What do you think of (or "How bout") them (never "those") apples.
>  >>   >
>  >>   >You the ("da") man (never "You are the man").
>  >>   >
>  >>   >/Si:It/ for metaphoric uses, but never for
>  >>feces. (/SIt/ is OK for both uses.)
>  >>   >(/S/ = palatal sibilant)
>  >>   >
>  >>   >You can't go to "Dunking Donuts," even if
>  >>you claim to never "drop your g's."
>  >>   >
>  >>   >Are there any obligatory "ain'ts"? Others?
>  >>   >
>  >>   >dInIs
>  >>
>  >>   It don't (*doesn't) mean a thing if it ain't (*hasn't) got that swing.
>  >>   It don't (*doesn't) make no (*any) never mind.
>  >>   Dance with the one that brung (*brought) you
>  >>   If it ain't broke (*If it's not broken), don't fix it.
>  >>   S/he got (*has) game.
>  >>   If momma ain't (*isn't) happy, ain't nobody (*nobody is) happy.
>  >>   It ain't (*isn't) me, babe.
>  >>   Long time no see.  (* ???)
>  >>   No can (*Cannot) do.
>  >>   Say it ain't (??it's not) so.
>  >>   That ain't (?That's not) gonna (*going to) cut it.
>  >>   Badges?  We don't need no (*any) stinkin (?stinking) badges.
>  >>      [Sorry, Fred; I know it's a misquote.]
>  >>   You pays (*pay) your money you takes (*take) your choice.
>  >>   You ain't (??You're not) just whistling Dixie.
>  >>   It ain't (??It's not) the meat, it's the motion.
>  >>   That ain't (?*That's not) hay.
>  >>   You done good.  (ÇYou did well.)
>  >>   Yo mamma.  (ÇYour mother.)
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>   (YMMV)
>  >>   LH
>
> >>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>   >
>  >>   >
>  >>   >
>  >>   >
>  >>   >
>  >>   >
>  >>   >
>  >>   >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>  >>   >>-----------------------
>  >>   >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  >>   >>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>  >>   >>Subject:      Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE
>  >>
>  >>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>   >>
>  >>   >>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
>  >>   >
>  >>   >
>  >>   >--
>  >>   >Dennis R. Preston
>  >>   >University Distinguished Professor
>  >>   >Department of English
>  >>   >Morrill Hall 15-C
>  >>   >Michigan State University
>  >  >  >East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>  >>   >
>  >>   >------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>   >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>  >>
>  >>   ------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>   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
>
>
>  --
>  Dennis R. Preston
>  University Distinguished Professor
>  Department of English
>  Morrill Hall 15-C
>  Michigan State University
>  East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>  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