Heard on The Judges: crack

[Scot LaFaive]

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
"You have to admit she is rather mannish." (i.e. looking very much like a man)

Scot


On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 11:28 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Heard on The Judges: crack
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Late-thirty-ish black, female plaintiff:
>
> "She might not be using crack no more, but she still have _crackish ways_."
>
> I.e, acts like a person who uses crack. This usage is very common in
> in BE, cf., e.g. "Manish Boy"[sic; the original title], the Muddy
> Waters rip-off of Bo-Diddley's "I'm A Man," implying that the song is
> about a boy who acts as though he's a man, i.e., has mannish ways.
>
> This feels like something that's also used in other dialects. Is it?
>
> -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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