A instead of ER

[Jonathan Lighter]

There is an additional (or more comprehensive) possibility. Hiphop lyrics and, hence, criticism, frequently use final {a} in place of orthographic {er} to stress the "r-lessness" of much urban AAVE.  Thus, e.g., "playa" for "player," "hata" for "hater."

  The point of the slogan may be that this development somehow emphasizes "African-Americanness" in a positive way.

  Another possibility: maybe whites are allowed to write "nigga" in contexts where racist motivation is obviously out of the question - as it would/should be in mainstream hiphop criticism. If I may once again allude to _Idiocracy_, just before he starts the time experiment, white "Officer" Collins addresses both subjects (played by Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph) comically but (I would think) harmlessly as "my niggaz."  That confirms what we already know. He's a pathetic jerk, but not a white supremacist.

  I still find my very first suggestion, however ironically presented, mot appealing, but the second one may be lurking in the background.

  JL

Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Barbara Need
Subject: A instead of ER
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The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago has an exhibit
is titled "Black Is, Black ain't" and the poster says a instead of er
"changes everything"!

http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/

Barbara

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org