Heard on The Judges: BE BIN ...

[Wilson Gray]

I forgot to add that the couple is from Saint Louis, as evidenced by:

Patrernity-test laboratory representative:

[Name], with scientific certainty, is _not_ the father of child1.

[Name], with scientific certainty, is _not_ the father of child2.

[Name], a thirtyish, black male speaker:

"Aw, man! That's cold-blooded, right thurr [D^r]!


I've been aware of the pronunciation of /-&r/ as [-^r] since ca.1990,
when I heard it used by black St. Louisans on various trash-TV reality
shows. That is to say, though I grew up in Saint Louis, I haven't
lived there since 1962. Hence, I have no idea when this shift began.

Saint Louis-born rapper, Howard Bailey, Jr., in had a hit in 2003 with
his song, _Right Thurr_, under his nom de  rap, "Chingy.".

-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.
-----
-Mark Twain



On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 10:20 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- 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: BE BIN ...
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Judge David Young:
>
> "And now you two have parted, have separated from each other?
>
> Thirty-ish black female speaker:
>
> "Aw, we _BIN done did_ that, your honor!"
>
>
> -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.
> -----
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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