Heard on The Judges: BE "distributive _be_"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Tue Dec 23 14:25:18 UTC 2008


Thirty-ish, black  female speaker:

Whenever she start arguing, it usually _be's_ at her house.


"Be's," though perceived as stereotypical, is actually rare enough to
be worthy of note. Among midle-class BE speakers, "be's" is used in
hyperblackenized joking speech, e.g., "Thangs be's that way." The real
aphorism is, "Thangs be that way."

-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

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