Heard on The Judges: "let someone see NP" = "let someone borrow NP"

[Wilson Gray]

Egad! Another one of the horrors of desegregation! I actually heard
Judge Joe Brown refer to a defendant as a "dork," yesterday! I first
heard "dork" used, in its literal meaning of "penis" by white GI's in
the late 'Fifties, When I was in the Army. But that was the first time
that I'd ever heard it used by a black person in any meaning. When I
hear a brother reply, "No, I never!" instead of "No, I didn't!" in
response to, "You did X!"I'll know that Armageddon is upon us. :-)

-Wilson

On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 9:54 AM, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Organization: Haskins Laboratories
> Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: "let someone see NP" = "let someone
>              borrow              NP"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
>> Twenty-ish black female speaker:
>>
>> "I _let him see my car keys_ and he took my car and let it get
>> wrecked! It was totaled, your honor."
>>
>>
>> "Let someone see NP" is new to me. From my childhood to today, the
>> more usual expression is "let someone hold NP," in the sense of "let
>> someone borrow NP."
>>
>
> I'm getting work done on my house, and the guys doing the work (white,
> middle-aged, from CT) regularly holler at each other "can I see X?" or
> "let me see X" when they want to use X (sponge, hammer, bucket, etc.).
>
> --
> ==============================================================================
> Alice Faber                                    faber at haskins.yale.edu
> Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
> New Haven, CT 06511 USA                        fax (203) 865-8963
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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