Heard on The Judges: "The Man" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I'm the supervisor of a smallish Army lab that is the sole occupant of a
building at Redstone Arsenal.  Janitorial services are contracted out,
and most of the time, the person that Phoenix Services will send over
twice a week is black.

Our current janitor, Scottie, has referred to me as "the man" a couple
of times, and the first time, I thought he might be subtly insulting me
(I knew of "the man" from the sense of "the man is keeping us down", as
in an oppressive power structure guy).  I ain't perfect, but I try to
treat him the same way I do any other coworker -- if he does good work,
he deserves my respect (and he does) -- so I was a little taken aback.
Eventually I figured out the usage you describe below -- that I'm "the
man" because I'm chief of the activity here -- and everything is fine.

We had another janitor (Clyde) who would show us, without asking, naked
pictures of both his wife and his "girlfriend".  He referred to the
latter as a "managed woman".  Eventually we figured out that he was her
"manager" -- he had turned her out.  I've never heard "managed woman" in
this sense before, and wonder if you've ever come across it.

Once, a coworker (Anthony) was standing talking to a group of us, with
his hands clasped behind his back.  Clyde snuck up behind him, opened
his fly, and laid his dick in Anthony's hand.  Anthony turned around to
see he was holding essentially a summer sausage.  It was the hardest
I've ever laughed in my life.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 11:18 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Heard on The Judges: "The Man"
>
> ---------------------- 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: "The Man"
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> Thirty-ish, black plaintiff from Dallas, TX, describing a telephone
> conversation:
>
> "He [my boss] akses me what-all was wrong with the truck.
> Well, I tells him what was wrong, but he claim he don't
> understand what I'm talking about. So, I gives him to _The
> Man_. I lets _The Man_ tell him."
>
> Judge Maria Lopez:
>
> "Who's 'The Man'? Who do you mean by 'The Man'? The mechanic?"
>
> Plaintiff:
>
> "Yes, ma'am. The mechanic."
>
>
> In BE, under the right circumstances, anyone can be "The
> Man." In the above case, the mechanic is "The Man" because he
> has the expertise and, hence, the _authority_ to tell the
> boss what the problems are with the truck and make the boss
> take his word for it.
>
> When I was a child, I used to hear itinerant workmen come to
> the door and ask for "The Man," clearly, in such cases,
> referring to "the man of the house." If they knew or had
> become aware that the head of household was female, such
> workmen would ask for "The Lady."
>
> In Texas, at least, narration or story-telling in the
> historical present tends to bring forth the first-person -s.
> I remember a co-worker so into the telling of a story that he
> not only said, "I goes walking into the bar," but he also
> mimed the walking.
>
> OT. Whites seem not to be as much into story-retelling as
> blacks. With two or more black people, it's like this:
>
> "You(-all) 'member the time that I was at that bar that I was tellin'
> you(-all) about?"
>
> "Yeah, man.
>
> "Well, I goes walkin' into the bar ..."
>
>
> With a black person and one or more white people, it's like this:
>
> "You remember the time that I was at that bar that I was
> telling you about?"
>
> "Yeah."
>
> "Well, I go walking into the bar ..."
>
> "You've told me / us about that, already."
>
> "I know. Anyway ..."
>
> "I've / we've heard this story."
>
> "Uh, right. So, I went ..."
>
> "I / We know this story."
>
> [Black guy gives up, wondering what in hell is wrong with
> these people. The story is so good that even *he* wants to
> hear it, again!]
>
> -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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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