Heard on The Judges: BE "not feel" = older StL BE "not appreciate" = sE "not like"

[Dave Hause]

And I'm feeling your satisfaction.
Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
Waynesville, MO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>


Mid-twenty-ish black-male speaker from Trenton, NJ, describing what
had led to his being accused of vandalism:

"I called her a name that she wasn't feeling."

Back in the day, had he lived in Saint Louis, he would have said:

"I called her a name that she didn't appreciate."

IAC, he's saying that he called her a name that she found insulting or
otherwise didn't like. But there was a major difference: I wouldn't
expect Barack Obama to say in an important speech something like,

"I _am not feeling_ the policies proposed by John McCain."

But, were he a black man from Saint Louis in the same position, way
back when, I would expect him to say something like,

"I _do not appreciate_ the policies proposed by John McCain."

That it, whereas "(not) feel" is slang, "not appreciate" was more like
a "peculiar-to-blacks-living-in-Saint-Louis regionalism" used
everywhere by everyone in every circumstance.

But, whereas positive "feel e.g. you" can mean things like, "I respect
your emotional response, I have empathy for you, I understand your
response, I agree with your position," positive "appreciate" had no
meanings or extensions beyond those found in standard English:

I appreciate the effort that you have put into reading this post.

-Wilson

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