ADS-L Digest - 22 Sep 2008 to 23 Sep 2008 (#2008-268)

[Wilson Gray]

No, I wasn't kidding. I grew up in the bad old days of Jim Crow,
remember? I'm now a "snowball," as used to(?) be said by whites, a
grey-haired old black man. As I've mentioned before, segregation, the
model for apartheid, *really worked!* You have to keep that in mind
when you read my posts. There was a time in my life when I, in my
wildest dreams, never imagined that I would ever interact with a white
person on any level except as "bossman" and "boy." Being black made
any black person essentially the servant of every white person, unless
he had a "white boss" who outranked other white people. Ex-GI's are
familiar with this situation. Anyone random person who outranks you
can put you on a work detail, unless you're already carrying out an
assignment for someone else of higher rank. E.g. an NCO who needs
random warm bodies (FWIW, I first heard this expression in the Army,
though I doubt that "late 'Fifties" is any kind of antedating) to
unload a delivery of ammo - that shit, being lead and high explosive,
is a bitch to deal with - can't put you to work for him, if you're
already in the course of carrying paperwork from your company
commander to higher headquarters.

I was in my middle thirties, ca.1971, before I had a white person as a
friend in the same sense that I have black people as friends.

I've been aware of the existence of the ADS for dekkids, but, because
I had the (no doubt erroneous, but once unavoidable) impression that
no organization headquartered in Alabama or Georgia would accept any
colored people as members, I never tried to become a member. Of
course, nowadays, I know better. Or maybe it's merely that times have
changed.

Apropos possibly of nothing, I was once - rightly - physically afraid
of random white people with whom I had no social relationship. As a
consequence, I fail to appreciate any irony in the fact that white
folks nowadays claim to be physically afraid of colored people with
whom they're not acquainted. Either emotional response allows white
folk to kick black ass, if they feel that the situation calls for it.

Things still aren't what they should be, but I thank God that they're
not what they used to be!

-Wilson

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 12:03 AM, Your Name <ROSESKES at aol.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Your Name <ROSESKES at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: ADS-L Digest - 22 Sep 2008 to 23 Sep 2008 (#2008-268)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In a message dated 9/24/2008 12:01:46 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU writes:
>
>
> BE _due to the fact that_ = "because"
>
> This time, it was used by a  thirty-ish, black-male speaker from Dade
> County, Florida. But this phrase  is used by black speakers of all
> social levels in all levels of speech from  coast to coast. It''s often
> reduced to "dewd/dood th' fack that" [dIw:/du:d  T@ f&k T&t]."
>
> This phrase is *extremely* common in the 'hood  and has been for as
> long as I've been able to understand English.  *Everybody* - from
> street thugs to college professors - uses it! But, I'm  not sure that
> I've heard any white person use it.
>
> So, my trivial  question is:
>
> Do white folks also use this?
>
>
>
> Are you  kidding?  I've heard TONS of people of ALL colors use this.  "Due to
>  the fact that" does not discriminate!
>
> Rosemarie
>
> The opinions expressed are solely those  of the author. You go get your own
> opinions!
>
>
>
>
>
> --  BE
>
>
>
>
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--
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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