Quoted without comment

[Jonathan Lighter]

Odds that McWhorter will be on Fox or CNN this week?  Anyone? Anyone?

JL

On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 7:01 PM, Geoff Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Geoff Nathan <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Quoted without comment
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And one of our own has much better things to say:
>
> http://www.tnr.com/blogs/john-mcwhorter
>
> Geoff
>
> Geoffrey S. Nathan
> Faculty Liaison, C&IT
> and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
> +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
> +1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)
>
> ----- "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>" <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> wrote:
>
> > From: "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>" <
> JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 4:12:09 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> > Subject: Quoted without comment
>  >
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
> >               <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> > Subject:      Quoted without comment
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/01/12/2010-01-12_harry_reid_read_my_lips_theres_no_such_thing_as_negro_dialect.html
> >
> >
> > Harry Reid, read my lips: There's no such thing as 'Negro dialect'
> > By Michael Meyers
> > Special to NYDailyNews.com
> >
> > Tuesday, January 12th 2010, 3:48 PM
> >
> > <snip>
> > there is no such thing as "Negro dialect." Like "the Negro" itself,
> > so-called "Negro dialect" is a fiction created to assign qualities and
> > habits and deficits to a "race" of people. But blacks are not a
> > "race"; we're people who happen to have darker skin than whites. We
> > are individuals who belong to the same race as do whites and
> > "Hispanics" and Asians.
> >
> > If, as individuals, we speak less than standard or perfect English,
> > then that is a personal failing and a challenge - not a racial
> > character trait. Indeed, as many American blacks were coming up and
> > out of enslavement, they learned broken English from their overseers
> > because many whites then and now (and not just in the South) don't
> > know the rules, much less the syntax and grammar, of the English
> > language.
> >
> > Dialects, accents and regional differences in language are fluid and
> > not always fluent, but are never "racial." Some immigrants have been
> > singled out for their slovenly English; others learn and speak
> > sparkling English. Those of all hues who inhabit a New York borough
> > are sometimes said to speak "Brooklyn-ese" or "Bronx" - but plenty of
> > times we speak Standard American English.
> >
> > The world is a complicated place, where individuals consistently
> > overwhelm types.
> >
> > Swirling prejudices about which groups learn and speak Standard
> > English have been passed on from generation to generation - and have
> > even been adopted by America's race industry, which proudly and
> > falsely proclaims that blacks are "different" from whites in values
> > and mannerisms and the language we speak.
> >
> > This is the notion of which Reid needed to be disabused. Yet not one
> > of our race leaders broke ranks to tell Harry Reid the plain truth
> > when he called upon them for absolution. Not one of them said to him,
> > "Harry, read my lips: There is no such thing as 'Negro dialect.' "
> > <snip>
> >
> >
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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