"Turn-about is fair play": StL hip-hop/rap BE

[Jonathan Lighter]

I believe that "boink" was introduced on _Moonlighting_ rather than cheers.

FWIW, I doubt that it's the sort of word that would ever be spontaneously
reinvented for sexual purposes.  One of those rappers must have known
somebody who'd been watching the show.

JL

On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 6:29 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "Turn-about is fair play": StL hip-hop/rap BE
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>
> Most readers probably remember the long-running TV sitcom, Cheers.
> Some will recall the AFAIK
> ?made-up-or-derived-from-the-onomatopoeia-specifically-for-this-show?
> word, _boink_ v. tr. as a cover for "fuck." I still hear _boink_ used
> that way from time to time in sitcoms broadcast - or should that be
> "broadcasted? ;-)  - during or shortly after the family hour.
>
> However, among hip-hoppers/rappers in Saint Louis, _boink_ is not used
> *in place* of "fuck." It *is* _fuck_! Given that hip-hoppers/rappers
> are known for their lack of any parts of self-censorship, I'm led to
> make that claim. Considering that even the elder statesmen of the
> genre are probably far too young to have a
> euphemism-stealing-acquaintance with the old TV show, I assume that
> the _boink_ of hip-hop/rap is a coincidental re-invention and not a
> borrowing.
>
> The pejoration of the nursery-level _boink_, based on nothing in
> particular, *almost* makes up for the melioration of the formerly
> gutter-level _tap that (ass)_, based on the image of tapping a keg of
> beer. ;-)
>
> It appears to be the case that the rule that activates the so-called
> "St. Louis drawl" has been much simplified to V -> [+back]/_
> [+rhotic], to borrow SPE-style notation. *Every* front vowel, from /i/
> through /A/ (= aesc) goes to an [^]-like sound - "here" [h at r](?) still
> fails to rhyme with "there" [D^r] - before any variety of English
> rhotic, even the new, IME, and equally-weird, IMO, Spanish-like
> trilled [r] (IPA symbol) derived from intervocalic /t/ and /d/.
>
> Sadly, this means that, in StL BE, _Mary merry Murray_, once clearly
> distinguished as M[E]ry m[E]ry_ vs. _M[^]ry_, now fall together:
>
> "Does you mean thet you wants to borrow you Mary's hair-pressing cap
> or thet you wants me to get you a Murray's hair-pressing cap?"
>
> BTW, "nigger" [nig@] is still as popular in casual StL black speech as
> it was in days of yore. The song, "St. Louis Anthem," could very
> easily be re-titled "St. Louis Niggaz," on the basis of its refrain.
>
> One singer notes that Saint Louis first rose to prominence as
> "Nellyville," but, today, "_The Lou_ now belong t' urrbody."
> Unfortunately, I can't avoid hearing "the loo"! ;-)
>
> --
> -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.
> –Mark Twain
>
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