Heard on The judges: "Ripping and running"

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS couldn't find "ripping and running" in print till the '70s.

Believe it or not!!

(Oh. It's AAVE. Maybe that explains it....)

JL

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 6:53 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- 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: "Ripping and running"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Forty-ish, black male speaker:
>
> "I was still _rippin' 'n' runnin'_ in the clubs at the time, your
> honor. But, now, I'm more mature."
>
> Judge Mathis:
>
> "You done got too old for it, huh?"
>
> [...]
> "I was _rippin' 'n' runnin'_, duckin' 'n' weavin', trying to get out of
> there!"
>
>
> In fact, I've heard "ripping and running" still being used (I learned
> from my grandmother, b.1893) in natural speech on numerous occasions.
> It's just, in this case, it was only a few minutes ago.
>
> --
> -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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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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