be

[Charles C Doyle]

I just got blood drawn in preparation for a routine physical exam.  During the process, I realized (with some astonishment) that I had just asked the blood-drawer, "Do I still be making a fist?"

Now, I am a native speaker of White English Vernacular. Did I drift into "Ebonics" (in fact, was my query even grammatical in an African American dialect?)?  Or did just stumble into a grammatical aberration (could happen to anybody)?  Was I influenced by the fact that the blood-drawer was African American?  (If so, the influence was quite unconscious--though I am frequently in the presence of African Americans speech).

--Charlie

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