[Ads-l] Heard: "His father wouldn't...

Cohen, Gerald Leonard gcohen at MST.EDU
Tue Dec 29 02:16:22 UTC 2015


Jon's observation about Wilson's vast knowledge of AAVE is both welcome and
significant.  Would Wilson perhaps consider compiling at least some of that
vast knowledge?
G. Cohen                                                                                                      ________________________________________
Jonathan Lighter wrote, Monday, December 28, 2015 4:48 PM:
As so often happens, Wilson's devoted attention to AAVE affords valuable
information unavailable elsewhere.
"Give / cut slack" would only go back to the late '60s in HDAS III, if such
a thing were to exist.
JL

On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 2:59 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: "His father wouldn't...
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _give_ him any slack."
>
>
> Of very trivial interest, primarily - or only - because I heard the phrase
> originally as "give...slack," back in '54, whereas, today, "cut...slack" is
> *far* more common.
> --
> -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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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