[Ads-l] Bun in AAV and "Crying Wolof" Myth

[Z Rice]

(Oops, wrong email) Robin, I do not generally concern myself with
attempting to quantify how widespread a term is among the native
African-American population. There are Afro-Brazilian terms that are used
primarily in Minas Gerais, as opposed to Bahia and vice versa - yet these
terms remain Afro-Brazilian because they are used by and originate with
Afro-Brazilians. We witness the same in Cuba, in which certain terms are
particular to Perico and not used as often in Havana (and vice versa), but
they remain Afro-Cuban terms because they are used by and originated with
Afro-Cuban people. Should a similar phenomenon in the US be a surprise?
Certain words should be expected to be more common in certain areas as
opposed to others. Still, they remain AA terms, as they are spoken by and
originate with people who are AA.

As for the "evidence" that you require - I simply posted my work here to
protect my work publicly. However, I did not proceed in my research with
western methods (particularly relying on paper as evidence). It is
unrealistic and puts AAs at a disadvantage every time, so I don't engage in
such tactics. Do the people themselves know the terminology and attest to
its authenticity? That is my first and foremost question. If AAs know and
attest to the authenticity of the terminology that I am speaking of, then I
know I am on the right track.

To, Mr. Wilson, I'd like to note that the AA term 'bun' is not vulgar and
is actually "neutral". I have heard elderly folk (great-grands) in my youth
use this term when speaking to other grown folk. Also, I do not include
English terminology as lexical items unless they are actual calques (e.g.
"happening"). So I do not list words that just happen to sound like and
mean the same thing as Wolof but is actually from an obscure English or
"slang" origin.

On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 3:40 PM, Robin Hamilton <
robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM>
> Subject:      Bun in AAV and "Crying Wolof" Myth
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > On Tue, Mar 15, 2016 at 11:14 AM, Z Rice <zrice3714 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> > AAV > > bun - to have sex ... It should be noted that among both the
> >> > native AA population, and Wolof speakers, the term is not considered
> >> > 'vulgar'.
>
> >> > I'm not familiar with _bun_ in the meaning supplied. However, I am
> >> > familiar > with the term, _butter some buns_, which does have that
> >> > meaning and is or> was, during the '40's and '50's, anyway.
> >> > "considered 'vulgar'."> --> Wilson
>
> How widespread is "bun - to have sex" in AAVE?
>
> Like Wilson, I've encountered "bun" in various sexually-related contexts --
> "buttered bun" (which Wilson mentions) and "bun in the oven", for example,
> and "bundling" might be added to the mix -- but I can't find much evidence
> for the "bun=have sex" sense.
>
> I'd agree that absence of evidence isn't necessarily evidence of absence,
> but in this context, the absence of evidence might suggest that the term in
> this sense isn't widespread among AAVE speakers.
>
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