[Ads-l] Interesting take on Justice Thomas

[Shapiro, Fred]

A few years ago I had a conversation for about 10 minutes with Justice Thomas.  As a political liberal, I came into the conversation with quite a negative view of Thomas, but I found him to be extremely charming.  I also did not observe any kind of strong Gullah accent.


Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2018 11:35 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Interesting take on Justice Thomas

from the Wikipedia article on the Gullah Language https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wikipedia.org_wiki_Gullah-5Flanguage&d=DwIBaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=U4mIVpaIreQ4-nw0pwzASNmZCDl_EtSi63DxGZLEnm8&s=-0sG_Han-Bsd3ghsl9Wa7K3k-O5AWRn9f4w1Y69IfO4&e=, quoted without comment

<quote>
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was raised as a Gullah speaker in coastal Georgia. When asked why he has little to say during hearings of the court, he told a high school student that the ridicule he received for his Gullah speech, as a young man, caused him to develop the habit of listening rather than speaking in public.[6] Thomas's English-speaking grandfather raised him after the age of six in Savannah.[7]

[6] "In His Own Words: Justice Clarence Thomas". The New York Times. December 14, 2000. Retrieved April 5, 2010.
[7] Jeffrey Toobin, The Nine, Doubleday 2007, at 106
<end quote>

- Jim Landau

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