"keep it real"

[Sarah Colvin]

Many thanks to all for the responses to my query -- they were very helpful.
Best wishes from Scotland,
Sarah Colvin

Quoting Mary Bucholtz <bucholtz at LINGUISTICS.UCSB.EDU>:

> The following article may be of interest:
>
> Cutler, Cecelia (2003). “Keepin’ it real”: White hip-hoppers’   
> discourses of language, race, and authenticity. Journal of   
> Linguistic Anthropology 13(2):211-233.
>
> Mary
>
> --On Monday, July 14, 2008 12:13 AM -0500 Bryan James Gordon
> <linguista at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>> People say "keep it real" - as Mary notes, originally and still primarily
>> in African American or African-American-influenced varieties of English -
>> in direct reference to what Polonius would call being true to thine own
>> self. It means being true to one's own nature, and in particular to one's
>> role in one's community. Keeping it real is opposed to behaviours such as
>> fronting, or putting up a front; and selling out, or abandoning one's
>> community in order to achieve the "American dream". It is also opposed to
>> living an exorbitant or overly showy lifestyle.
>>
>> It is used, as Jason says, in saying goodbye as well, in the same way
>> that "take care" is used - as an admonition to actually follow through in
>> keeping it real.
>>
>> It can also be used to connote standing up for oneself or being willing
>> to go to extraordinary measures to protect oneself or one's friends and
>> loved ones. In this sense, "keeping it real" is opposed to cowardice or
>> silent acceptance of things.
>>
>> Someone who has much better experience than I do with this term would
>> make a much better source. I guess, having been exposed to this phrase my
>> whole life it never occurred to me there would be people who don't know
>> what it means or where it comes from. But it doesn't come from me, so
>> don't cite me.
>>
>> - Bryan James Gordon
>>
>>
>> 2008/7/13 Siegel, Jason F. <siegeljf at indiana.edu>:
>>
>> I also have the impression that it is often used like "take care" or "see
>> you around" as just something that people say when they are saying
>> good-bye.
>>
>> --Jason
>>
>> --
>> Jason F. Siegel
>> Ph.D. Student, Linguistics & French Linguistics
>> Department of French & Italian
>> Ballantine Hall 642
>> 1020 East Kirkwood Avenue
>> Indiana University
>> Bloomington, IN 47405-7103
>> USA
>> siegeljf at indiana.edu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Quoting Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>:
>>
>>
>> At 10:04 PM -0700 7/12/08, Mary Bucholtz wrote:
>>
>> It's an African American English expression that's widely used in
>> hip hop culture. From there it's spread to a large number of speech
>> communities around the world.
>>
>> Mary
>>
>>
>> In support of this, another poster on ADS-L, Ben Zimmer of Oxford
>> University Press, notes:
>>
>> FWIW, "Keep It Real" is the title of a track on John Lee and Gerry
>> Brown's 1975 Blue Note album "Mango Sunrise".
>>
>> http://www.worldsoul.com/JOHN_LEE_&_GERRY_BROWN__1390_html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --On Friday, July 11, 2008 2:23 PM +0100 Sarah Colvin
>> <sarah.colvin at ED.AC.UK> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Can anybody give me a reference or advise me re. the history, use, and
>> meaning of the phrase "keep it real"?
>> Thanks,
>> Sarah Colvin
>>
>> Professor Sarah Colvin
>> University of Edinburgh
>> David Hume Tower
>> George Square
>> Edinburgh EH8 9JX
>> Tel. ++ 131 650 3630
>> email: sarah.colvin at ed.ac.uk
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
>> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> **************************************************
>> Mary Bucholtz, Professor
>> Department of Linguistics
>> 3607 South Hall
>> University of California
>> Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3100
>> phone: (805) 893-5415
>> fax: (805) 893-7769
>> http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/bucholtz/
>> **************************************************
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> **************************************************
> Mary Bucholtz, Professor
> Department of Linguistics
> 3607 South Hall
> University of California
> Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3100
> phone: (805) 893-5415
> fax: (805) 893-7769
> http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/bucholtz/
> **************************************************



Professor Sarah Colvin
Mason Chair of German
European Languages and Cultures
University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JX
Tel. ++ 131 650 3630
email: sarah.colvin at ed.ac.uk

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with
registration number SC005336.

-- 
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.