Date:    Tue, 9 Jun 1998 17:27:28 -0400
<br>From:    Beverly Flanigan <flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: "You the man"
<br>
<br>Larry may be on the right track (though I'm not entirely convinced) with
<br>Dave Letterman, who likes to affect his Hoosier roots from time to time:
<br>"Or as they say in Indiana, 'spayshul'; so-and-so "needs fixed"; and even
<br>positive 'anymore', which totally confused the audience once (I can't
<br>recall the sentence, but the lack of a negative threw the hearers off).
<br>And of course he uses 'ain't' regularly, a la covert prestige.
<br>
<br>
<br>At 03:54 PM 6/9/98 -0400, you wrote:
<br>>At 3:36 PM -0400 6/9/98, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
<br>>>Dave Letterman uses the phrase frequently, usually in a running exchange
<br>>>with Paul Shaffer.  I'm never quite sure whether they're using it
<br>>>derisively or mockingly or not....
<br>>>
<br>>>
<br>>>At 03:13 PM 6/9/98 -0400, you wrote:
<br>>>>It's interesting that the broader speech community has adopted "You da
<br>>>>man."  Traditionally, AAVE expressions with obvious grammatical "errors"
<br>>>>(such as the absent copula) are not accepted or imitated by
<br>>>>mainstream speakers except in derision.  In some instances, they feel
<br>>>>compelled to  "correct" it from "You da man" to "You're the man" or "You
<br>>>>are the man."
<br>>>>
<br>>>>Margaret Lee
<br>>>>Hampton University
<br>>
<br>>
<br>>I don't detect any derision here, but something more like quotation or
<br>>ironic reference to the non-standard dialect, much as there is in the use
<br>>of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" or "It ain't over till the fat lady
<br>>sings" by speakers who don't normally have 'ain't' in their lexical
<br>>repertoire.  I'm not sure that there's a whole lot of evidence for the
<br>>claim that 'AAVE expressions with obvious grammatical "errors" (such as the
<br>>absent copula) are not accepted or imitated by mainstream speakers except
<br>>in derision.'  In fact, the item I was just alluding in relation to
<br>>"Youdaman", "my bad", is another example of dialect borrowing of the same
<br>>sort; again there's no derision or correction.  If anything, given the
<br>>makeup of the borrowing community (hip or hip-wannabe radio and TV
<br>>comedian-hosts, sportscasters, etc.) there may be a case to be made for
<br>>Trudgill-style covert prestige.
<br>>
<br>>larry
<br>>
<br>