There is one message totalling 343 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Hoosiers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Jan 1997 20:29:46 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Hoosiers "....or, as we say in Indiana,...." --David Letterman Many poems are written at the beginning of the year. On 1 January 1833, in the Indianapolis Journal, there appeared a Carrier's Address (you'd hopefully tip your newspaper carrier for giving it to you) by John Finley called "The Hoosier's Nest," that would help name the state forever: ...Blest Indiana! In whose soil Men seek the sure rewards of toil, Amd honest poverty and worth Find here the best retreat on earth, While hosts of Preachers, Doctors, Lawyers, All independent as wood-sawyers, With men of every hue and fashion, Flock to this rising "Hoosher" nation. Men who can legislate or plow, Wage politics or milk a cow-- So plastic are their various parts, Within the circle of their arts, With equal tact the "Hoosher" loons, Hunt offices or hunt raccoons. (...) I would not have the world suppose Our public men are all like those, For even in this infant State Some may be wise, and good, and great. But, having gone so far, 'twould seem (Since "hoosher" manners is theme) That I, lest strangers take exception, Should give a more minute description, And if my strains be not seraphic I trust you'll find them somewhat graphic. Suppose in riding somewhere West A stranger found a "Hoosher's" nest, In other words, a buckeye cabin Just big enough to hold Queen Mab in, Its situation low but airy Was on the borders of a prairie, And fearing he might be benighted He hailed the house and then alighted The "Hoosher" met him at the door, Their salutations soon were o'er; He took the stranger's horse aside And to a sturdy sapling tied; Then, having stripped the saddle off, He fed him in a sugar trough. The stranger stooped to enter in, The entrance closing with a pin, And manifested strong desire To seat him by the log heap fire Where half a dozen Hoosheroons, With mush and milk, tincups and spoons, White heads, bare feet and dirty faces, Seemed much inclined to keep their places, But Madam, anxious to display Her rough and undisputed sway, Her offspring to the ladder led And cuffed the youngsters up to bed. Invited shortly to partake Of venison, milk and johnny-cake The stranger made a hearty meal And glances round the room would steal; One side was lined with skins of "varments" The other spread with divers garments, Dried pumpkins overhead were strung Where venison hams in plenty hung, Two rifles placed above the door, Three dogs lay stretched upon the floor, In short, the domicile was rife, With specimens of "Hoosher" life. The host who centered his affections, On game, and range, and quarter sections Discoursed his weary guest for hours, Till Somnus' ever potent powers Of sublunary cares bereft them And then I came away and left them. No matter how the story ended The application I intended Is from the famous Scottish poet Who seemed to feel as well as know it "That buirdly chiels and clever hizzies Are bred in sic a way as this is." One more subject I'll barely mention To which I ask your kind attention My pockets are so shrunk of late I can not nibble "Hoosher bait." With this carrier's address, "Hoosier" was launched upon the nation. Poet John Finley didn't invent the word, but he certainly popularized it. Although the poem was printed January 1, 1833, it was written in 1830 as "The Hoosher's Nest." (Of course, the poem is not cited in OED.) I have several new cites for "Hoosier" that pre-date the poem. The key to solving "Hoosier" will be found at the poem's end. I began the month with "johnny-cake"; "Hoosher bait" will begin the next one. A handout called "The Word 'HOOSIER'" by the Indiana Historical Bureau and distributed by the Indiana Historical Society gives the following theories: 1. When a visitor hailed a pioneer cabin in Indiana or knocked upon its door, the settler would respond, "Who's yere?" And from this frequent response Indiana became the "Who's yere" or Hoosier State. No one ever explained why this was more typical of Indiana than of Illinois or Ohio. 2. That Indiana rivermen were so spectacularly successful in trouncing or "hushing" their adversaries in the brawling that was then common that they became known as "hushers," eventually Hoosiers. 3. That there was once a contractor named Hoosier employed on the Louisville and Portland Canal who preferred to hire laborers from Indiana. They were called "Hoosier's men" and eventually all Indianans were called Hoosiers. 4. A theory attributed to Governor Joseph Wright was to the effect that Hoosier derived from an Indian word for corn, hoosa. Indiana flatboatmen taking corn or maize to New Orleans came to be known as "hoosa men" or Hoosiers. Unfortunately for this theory, a search of Indian vocabularies by a careful student of linguistics failed to reveal any such word for corn. 5. Quite as plausible as these was the facetious explanation offered by James Whitcomb Riley. He claimed that it originated in the pugnacious habits of our early settlers. They were enthusiastic and vicious fighters who gouged, scratched and bit off noses and ears. This was so common an occurrence that a settler coming into a tavern the morning after a fight and seeing an ear on the floor would touch it with his toe and casually ask, "Whose ear?" The distinguished Hoosier writer, Meredith Nicholson (The Hoosiers) and many others have inquired into the problem. But by all odds the most serious student of the matter was Jacob Piatt Dunn, Indiana historian and long-time secretary of the Indiana Historical Society. Dunn noted that "hoosier" was frequently used in many parts of the South in the 19th century for woodsmen or rough hill people. He traced the word back to "hoozer," in the Cumberland dialect of England. This derives from the Anglo-Saxon word "hoo" meaning high or hill. In the Cumberland dialect, the word "hoozer" meant anything unusually large, presumably like a hill. It is not hard to see how this word was attached to a hill dweller or highlander. Immigrants from Cumberland, England, settled in the southern mountains (Cumberland Mountains, Cumberland River, Cumberland Gap, etc.). Their descendents brought the name with them when they settled in the hills of southern Indiana. Jacob Piatt Dunn's THE WORD HOOSIER (Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. IV, No. 2, 1907, 37 pages) is outdated, but it is still the most comprehensive treatment. (See also Dunn's query "Hoosier," NOTES & QUERIES, 10th S. II, 20 August 1904, pg. 147.) It must be examined in detail. On January 8, 1833, a toast was given to "The Hooshier State of Indiana." On August 3, 1833, a prospectus was published for a new newspaper to be called "The Hoosier." On October 26, 1833, the Indiana Democrat reprinted this: HOOSHIER. The appellation of Hooshier has been used in many of the Western States, for several years, to designate, in a good natural way, an inhabitant of our sister state of Indiana. Ex-Governor Ray has lately started a newspaper in Indiana, which he names "The Hoshier" (sic). Many of our ingenious native philologists have attempted, though very unsatisfactorily, to explain this somewhat singular term. Mordechai M. Noah, in the late number of his Evening Star, undertakes to account for it upon the faith of a rather apocryphal story of a recruiting officer, who was engaged during the last war, in enlisting a company of HUSSARS, whom by mistake he unfortunately denominated as Hooshiers. Another etymologist tells us that when the state of Indiana was being surveyed, the surveyors, on finding the residence of a squatter, would exclaim _"Who's here,"_ --that exclamation, abbreviated to _Hooshier_ was, in process of time, applied as a distinctive appellation to the original settlers of that state, and, finally to its inhabitants generally. Neither of these hypotheses are deserving any attention. The word Hooshier is indebted for its existence to that once numerous and unique, but now extinct class of mortals called the Ohio Boatsman.--In its original acceptation it was equivalent to "Ripstaver," "Scrouger," "Screamer," "Bulger," "Ring-tailroarer," and a hundred others, equally expressive, but which have never attained to such a respectable standing as itself. By some caprice which can never be explained, the appellation Hooshier became confined solely to such boatsmen as had their homes upon the Indiana shore, and from them it was gradually applied to all Indianians, who acknowledge it as good naturedly as the appellation of Yankee--Whatever may have been the original acceptation of Hooshier this we know, that the people to whom it is now applied, are amongst the bravest, most intelligent, most enterprising, most magnanimous, and most democratic of the Great West, and should we ever feel disposed to quit the state in which we are now sojourning, our own noble Ohio, it will be to enroll ourselves as adopted citizens in the land of the "HOOSHIER."--Cincinnati Republican. Dunn, on page 11, gives a statement from Jere Smith that appeared in the Indianapolis Journal of 20 January 1860: "My recollection is that the word began to be used in this country in the fall of 1824, but it might have been as late as 1826 or 1827, when the Louisville & Portland canal was being made. I first heard it at a corn-husking. It was used in the sense of "rip-roaring," "half horse" and "half alligator," and such like backwoods coinages. It was then, and for some years afterwards, spoken as if spelled "husher," the "u" having the sound it has in "bush," "push," etc. In 1829, 1830 and 1831 its sound glided into "hoosher," till finally Mr. Finley's "Hoosier's Nest" made the present orthography and pronunciation classical, and it has remained so since." It is interesting that Jere Smith heard it at a corn-husking, but Hooshier did NOT apply to the corn. "Hoosa" meaning "corn" can be ruled out; it's not in any Indian dictionary. From HOOSIER: VARIATIONS ON A THEME by James Lamar Weygand (1950), he states on page 7 that "husher" was started by riverboat men on the Ohio River. Supposedly, it was slang for a "rough fellow." The Indiana Magazine of History, volume 1, 1905, pages 86-96, ran "Origin of the Word Hoosier" before Dunn's monograph came out. One woman thought it came from "Huzza." "Yahoo" is mentioned on page 94. In regards to "Hoosier bait," page 92 states that people didn't know "the last four lines of Finley's poem, in which this same term 'hoosier-bait' occurs, they being omitted in all the ordinary froms of the poem. The derivation of this term is obvious, whether 'bait' be taken in its sense of a lure or its sense of food. It was simply something that 'hoosiers' were fond of, and its application was natural at a time when the ideal of happiness was 'a country boy with a hunk of gingerbread.'" Dunn's mongraph contains, on page 23, the following statement on hoosier-bait by the Reverend T. A. Goodwin: In the summer of 1830 I went with my father, Samuel Goodwin, from our home at Brookville to Cincinnati. We traveled in an old-fashioned one-horse Dearborn wagon. I was a boy of twelve years and it was a great occasion for me. At cincinnati I had a fip for a treat, and at that time there was nothing I relished so much as one of those big pieces of gingerbread that were served as refreshment on muster days, Fourth of July and other gala occasions, in connection with cider. I went into a baker's shop and asked for "a fip's worth of gingerbread." The man said, "I guess you want hoosier-bait," and when he produced it I found that he had the right idea. That was the first time I ever heard the word "hoosier," but in a few years it became quite commonly applied to Indiana people. The gingerbread referred to was cooked in square pans--about fifteen inches across, I should think--and with furrows marked across the top, dividing it into guarter-sections. A quarter-section sold for a fip, which was 6 1/4 cents. ... The word "Hoosier" always had the sense of roughness or uncouthness in its early use. Dunn published an addendum to his mongraph in the Indiana Magazine of History, volume 7, 1911, pages 61-63. An article in the 4 April 1832 Northwestern Pioneer and St. Joseph's Intelligencer stated: "A Real Hoosier.--A sturgeon...was found to weigh 83 pounds." Let's look at the early cites one-by-one: 24 February 1826 This letter is cited in the 2 June 1949 Chicago Tribune, pg. 20, col. 3, and is in the OED. "The Indiana hoosiers that came out last fall is settled from a 2 to 4 milds of us." The Chicago Tribune disagreed with the Cumberland, England theory, thinking that "it was a word invented with humorous intention, similar to the American 'wowser.' There is an obsolete exclamation, 'hoo,' expressing surprise, admiration, delight. Any uncouth, illiterate person who exclaimed 'hoo' whenever he encountered traces of civilzation, such as well made clothing, pocket watches, silk stockings, and other articles of personal adornment, would be called a 'hoozer.'" 14 July 1827 A journal of a Black Creek school master stated "There is a Yankee trick for you--done up by a Hoosier." The journal wasn't printed until 1860, however. See EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE WABASH VALLEY by Sanford C. Cox (who admitted to making a few changes), pages 51-53. 11 February 1831 A letter from G. S. Murdock of Cincinnati to General John Tipton at Logansport offered to deliver sundry supplies by steamboat "the first rise of water (aboard) our boat the Indiana Hoosier." The Weygand monograph cites this on pg. 11, from "the Indiana State Library." 3 January 1832 The carrier's address to the Indiana Democrat--a year before Finley's "Hoosier's Nest," has, on page 3, col. 3, "Ask for our 'hoosiers' good plantations." 30 July 1836, Chicago American, pg. 2, col. 5: The ladies of Wisconsin have determined and decreed, that now and ever hereafter they will be known as _"Hawk Eyes."_ Look out for your _"Chickens"_ neighbor _"Wolverines."_ The _"Suckers,"_ _"Hoozers"_ and _"Buckeyes"_ must also be on the alert. 3 June 1838, New Orleans Picayune, pg. 2, col. 4. The Picayune made much fun of the Hoosier (from Kentucky as well as Indiana) for a good twenty years. This item was much reprinted: _The Great West._--A Yankee traveller lately wrote home, thus: "_My dear Mother_--The West is the place for promotion and to get acquainted with the world. Yesterday I arrived here, and, two hours afterwards, was made judge of a _horse race_, and to-day I saw a _live Hoosier_." 1839, Davy Crockett Almanac "A Hoosier" is shown, along with "a Puke" (from Missouri) and "a Sucker" (from Illinois). 1 September 1841, New Orleans Picayune, pg. 2, col. 4. An item on the Hossier is reprinted from the New Hampshire Gazette. "_Hoosiers._--Particularly the people of Indiana, and generally the emigrants from the southern States who settle in any of the free States of the north-west. The Hoosiers are as peculiar in their habits and customs as the Yankees...." The Library of Congress has a poor selection of early Indiana newspapers. My time in Indiana in 1994 was brief--about two days--and I had plenty of other things to research. Nevertheless, I was impressed with the number of early newspapers the state library had on microfilm. (Anyone want to fund me to go back?) And in that short span--a few hours, really--I found five pre-1833 "hooisers." All are from the Cass County Times of Logansport, Indiana. 19 May 1832, pg. 2, col. 4: ...These Editors may succeed in getting some of _their_ readers to take the _bait_; but their brethern (sic) in the West will find, if they have not already, that it is not genuine "_Hoosier bait_." We have seen in tried, and we have found but one noble man who was any way disposed to "_nibble_." 2 June 1832, pg. 2, col.5. "MY OWN, MY HOOSHIER LAND."--We have before number, a concise sketch of the house of Representatives, and to-day we give a similar notice of the Senate, from the pen of a correspondent of the Portland Advertiser, which, like every thing from his pen, is full of interest. (...) (That would be "Major Jack Downing" by the humorist Seba Smith in the Portland, Me. Advertiser.--ed.) 16 June 1832 All are from a speech by John Scott, Esq., given 4 June 1832. Pg. 2, col. 4: This remark, I presume was thrown out by your honor, rather as a kind of "Hoosier bait" .... Pg. 2, col. 5: In charity to yourself judge, indulge me in the opinion, that, in as much as you "assure" the people you wish to be elected, this cant of yours about the "poor man" is also "Hoosier bait," a sort of Ex-governor-like maneuver. Pg. 3, col. 1: "Hoosier state." SUMMARY "Hoosier" clearly means "something large." It does not come from "Hussar," nor from "Who's here?" It does not come from the song "Hosier's Ghost," which I have did not reprint here. It might come from "husher"--a large fellow who "hushes" those around him. It is clear that a "Hoosier" was at one time a large fish (a really big Sucker), and "Hoosier bait" was used to catch it. Bartlett (1859) has "Hoosier Cake, a Western name for a sort of coarse gingerbread, which, say the Kentuckians, is the best bait to catch a hoosier with, the biped being fond of it." Dunn favors the explanation given in the English Dialect Dictionary. I think it would be wise at this time to accept it, without any evidence to throw it out. ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 31 Dec 1996 to 1 Jan 1997 *********************************************** There are 7 messages totalling 218 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. WOTY pre-vu -Reply (2) 2. WOTY pre-ve R (3) 3. ADS at MLA 4. Gry again -Reply ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 13:15:38 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: WOTY pre-vu -Reply Hm! In watching the gymnastic events, I noticed "nail" only in "nail a landing/dismount", and I gathered from the use and accompanying commentary that the phrase referred to coming off the equipment to the floor, or (in the floor routines) out of a jump or flip (or whatever), to a clean landing with both feet on the floor, without moving the feet or taking a step to recover one's balance. I associated the metaphor with the image that the feet stick to the floor as if nailed to it. Has anyone heard this word used for any event other than a gymnastic one, and referring to anything but a landing? >>> Allan Metcalf 12/30/96, 01:25pm >>> Some of this year's top candidates are: * nail (v) -- to accomplish perfectly, as in an Olympic event ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 13:56:01 -0500 From: Peggy Smith Subject: Re: WOTY pre-vu -Reply Re: nail, I also heard it used in the diving events at the Olympics. "He really nailed that dive." I associate the meaning more with "to hit the nail on the head" or to get it exactly, which would fit the context, wouldn't it? Peggy Smith ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 14:02:56 EST From: "Daniel Marcus -- Amer. Lawyer Media - New York" Subject: WOTY pre-ve R To: ads-l[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga.cc.uga.edu Inet The word 'nail' is used very often by basketball commentators, usually referring to someone making an outside shot. ("He nailed that jumper," "And she nails the three from downtown," etc.) It's almost never used with a negative, however. (* "He failed to nail the shot.") I also heard it used during the diving events in pretty much the same way as in gymnastics (i.e. a clean landing), so this would seem to work against the feet-nailed-to-the-floor idea. (Although the gymnastics synonym "stick" does seem to be physically rooted, i.e. sticking to the floor.) I think for sports it always refers to isolated situations within the game where there are only two possible outcomes, i.e. make/miss, success/failure. But, to be honest, I think these sports meanings are all playing second fiddle to the more popular meaning, which is to have sex. (Examples assumed.) Dan Marcus ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 13:11:52 -0500 From: Dennis Baron Subject: ADS at MLA I'm pleased to report that the ADS-sponsored session at MLA, :) When You Say That, attracted about 45 participants and produced some lively discussion on linguistic effects of technology. It also produced one potential member (I'll write to Aallan separately later about this.) The Language and Society session, which I also chaired, drew over 50 people. I spent much of MLAbeing misunderstood by reporters interested in knowing whether Ebonics was a separate language, and what I thought of Oakland. Like Sali, I know what it is to be sound-bitten. I have decided that Ebonics is definitely word of the year. Respectfully submitted, Dennis "Ebonics is my middle name" Baron Dennis Baron debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uiuc.edu Department of English office: 217-333-2392 University of Illinois fax: 217-333-4321 608 S. Wright Street home: 217-384-1683 Urbana, IL 61801 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 14:06:00 EST From: Larry Horn Subject: Re: WOTY pre-ve R I'm not sure about the sexual analogy, but besides basketball and diving, another relatively hoary sports usage is in baseball, when a batter "really nailed a hanging slider", etc. That one might be analyzed as hitting the nail on the head, but that doesn't really generalize to the basketball or other contexts any better than nailing the feet to the floor. But perhaps meta- phorically it can be understood in the appropriate way. --Larry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 14:10:40 EST From: Larry Horn Subject: Re: WOTY pre-ve R P.S. On batters really nailing it: It occurs to me that the two-possible- outcomes idea doesn't quite work here at least without modification, since a batter can nail the ball and the ball can be caught or go foul; all that's im- plied is that s/he hit it very hard, with the meat of the bat, as intended. That does seem different from the other sports usages, where a successful out- come is entailed. --Larry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 16:26:08 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: Re: Gry again -Reply >>> Heilan Yvette Grimes 12/31/96, 09:56am writes>>> Go to any search engine (Lycos, Yahoo, etc.) and punch in "gry". You'll come up with several sites that lists lots of words ending in gry. One site lists over a hundred words ending in - gry, plus an explanation of the mistakes in the odd quiz that usually accompanies the -gry question. <<<<< Ms. Grimes is perpetuating the wild goose chase. Yes, one site* does list 100 words ending in "gry", and other sites (such as the alt.usage.english FAQ) contain the same list. But the pseudo- puzzle demands a *common* word. None of these words are common. Many of them are not English. I am talking about such all-time first-grade best-sellers as aggry bewgry Egry (France) ever-angry hogrymogry lisnagry messagry Schtchigry ulgry vergry Ymagry * The URL is too long for one line; join the next two lines: http://einstein.et.tudelft.nl/~arlet/puzzles/sol.cgi/language/ english/spelling/gry I have taken the following is taken from "The Word Detective" website. This warning is on the home page: -------- I have received, at last count, more than ten zillion pieces of e-mail on this question, and I am royally sick of it. In an almost certainly futile attempt to stem the tide (more of a tidal wave, actually) of "gry" queries, I have devised a two-step therapy program for victims of this particular affliction: FIRST, I suggest that you pay a visit to this page for a whole slew of possible answers. SECOND, I offer this little essay on the subject. -------- "This little essay" is a link to http://www.users.interport.net/~words1/gry.html , from which I excerpt the following. It is Copyright (c) 1996 Evan Morris -------- Conveniently for me, a collection of possible "third words" ending in "gry" already existed, compiled by the brain-teaser mavens in the "rec.puzzles" Usenet discussion group on the internet. It seems that aside from words based on "angry" or "hungry" (such as "dog-hungry"), Webster's Third New International unabridged dictionary lists only one word ending in "gry" --"aggry," meaning a type of prehistoric bead. But it seems quite a stretch to classify "aggry" as a common English word. Elsewhere, the Oxford English Dictionary, among others, also lists "gry" as a word all by itself, meaning a very small distance (about a tenth of an inch in John Locke's proposed decimal system). The Greek root of "gry" is noted in the OED as possibly meaning "the grunt of a pig," presumably one who was offered "gry" as a solution to this puzzle. Whether this minimalist "gry" can, in fact, be fairly said to "end" in "gry" is an existential question, but, in any case, the OED classifies this particular "gry" as obsolete, so it fails the "in common use" test. -------- Now, I hope we have put this nuisance to bed with a stake through its heart for the last time, at least on this list, at least until some newcomer comes running in at full tilt, waving it over his or her head and screaming for help. Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 1 Jan 1997 to 2 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There are 5 messages totalling 99 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. WOTY pre-ve R (2) 2. the use of "Queer" -Reply 3. non-negative polarity "anymore" 4. Nail and sport ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 23:45:15 -0800 From: Kim & Rima McKinzey Subject: Re: WOTY pre-ve R I'm pretty sure I've heard it regarding exams and the like, as in: How did you do on that test? I nailed it! I think it's gone beyond sports to encompass anything contested that's been accomplished completely, cleanly, and successfully. Rima ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 03:31:55 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Re: WOTY pre-ve R Besides the sexual connotations, "nail" has religious connotations as well and is not new. A millennial word, perhaps, but not WOTY. P.S. I don't want to dampen anyone's "spirits," but stay away from a Rusty Nail. :-) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 10:40:13 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: the use of "Queer" -Reply Ron Butters writes: >>>>> Here is a response to your question about the use of the term "queer": I use the word "queer" these days a lot, as a cover term encompassing 'gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgendered, transsexual'. <<<<< I didn't see the original that this was a reply to. I wouldn't feel comfortable at all using the word "queer". I learned it, in the 50s, as a derogatory word, parallel to "spic", "kike", and "nigger". I know that many homosexual (etc.) people use the word now, but as a non-member of the group(s) referred to I feel very intensely that coming from me it would be heard as insulting, just as the (affectionate?) use of "nigger" by some Black people among themselves doesn't license me, a white person, to use it. In fact, I was startled by the beginning of Ron's response, until I inferred that he identifies himself as "queer". Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 08:14:45 -0600 From: Natalie Maynor Subject: Re: non-negative polarity "anymore" > Is this mass ignorance on the part of the users, > or are the definitions changing? I'm surprised that nobody has replied to this yet (or at least not on the list). If by "mass ignorance" you mean that large numbers of people are using the words in these ways, wouldn't that be the same thing as "the definitions changing"? In other words, why the "or"? --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 20:52:39 -0500 From: Orin Hargraves <100422.2566[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Nail and sport Here's a cite with nail in a sporting life context not yet explored in this thread: 13/06/1993; AMERICAN;Washington Post; Vinnie Perrone "With a jackpot of more than $1 million, the Churchill Downs pick six was nailed yesterday by 149 ticket holders, each getting $9,359.40 for choosing the 6-3-5-1-4-8 combination." With best wishes, Orin Hargraves OKH[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]compuserve.com ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 2 Jan 1997 to 3 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There is one message totalling 12 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Soccer Moms ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 4 Jan 1997 22:21:46 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Soccer Moms "Soccer moms" is WOTY--it just came out on Reuters/AP. I thought "Ebonics" was vastly more significant, but to each his or her own. How did "soccer moms" break out? I believe the phrase was used in a tv commercial for a minivan--the Nissan Quest, or another model. WOTY and a President from an advertising copywriter! ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 3 Jan 1997 to 4 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There are 4 messages totalling 259 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. the use of "Queer" -Reply 2. Soccer Moms 3. Gay Nineties (2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 19:26:50 -0500 From: Ron Butters Subject: Re: the use of "Queer" -Reply Mark A. Mandel writes: >I wouldn't feel comfortable at all using the word "queer". I >learned it, in the 50s, as a derogatory word, parallel to "spic", >"kike", and "nigger". I know that many homosexual (etc.) people >use the word now, but as a non-member of the group(s) >referred to I feel very intensely that coming from me it >would be heard as insulting, just as the >(affectionate?) use of "nigger" by some Black people among >themselves doesn't license me, a white person, to use it. My experience from the 1950s is exactly the same as Mark's. However, the use of "queer" as a term of self-reference today is not, I believe, parallel to the ironic use of "nigger" by African-Americans. The use of "queer" by "queers" is not ironic but rather a serious attempt to strip the word of its derogatory connotations, rather the way "black" was stripped of possibly offensive connotations when it replaced "Negro." As I understand it, "queer" parallels "persons of color" as a term encompassing a large number of subgroups (chiefly if not exclusively bisexuals, gay men, lesbians, transexuals, transgendered persons). This doesn't mean that I think that Mark must be required to use the term "queer" if he is uncomfortable with it! But I (and an increasing number of others) use it as a convenient cover term to which a decreasing number of persons will take offense. As is the case with almost all such labels, people in qeneral do not take offense if it is clear that the speaker does not intend to give offense by using the term. Even the term "professor" can be offensive in the right context (recall Spiro Agnew and George Wallace on the subject of "pointy-headed intellectuals")! Mark writes also: >In fact, I was startled by the beginning of Ron's response, >until I inferred that he identifies himself as "queer." Perhaps ADS-L will be considered by some to be an inappropriate medium for one to make an official, public declaration of one's view of one's place on the psychosociosexual spectrum (though anybody who has ever referred to "my husband" or "my wife" on this e.b.b. has implicitly come out as "bisexual" or "str8," recent rulings in the courts of Hawaii notwithstanding to the contrary). But if it will lend my musings on this topic greater authority, I hereby declare myself a happy, contented, middle-aged male queer--stereotypically so at least to the extent that I love cats, adore lesbians, use words like "adore" in conversation, and loathe football, shotguns, and bad interior design. However, real life is complicated: I also hate opera and Christmas decorations, and my appetite for quiche is severely limited. And I don't believe that I have a large discretionary income (alas). ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 20:32:21 -0700 From: William King Subject: Re: Soccer Moms On Sat, 4 Jan 1997, Barry A. Popik wrote: > "Soccer moms" is WOTY--it just came out on Reuters/AP... > How did "soccer moms" break out? I believe the phrase was used in a tv > commercial for a minivan--the Nissan Quest, or another model. Soccer as a sport for kids has been growing in popularity over the years. My nephew was in a league in Glens Falls, NY circa 1980. My son played in Phoenix a decade later. There the sport is enjoyed by children from a wide range of ethnic and economic backgrounds. That said, it is very popular with middle class types for a number of reasons. Boys and girls play. Equipment is cheap. Competitive and non-competitive leagues are available. While there ARE manic coaches, the injuries tend to be insignificant. Many practices take place around dinner time, often before Soccer Dad is home. Stereotypically, Soccer Mom is available to take the kids to practice, where she hangs out with the other Soccer Moms, screaming bloody murder at the kids to move the damn ball down the field. Since she is the one who deals personally with the school, supermarket, utilities, and municality, Soccer Mom is the one who has complaints or complements. Believe me, parents often have little in common in terms of religion, politics, or sense of what constitutes an edible lunch (gahhhh!). It's just a very accessible game that verges on Pop Warner on steroids for the fanatics and normal activity for others. It is immensely popular, involves interleague competition, and a good deal of travel for the more involved participants. Bill King ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 23:23:40 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Gay Nineties Who named the Gay Nineties? That was 1890-1899, not 1891-1900. (The new century begins January 1, 2001, and you can find that on your "words ending in -gry" websites.) The answer to the "Gay Nineties" is simple, but a bit surprising. The Gay Nineties were not called that in the 1890s, nor the 1900s, nor the 1910s. The name, as far as I can tell, dates from 1925--a quarter-century later! The Dictionary of Americanisms, pg. 687, col. 1, has "gay...(4) Nineties, the 1890's, so called from the fashions and manners of the time." The first cite is a rather late "1937 MITCHELL _Horse & Buggy Age_ 81 Such a street was Washington Street in Hartford during the elegant Eighties and gay Nineties." The New York Public Library's CATNYP (their computer catalog--you knew that name was gonna surface somewhere) shows: Corday, Rene, FROM THE GAY NINETIES; TOE DANCE (c. 1930). Hanes, Ken, THE GAY GUYS GUIDE TO LIFE: 463 MAXIMS, MANNERS, AND MOTTOES FOR THE GAY NINETIES (1994). THE GAY NINETIES: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY GAY FICTION, edited by Phil Willkie and Greg Baysans (1991). Dietz, F. Meredith, GAY NINETIES COOK BOOK (1945). Black, Jennie Prince, I REMEMBER: A SHORT AND INTIMATE SKETCH OF THE DIGNIFIED SEVENTIES, THE ELEGANT EIGHTIES AND THE GAY NINETIES IN OR NEAR THE HUDSON VALLEY... (1938). Bowers, Claude Gernade, INDIANAPOLIS IN THE "GAY NINETIES" (1964). Desmond, Shaw, LONDON NIGHTS IN THE GAY NINETIES (1928). Pennoyer, Albert Sheldon, THIS WAS CALIFORNIA: A COLLECTION OF ENGRAVINGS REMINISCENT OF HISTORICAL EVENTS, HUMAN ACHIEVEMENTS AND TRIVIALITIES FROM PIONEER DAYS TO THE GAY NINETIES (1938). UNLEASHING FEMINISM: CRITIQUING THE LESBIAN SADOMASOCHISM IN THE GAY NINETIES, Pat Parker, et al. (1993). I went to NYPL's Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library and found some songs and shows with a "Gay Nineties" title, but none were before 1925. William A. Grew and Harry Delf made a movie by that title in 1929. In 1946, Bobby Gregory did a "Gay Nineties Polka." RLIN's Eureka provided what I believe to be the answer, but I'll discuss the others first. Seven titles came up originally: Bill Hardey's songs of the gay nineties (1938). Everybody's favorite songs of the gay nineties (1934). Gay nineties (19??). Gay nineties (19??). Roaring twenties, Gay nineties (1977). Gay nineties by Colby Dixon Hall (1961). The gay nineties by Maynard McFie (1945). Other titles (not mentioned in NYPL's CATNYP) include: Gay nineties costume ball (Palm Springs, Calif., The Desert Inn, 1949). Gay nineties fun; a gay nineties entertainment by Arthur Le Roy Kaser (c. 1945). The gay nineties in America: a cultural dictionary of the 1890s by Robert L. Gale (1992). Gay nineties medley arranged by Bill Holcombe (c. 1980). Gay nineties medley: for expandable flute choir by Rickey Lombardo (c. 1986). Gay nineties melodramas; a collection of old-fashioned melodramas of the gay nineties period by Lawrence Martin Brings (1963). Gay Nineties Memories (music) by Bowman (19--). The Gay Nineties, or, The Unfaithful Husband (movie) produced by Warner Brothers (1929). The Gay Nineties (19--), various songs such as "Ta-ra-ra- Boom-der-e," "In Good Old New York Town," "Little Annie Rooney," "Strike Up The Band," "Mr. Captain, Stop the Ship," "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me A Bow-Wow," "Kentucky Babe," "Hello My Baby," "White Wings," "The Bowery," "Throw Him Down, McCloskey," "After the Ball," "The Band Played On," "Put Me Off At Buffalo," "Silver Threads Among The Gold," "While Strolling Through The Park One Day," "Kiss Me, Honey," "Daisy Bell," "With All Her Faults I Love Her Still," and "The Sidewalks Of New York." (This may be from the "Metropole gay nineties song folio," published 1948.) In LISTENING TO AMERICA, Stuart Berg Flexner writes on page 284 "In the Gay 90s, _to be gay_ meant to take liberties, and a _gay woman_ was a prostitute, while in the 1920s a _gay dog_ was a woman chaser." In his I HEAR AMERICA TALKING, Flexner devotes pages 162-163 to "The Gay 90s," stating: THE GAY 90s is a term that became popular in the not-so-gay Depression years of the 1930s, when people looked back with nostalgia to their parents' lives or their own youth of the 1890s. Since then the Gay 90s has been considered the period when _the Elegant 80s_ relaxed and everyone enjoyed friendly, informal manners and fashions. In the 1890s, _gay_ not only meant happy and carefree but informal, and _to get gay_ with someone meant to take liberties, to be a little too brash even as Victorianism receded. (...) Yet, despite this usual mix of good and bad and rich and poor, the 90s probably were happy, carefree times for most Americans. A great many people did relax and enjoy themselves, there were exciting and pleasant things to do and, mainly, many people seemed to _think_ they were happy--something later, more sophisticated Americans have found it increasingly hard to do. The Chicago Tribune, 23 September 1956, page 10 of Comics Section, has an advertisement for GAY 90's TOFFEE FUDGE Sealtest Ice Cream. "Special Offer! Gay 90's decals! Bright! Colorful! See package for details!" A barbershop quartet sings "Sing a song of Sealtest/ Toffee Fudge for me!/ Rich 'n' thick 'n' creamy../ a flavor harmony!" "Not even grandma made ice cream like this! Sealtest Gay 90's Toffee Fudge Ice Cream--old-fashioned toffee laced through and through with fudge. You've never tasted anything like it. At Sealtest dealers only. More people enjoy Sealtest than any other ice cream." The earliest citation--probably our answer--is a book called THE GAY NINETIES: A BOOK OF DRAWINGS by R. V. Culter (Gadern City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1927). The book has interesting sketches of 1890s culture, and begins with a foreword by Charles Dana Gibson: FOREWORD IN THE spring of 1925, Richard Culter came into the _Life_ (the old Life--ed.) office with three drawings of scenes and people in the eighteen nineties. He submitted them to Robert Sherwood, the editor of _Life_, Frank Casey, the art editor, and myself, in the hope that they might develop into a series under the general heading, "The Gay Nineties." We liked Mr. Culter's drawings enormously--I can't imagine that anyone would fail to appreciate the perfection of his draughtsmanship or the complete truthfulness of his subjects; but we frankly doubted that "The Gay Nineties" would appeal to a wide circle of our readers. Nevertheless, we published the three drawings--and have continued the series in _Life_ ever since. It proved to be one of those rare features--so eagerly sought for by all harassed editors, and so infrequently found--which are characterized, in the jargon of our trade, as "sure fire." Doddering, decrepit veterans who have lived to the ripe old age of thirty-five, enjoy Mr. Culter's drawings because they reflect, so honestly, the costumes and customs of their dear, dead youth. Children who have been born in this century relish "The Gay Nineties" because of their archaeological interest--much as children of my generation were fascinated by the reminiscences of the Civil War. Mr. Culter has the ability to reflect life in terms of humor, and he has succeeded in representing the Gay Nineties as really gay. Look through the pages of this book and study the people that Mr. Culter has drawn; even though you survey them from the eminence of 1927--even though you laugh heartily at their ludicrous attire, their ridiculous headdresses--you will come to the conclusion that they must have had a thoroughly good time. Which, if memory has not utterly failed me, they did. Charles Gibson (signed) On 29 January 1929, the New York Times ran this on page 29, col. 2: R. V. Culter Dies in Florida. MIAMI, Fla., Jan. 28 (AP).--Richard Vincent Culter of New York, magazine illustrator and originator of a number of humorous sketches, died here today. That's it. No age. No specified illness. No indication if he moved to Florida or was just visiting. No indication also that he coined "the Gay 90s." The New York Herald Tribune, 29 January 1929, pg. 23, col. 5, had this: VINCENT CUTLER (sic) MIAMI, Fla., Jan. 29 (AP).--Vincent Cutler, of New York, magazine illustrator and originator of a number of humorous sketches, died here to-day. Richard Vincent Culter or Vincent Culter--whoever you are, wherever you are--thanks for coining "the Gay 90s." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 23:32:03 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Re: Gay Nineties Geez, I forgot my parting joke!!! However "gay" the 90s have been, I promise you that the next millennium will be "bi." :-) ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 4 Jan 1997 to 5 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There are 22 messages totalling 464 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. WOTY pre-vu -Reply 2. Soccer Moms 3. Year 2000 (5) 4. Year 2000--Apologies 5. Nail and sport 6. WOTY (2) 7. Gay Nineties -Reply 8. "Ebonics" 9. WOTY 97: palmtop? 10. WOTY- what were they? 11. text for language and gender 12. phonetics book? 13. Bounced Mail 14. New on the Web 15. WOTY on CNN 16. WOTY Is Fringe! 17. WOTY on ABC, 1-6. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 08:30:25 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: WOTY pre-vu -Reply >Hm! In watching the gymnastic events, I noticed "nail" only in "nail >a landing/dismount", and I gathered from the use and accompanying >commentary that the phrase referred to coming off the equipment to >the floor, or (in the floor routines) out of a jump or flip (or >whatever), to a clean landing with both feet on the floor, without >moving the feet or taking a step to recover one's balance. I >associated the metaphor with the image that the feet stick to the >floor as if nailed to it. > >Has anyone heard this word used for any event other than a gymnastic >one, and referring to anything but a landing? > >>>> Allan Metcalf 12/30/96, 01:25pm >>> > Some of this year's top candidates are: >* nail (v) -- to accomplish perfectly, as in an Olympic event At the ADS meeting, Allan handed me a news clipping indicating that Clinton had "nailed the election." Many of us noted that the sexual connotations of the term had apparently been sanitized enough for use in the mass media. Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 09:14:36 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: Soccer Moms > "Soccer moms" is WOTY--it just came out on Reuters/AP. I thought >"Ebonics" was vastly more significant, but to each his or her own. > How did "soccer moms" break out? I believe the phrase was used in a tv >commercial for a minivan--the Nissan Quest, or another model. WOTY and a >President from an advertising copywriter! I'd appreciate any citations that anyone can find. I heard it first on tv at the Republican convention. Actually, the winner was "mom" since the nomination also mentioned "minivan moms" and "waitress moms." Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 09:31:44 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Year 2000 Dear Allan, Thanks again for the citation for Year 2000. I checked the Algeo's index this morning and see that they list "Millennium Bug" and "millennium problem" as appearing in the 1997 summer issue of AS, but I see nothing on "Year 2000." By the way, as soon as I got in my car at the Atlanta airport on Saturday night, I heard about WOTY on ABC radio news (I am addicted to AM radio, obviously). One of my colleagues saw a small article on WOTY in this morning's Atlanta Constitution. I'd appreciate hearing about where the news was broadcast or printed so that I can provide evidence of the importance of my trip to Chicago in my report to the Research Committee. Wayne Glowka P. S. The Algeos do not list "soccer mom." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 09:34:09 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: Year 2000--Apologies Dear List, Apologies for sending Allan's mail to you. Wayne Glowka ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 06:44:53 PST From: "//www.usa.net/~ague" Subject: Re: Nail and sport I'd like to nail this group because it has yet to offer up another colloquialism for "to nail", that is "to admonish". Or is our household, with its teen-aged daughters, the only place where "to nail" is used in this fashion? -- Jim ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 09:08:47 -0600 From: Natalie Maynor Subject: Re: Year 2000 > I'd appreciate hearing about where the news was broadcast or printed so > that I can provide evidence of the importance of my trip to Chicago in my > report to the Research Committee. Your committee should be properly impressed to learn that it was included in the Starkville Daily News (Starkville, MS). Hmm. Now that I think about it, what I started writing humorously here (laughing at the thought that anybody anywhere would consider the SDN of any importance) might in fact be significant. Our tiny newspaper has very limited space for anything other than local news. The fact that the ADS WOTY story was chosen for that limited space perhaps says something about interest in it. --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 10:23:14 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: Year 2000 >> I'd appreciate hearing about where the news was broadcast or printed so >> that I can provide evidence of the importance of my trip to Chicago in my >> report to the Research Committee. > >Your committee should be properly impressed to learn that it was >included in the Starkville Daily News (Starkville, MS). ... > --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu) I am impressed anyway. Our daily paper takes off for Sunday and Monday. I won't know how important we are until tomorrow. Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 09:04:57 -0800 From: Grant Smith Subject: Re: Year 2000 The AP article on WOTY appeared on the front page this morning of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 10:07:37 EST From: Undetermined origin c/o LISTSERV administrator Subject: Re: WOTY FYI: the "word of the year" was mentioned on WCBS AM over the weekend, I think Saturday morning. (Oh, that's New York City, 880 on the AM dial.) They cited it as "soccer mom" and also mentioned "most controversial" being "Ebonics." I was pleased to hear the mention on a radio station that a lot of people listen to; I had a pleasant flash of "that's us." Vicki Rosenzweig vr%cr.acm.org | rosenzweig[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]acm.org http://members.tripod.com/~rosvicl ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 11:35:19 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: WOTY >FYI: the "word of the year" was mentioned on WCBS AM >over the weekend, I think Saturday morning. (Oh, that's >New York City, 880 on the AM dial.) They cited it as >"soccer mom" and also mentioned "most controversial" >being "Ebonics." I was pleased to hear the mention on >a radio station that a lot of people listen to; I had >a pleasant flash of "that's us." > >Vicki Rosenzweig I had on a Cincinnati AM station with CBS news on Saturday night as I plowed through the piney woods of Georgia; but when CBS news took a break for a commercial, the station lost its CBS signal and went back to easy listening tunes for people older than I am. I never got to hear about us on CBS. Thanks, Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 11:15:39 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: Re: Gay Nineties -Reply >>> Barry A. Popik writes However "gay" the 90s have been, I promise you that the next millennium will be "bi." :-) <<<<<< Nnuh-uh. As the *Third* Millennium of the Common Era, it will of necessity be "tri". ;-)\ (GD&R*) *grin, duck, and run ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 11:00:46 -0600 From: Cynthia Bernstein Subject: Re: "Ebonics" Does anyone know the names of those on the task force behind the Oakland decision? Cindy Bernstein ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 13:19:31 -0500 From: Allan Metcalf Subject: WOTY 97: palmtop? The hot air is scarce cooled from our choices of Words of the Year 1996, but we might should begin collecting citations for 97. This is from the January 6 "Daily Report from Academe Today," that is, the Chronicle of Higher Education, summarizing a story in this week's issue: * "PALMTOPS": More medical schools are using small, hand-held computers to give students access to scientific and medical information as well as to data on patients. (Information Technology section) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 14:10:11 -0500 From: "Dale F.Coye" Subject: Re: WOTY- what were they? Unless I missed it a posting, I only heard that soccer moms as the winner in a backhanded sort of way. Alan, could you post an official list of winners for those of us who didn't make the meeting? Thanks. Dale Coye The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Princeton, NJ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 13:55:00 CST From: Edward Callary Subject: text for language and gender I need suggestions on a book for the language and gender portion of a general intro to sociolinguistics. For the students I have (beginning grad level with an unbelievable variety of backrounds, from business majors and law students to disgruntled sentence parsers), I would like something resonably short, approachable, with lots of examples, and no particular axe to grind. Suggestions are most welcome. Edward Callary English Dept Northern Ill Unit DeKalb Il 60115 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 15:12:54 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: phonetics book? I promised to recommend a book or two to a friend's smart teenager to help him learn some basic phonetics. He invented his own "phonetic" alphabet -- a familiar game to many of us, I suspect -- but made some common mistakes and confusions, starting with interference from English spelling (gaah). Can anyone suggest a title or two? He would be reading on his own, with me ready to answer questions but available mostly by email, in person only once a month or less. Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 14:53:26 -0600 From: Natalie Maynor Subject: Bounced Mail **************************************************************** REMINDER: WHEN INCLUDING A PREVIOUS LIST POSTING IN SOMETHING YOU'RE SENDING TO THE LIST, BE SURE TO EDIT OUT ALL REFERENCES TO ADS-L IN THE HEADERS. **************************************************************** > Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 14:26:30 -0500 > From: "L-Soft list server at UGA (1.8b)" > Subject: ADS-L: error report from WKU.EDU > >The enclosed message, found in the ADS-L mailbox and shown under the spool ID >6712 in the system log, has been identified as a possible delivery error notice >for the following reason: "Sender:", "From:" or "Reply-To:" field pointing to >the list has been found in mail body. > >------------------- Message in error (43 lines) -------------------------- > Date: Mon, 06 Jan 97 13:19:39 CST > From: "Ellen Johnson" > Subject: the news > > Our local newspaper is about like Natalie's. And there it was on page 2. Ellen >______________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ > Subject: Re: Year 2000 > Date: 1/6/97 9:09 AM > > >--------------- Information from the mail header ----------------------- > Poster: Natalie Maynor > Subject: Re: Year 2000 >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > I'd appreciate hearing about where the news was broadcast or printed so > > that I can provide evidence of the importance of my trip to Chicago in my > > report to the Research Committee. > > Your committee should be properly impressed to learn that it was > included in the Starkville Daily News (Starkville, MS). Hmm. Now > that I think about it, what I started writing humorously here (laughing > at the thought that anybody anywhere would consider the SDN of any > importance) might in fact be significant. Our tiny newspaper has very > limited space for anything other than local news. The fact that the ADS > WOTY story was chosen for that limited space perhaps says something > about interest in it. > --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu) > > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 15:21:08 -0600 From: Natalie Maynor Subject: New on the Web A copy of the luncheon address from the meeting in Chicago is now on the web -- "Philological Eccentrics" by Richard W. Bailey: http:// www.msstate.edu/Archives/ADS/ (to go directly to it, add address.html after the /ADS/). --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 15:50:02 -0600 From: Greg Pulliam Subject: WOTY on CNN CNN Headline News ran with the WOTY story in four or five consecutive half-hours Saturday night. As did all the news organizations, they got it wrong, and said that "Soccer Mom" was the winner, rather than "-mom". The news media almost NEVER (in my history of studying them and being a part of them) "nail" a story. Gregory J. Pulliam Illinois Institute of Technology Lewis Department of Humanities Chicago, IL 60616 gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 17:02:00 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: WOTY Is Fringe! On CNN interactive the WOTY is in the section entitled FRINGE! Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 20:18:44 -0700 From: William King Subject: WOTY on ABC, 1-6. Peter Jennings commented on "Soccer Moms" being the American Dialect Society's WOTY on the ABC evening news. He made a good natured quip about it being a phrase, not a word. How long will it be until Soccer Moms shout out "HANDS" in political forums? Bill King ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 20:25:39 -0800 From: Kim & Rima McKinzey Subject: Re: Year 2000 >I'd appreciate hearing about where the news was broadcast or printed so >that I can provide evidence of the importance of my trip to Chicago in my >report to the Research Committee. 2nd page, first section "San Francisco Chronicle", Jan. 4th (I think). It was either the 4th or the 5th - I've already recycled it, so can't check. Rima ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 5 Jan 1997 to 6 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There are 17 messages totalling 285 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Ebonics and LSA conference 2. text for language and gender 3. phonetics book? 4. WOTY (2) 5. Year 2000 (4) 6. "Ebonics" 7. WOTY 97: palmtop? 8. [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] (3) 9. [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] -Reply 10. A new term? 11. hoopty/hooptie ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 05:54:16 -0700 From: Peter Farruggio Subject: Re: Ebonics and LSA conference The following was posted to another list. The wire service report of the LSA conference resolution was also printed in the San Francisco Chronicle last week and something in the report made it seem that the conference endorsed the position that Ebonics is a language , not a dialect Anybody know more about this? Pete Farruggio Oakland, CA >An article appeared in this morning's _Chicago Tribune_ discussing the >Linguistic Society of America conference that took place this week in >Chicago. It reports that a resolution was approved at the meeting >describing Ebonics as "a systematic and rule-governed method of >communication" and concluding that African-American students "could best >learn [standard English] if their native tongue was acknowledged and used >by their teachers in the classroom." The article goes on to say that this >position is consistent with extensive linguistics research dating back to >the '50's and that the current controversy arises from a "lack of credit" >accorded to research in this area. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 08:53:58 CST From: Ellen Johnson Subject: Re: text for language and gender If you are focusing on lg. variation in the class, the small book by Jennifer Coates (Longman) *Women, Men, and Language* is great. I especially like the first chapter on what people, from das Volk to Jesperson and beyond, have said historically about gendered lg. diffs. For a more general text, both in terms of audience interest and covering a wider range of socioling. topics, including more on discourse, lg. socialization, lg. and power, etc, I like Tannen's *You just don't understand* for undergrads. Ellen.Johnson[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]wku.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 09:02:28 CST From: Ellen Johnson Subject: Re: phonetics book? I'd get him the *Phonetic Symbol Guide* (Pullum and Ladusaw) first of all. No theory, but a lot of fun. On this topic, does anyone know if Ladefoged's *sounds of the world's lgs* comes with a CD that pronounces the sounds? Blackwell's catalog doesn't say anything about it, but I thought it might be nice for our dept's newly approved CD library. Ellen.Johnson[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]wku.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 12:09:25 -0600 From: "Donald M. Lance" Subject: WOTY Wayne, wasn't the winner "(hyphen)mom"? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 12:14:55 -0600 From: "Donald M. Lance" Subject: Re: Year 2000 There was a little squib on the ADS WOTY in yesterday's USA TODAY (6 Jan 97), in the lower left of the front page. Sorry, but I failed to clip it to send to Wayne and the New Words files. BTW, if you send clippings to Wayne as New Words editor, remember to include the source (with date and page number) or send the entire page. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 12:19:30 -0600 From: "Donald M. Lance" Subject: Re: "Ebonics" The text of the resolution of the Oakland Board of Education was printed, with some ellipses, on p. 13A of Monday's USA TODAY (6 Jan 97). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 13:45:04 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: WOTY >Wayne, wasn't the winner "(hyphen)mom"? Yes, it was, although the hyphen was David's joke. The Chicago Sun-Times got the story wrong and the error was spread by AP. Peter Jennings should be told that "the phrase" is accented like a compound word despite its spelling. Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 13:47:37 EST From: simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: WOTY 97: palmtop? Allan, I looked at palmtops last year, and they were in the 2nd or third generation then. beth simon ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 13:55:37 EST From: simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: Year 2000 WOTY and the ADS meeting (with a quote from Allan) was in the WI State Journal last Sunday, off the wire service. beth ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 14:00:02 EST From: simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: Year 2000 Kind of interesting the proliferation of "[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]", how it's moved into noninternet/e-address written usage. H. Palmer Hall noted this, that he sees it on billboards, for instance. The obverse (?) of what's happened with "dot", in that it's a spoken usage, whereas "[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]" has moved into written. Of course, it's ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 14:00:26 EST From: simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: Year 2000 Ach[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE], sorry. System is flooey. beth ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 14:16:34 -0500 From: "David W. Donnell" Subject: [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] >Kind of interesting the proliferation of "[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]", how it's moved into >noninternet/e-address written usage. H. Palmer Hall noted this, >that he sees it on billboards, for instance. > >The obverse (?) of what's happened with "dot", in that it's a >spoken usage, whereas "[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]" has moved into written. Of course, it's Anyone from down in [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Lanta like to comment? (I *think* I made this up, but I doubt it...) David W. Donnell in NYC ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 14:33:39 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] -Reply In his classic SF novel _The Demolished Man_, Alfred Bester used a number of typographical tricks, one of which was incorporating symbols into surnames as punning abbreviations: [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]kins (Atkins) 1/4main (Quartermain, in which "1/4" is a single printed character) Wyg& (Wygand) -- Mark M&el Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 16:29:04 CST From: Ellen Johnson Subject: Re: [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] >>Anyone from down in [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Lanta like to comment? (I *think* I made this up, but I doubt it...) Nope, it doesn't work, because the first syllable of that word is not pronounced "at" but "it" /Itlaen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/ (only one /t/ please). Ellen ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 20:02:24 -0500 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" Subject: Re: [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] On Tue, 7 Jan 1997, Ellen Johnson wrote: > Nope, it doesn't work, because the first syllable of that word is not > pronounced "at" but "it" /Itlaen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/ (only one /t/ please). Ellen > When I moved to Knoxville (1974), my UT students told me that I could say either /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lanta/ or /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tlana? -- I could say either "t" but not both. Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 415 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 20:06:59 -0500 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" Subject: A new term? On another list, someone posted the ff.: > We had our own three cats when my daughter landed us with the three > brother cats she had found as kittens in the Minnesota woods. You can > believe our three were pretty horked off, ... ^^^^^^^^^^ The term "horked off" is new to me. Anyone else know it? (I don't have DARE here.) Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 415 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 19:28:36 -0600 From: Greg Pulliam Subject: hoopty/hooptie Anybody heard the term _hoopty/ie_ for a old, barely-running car? What a lot of us used to call a "heap"? The term _hoopty_ is apparently a Chicago-area street term, attested to by my 6th grader. I'm curious as to whether it might be etymologically related to _heap_. Gregory J. Pulliam Illinois Institute of Technology Lewis Department of Humanities Chicago, IL 60616 gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 6 Jan 1997 to 7 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There are 27 messages totalling 1102 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. "Atlanta" (3) 2. [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] 3. hoopty 4. POTY: "Show me the money!!" 5. hoopty/hooptie 6. Ebonics as "professional crackpotism" 7. LJP unavailable 8. "Atlanta" -Reply 9. More on [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] 10. LJP Again Available 11. Official report: WOTY for 1996 12. WOTY (2) 13. Ebonics (2) 14. POTY: "Show me the money!!" 15. LSA on Ebonics 16. A new term? 17. Popular Ebonics (4) 18. LJP 19. Email address 20. LJP -Reply ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 01:03:33 -0500 From: Ron Butters Subject: Re: "Atlanta" [Sorry--I sent that last message before I was done] Bethany Dumas writes: >When I moved to Knoxville (1974), my >UT students told me that I could say >either /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lanta/ or /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tlana? -- I could >say either "t" but not both. It seems to me that the alternatives are [aetlaen(t)uh] or [uh?laen(t)uh]--where [uh] = schwa, [?] = glottal stop, and the second [t] is optional in either case. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 01:40:25 -0500 From: Ron Butters Subject: Re: [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] Bethany Dumas writes: >When I moved to Knoxville (1974), my >UT students told me that I could say >either /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lanta/ or /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tlana? -- I could >say either "t" but not both. It seems to me that the alternatives are [aetlaen(t)uh] or [uh?laen(t)uh]--where [uh] = schwa and [?] = ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 01:35:47 -0600 From: Greg Pulliam Subject: hoopty >From: "Dazaifu" >Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:27:18 -0000 >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal >X-Priority: 3 >X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155 >MIME-Version: 1.0 >X-UIDL: 64a56a28696827db8e0285170518ae76 > >It's not just a Chicago area term. It was alive and well in the New >Orleans area when I was in high school (1989-92). I think it may have >appeared in some rap songs of that era, which would of course explain how >it got around to different places. I dont know its origins, however. > >Tara Sanchez >dzfhs-02[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mxw.meshnet.or.jp > >Dazaifu Senior High School >4114-3 Takao >Dazaifu, Fukuoka 818-01 Japan > >Futsukaichi Kyoshokuin Jutaku B-121 >Oaza Murasaki 650-5 >Chikushino, Fukuoka 818 Japan > > Gregory J. Pulliam Illinois Institute of Technology Lewis Department of Humanities Chicago, IL 60616 gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 07:45:04 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: POTY: "Show me the money!!" Perhaps Peter Jennings wants POTY--Phrase of the Year? The back page of the 7 January 1997 New York Post (sports section) shows New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing (a free agent at year's end) and a catch phrase from the Tom Cruise movie about sports agents, JERRY MAGUIRE: "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!" I have and will discuss "I'm from Missouri--Show Me!" and the new, multi-media tourist ripoff "Show Me New York" that opened on the block next to me (East 58th Street, next to the Four Seasons Hotel). This POTY, however, need not be restricted to sports. One can just imagine some Asian arms dealer romping naked in the Lincoln bedroom in the Clintstone White House being said this. What better phrase for Hillary, Bill, Newt & Co.? I really like this one. "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 08:05:51 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: "Atlanta" >[Sorry--I sent that last message before I was done] > >Bethany Dumas writes: > >When I moved to Knoxville (1974), my > >UT students told me that I could say > >either /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lanta/ or /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tlana? -- I could > >say either "t" but not both. > >It seems to me that the alternatives are [aetlaen(t)uh] or >[uh?laen(t)uh]--where [uh] = schwa, [?] = glottal stop, and the second [t] >is optional in either case. There is some joking about a pronunciation that would be spelled "Atalanta," but I've never actually heard anyone say the word this way outside of a joking context. For example: There was a church group on a bus going to Atlanta arguing about whether the name of the city was pronounced as spelled or as "Atalanta." To solve the dispute, the bus pulled into a Burger King where representatives of the church group asked the person at the cash register, "What's the name of this place?" The cashier replied, "Burger King." Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 09:09:03 -0400 From: "Dennis R. Preston" Subject: Re: "Atlanta" Wayne's tale of Atlanta pronunciation reminds me of an old Hawai'i one. Two tourists who have frequently been in Hawai'i argue if the correct pronunciation is Ha[w]ai'i or Ha[v]ai'i. (I actually doubt if they dealt with the glottal, but it's just the [v]-[w] possibility which is at stake here.) They agree to resolve the argument by an appeal to authority and confront the first local-looking fellow they see and ask their question. He responds with Ha[v]ai'i, They say 'Thanks.' He says 'You're velcome.' Dennis >>[Sorry--I sent that last message before I was done] >> >>Bethany Dumas writes: >> >When I moved to Knoxville (1974), my >> >UT students told me that I could say >> >either /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lanta/ or /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tlana? -- I could >> >say either "t" but not both. >> >>It seems to me that the alternatives are [aetlaen(t)uh] or >>[uh?laen(t)uh]--where [uh] = schwa, [?] = glottal stop, and the second [t] >>is optional in either case. > > >There is some joking about a pronunciation that would be spelled >"Atalanta," but I've never actually heard anyone say the word this way >outside of a joking context. > >For example: There was a church group on a bus going to Atlanta arguing >about whether the name of the city was pronounced as spelled or as >"Atalanta." To solve the dispute, the bus pulled into a Burger King where >representatives of the church group asked the person at the cash register, >"What's the name of this place?" The cashier replied, "Burger King." > > >Wayne Glowka >Professor of English >Director of Research and Graduate Student Services >Georgia College & State University >Milledgeville, GA 31061 >912-453-4222 >FAX: 912-454-0873 >Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 >wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu Dennis R. Preston Department of Linguistics and Languages Michigan State University East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu.edu Office: (517)432-1235 Fax: (517)432-2736 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 09:13:05 -0500 From: Jesse T Sheidlower Subject: Re: hoopty/hooptie > > Anybody heard the term _hoopty/ie_ for a old, barely-running car? What a > lot of us used to call a "heap"? > The term _hoopty_ is apparently a Chicago-area street term, attested to by > my 6th grader. I'm curious as to whether it might be etymologically > related to _heap_. _Hoopty_ seems to have originated in California; I have several cites from around 1970 there. It has appeared in a number of rap songs in recent years, notably "My Hoopty" by "Sir Mix-a-Lot" in 1990. DARE has an entry for "hoopy" in the same sense, identified as "esp. Texas" with cites from the 1966-70 DARE survey onward. Both terms are of unknown origin. Jesse Sheidlower Random House Reference ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 10:06:39 -0500 From: Allan Metcalf Subject: Ebonics as "professional crackpotism" At our WOTY session, we unanimously agreed that "Ebonics" was the most controversial word of 1996. In fact, we found ourselves disagreeing about the definition. Here, from the Chronicle of Higher Education's 1/7/97 daily report, is further evidence of disagreement. - Allan Metcalf ------------------------------------------------- A glance at the January 20 issue of "The New Republic": Ebonics is worse than you think When the school board in Oakland, Cal., declared black English a formal language last month, it prompted a heated national debate over Ebonics. But Ebonics, a combination of the words "ebony" and "phonics," is nothing new in public schools, writes Jacob Heilbrunn, an associate editor of the magazine. Since the late 1980s, school systems in Los Angeles, Pomona, San Diego, and elsewhere in California have begun using Ebonics in an effort to improve black students' grades and standard-English-test scores by "translating" lessons into black English. Ebonics, he writes, was created and promoted by several well-known linguists, who trace its origin to African languages. But, writes Mr. Heilbrunn, the school systems are using Ebonics "not merely as a bridge to English, but teach it as a language in its own right." Furthermore, there is no evidence that Ebonics has improved the English of black students. In San Diego, he writes, the effects of Ebonics on standardized-test scores have been "spotty," and in Los Angeles, one elementary school's scores have dropped in reading and language skills. "Ebonics is not just a bit of amateur crackpotism," Mr. Heilbrunn writes. "It is professional crackpotism, well within the pedagogical mainstream." (The magazine may be found at your library or newsstand.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:05:16 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: LJP unavailable Bethany K. Dumas , writing on a different subject, signed off with a paragraph that included <<<<< Editor, Language in the Judicial Process >>>>> For several days I have been trying this URL and getting only the message: Error! The file you requested was not available. [While not on-topic of American dialects, this is language-related and the URL has been appearing here.] Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:09:09 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: Re: "Atlanta" -Reply >>> Ron Butters 1/8/97, 01:03am >>> Bethany Dumas writes: >When I moved to Knoxville (1974), my >UT students told me that I could say >either /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lanta/ or /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tlana? -- I could >say either "t" but not both. It seems to me that the alternatives are [aetlaen(t)uh] or [uh?laen(t)uh]--where [uh] = schwa, [?] = glottal stop, and the second [t] is optional in either case. <<<<< I've heard a lot of a pron with no stops at all: [[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] 'laen [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]]. The [n] may be tapped. Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:52:20 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: More on [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] Today's _Wall Street Journal_ features, in the center of the front page of the business section (p. B1), an article by their Rodney Ho titled "Was That Cybernet Inc. or Interweb Co.?" It's about the difficulty many technology companies have in finding a name that describes them and is "hot" yet is still distinctive. (I will add that nobody confuses Dragon Systems [see sig line] with any other speech recognition company.) The last two paragraphs of the article, on p. B2, discuss the use of "[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]" in names. (This is probably copyright 1997 by The Wall Street Journal.) ----- Naming experts note one dubious trend: a new fascination with nonalphabetical symbols. The Fall Internet World trade show in New York featured five companies that use the common electronic-mail symbol, "[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]," in their names, including [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Revolution Inc. and [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Siquis, a subsidiary of Sequis Ltd., a Baltimore ad agency. Just try to look such companies up in a telephone book. Phone companies are coping by translating the symbol back into English, so that [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Revolution becomes AtRevolution. Miles Rose, president of [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Revolution in New York, admits that to the uninitiated, the names is flawed. "On the other hand, everyone we deal with is on the Internet," he says. "If you're not, you don't have any reason to talk to us." ----- Of course, the phone companies have been doing this with numbers for years. Look for the "99" steak house in the N's, spelled out. New trend? Well, maybe as a trend, but not per se. I remember feeling jolted by "Gulf + Western", and that was probably in the sixties. And, of course, "&" ("ampersand" -- said to be < ".... W, X, Y, Z, and per-se 'and'") has been legitimate in corporate names since way back. Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:46:09 -0500 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" Subject: LJP Again Available On Wed, 8 Jan 1997, Mark Mandel wrote: > > > For several days I have been trying this URL and getting only the > message: > > Error! The file you requested was not available. >From time to time, the power is switched off to my office at UTK. Yesterday morning, I walked into my office after being gone several days to discover that the server for LJP had been switched off by a person or persons, unknown to me (there's a large poster on it, telling cleaning staff NEVER to turn the computer off). It's up and running now. I regret any incovenience. At the present such occurrences are beyond my control. Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 415 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:23:47 -0500 From: Allan Metcalf Subject: Official report: WOTY for 1996 Yes, it's about time I posted my official record of our WOTY vote. Thanks to all who have posted their prebuttals. And let me give credit to Chicago Sun-Times reporter John Carpenter, who attended both our nominating session and our final vote, and who wrote a pretty accurate and engaging article that appeared in the paper January 4 and was in turn basis for the AP report that swept the nation. If he emphasized "soccer mom" rather than the generic "-mom," well so did we in our discussions. Now here is the draft of an official statement. BTW, you can find the press release for 1995, with complete list of all previous choices, on the ADS Web site, http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/ADS/. - Allan Metcalf ------------------------------------------ In its annual vote at its annual meeting, the American Dialect Society on Jan. 3 chose as word of the year 1996 "mom" as in "soccer mom," the newly significant type of voter courted by both candidates during the presidential campaign. That phrase spun off other designations such as "minivan mom" and "waitress mom." "Mom" received 25 votes in the final show of hands, compared with 16 for the runner-up "alpha geek," the person in a workplace who knows most about computers. Every year since 1990 the Society has voted on words that are most representative of the year gone by. The chosen words or phrases do not have to be brand new, since few completely new words attain wide currency, but they do have to be newly prominent or distinctive. The election is serious, based on members' tracking of new words during the year, but it is far from solemn, since many of the words represent fads and foibles of the year. Some less well known words are chosen because they are ingenious inventions. Before the vote on Word (or Phrase) of the Year, members chose winners in particular categories. These were the other 1996 choices: 1. Most Useful: "dot" (18 votes) used instead of "period" in e-mail and URL addresses. Runner-up was "d'oh" (12) recognition of one's stupidity (from the Simpsons TV show). 2. Most Unnecessary: "Mexican hustle" (20) another name for the Macarena (and it's not Mexican). Runner-ups were "bridge to the 21st century" (13) the putative work of presidential candidate Bill Clinton, and "uber-" (6) prefix substituting for "super" as in "ubermom." 3. Most Controversial: "Ebonics" (unanimous) African-American vernacular English. Even among ADS members "Ebonics" was controversial, as they found themselves disagreeing on the definition. Does "Ebonics" imply that it is a separate language? 4. Most Likely to Succeed: "drive-by" (25) designating brief visits or hospital stays as in "drive-by labor," "drive-by mastectomy," "drive-by viewing." Runner-up "nail" (7) to accomplish perfectly, as an Olympic feat, election victory, or movie role. 5. Most Outrageous: "toy soldier" (22) land mine (in the former Yugoslavia). Runner-ups "stalkerazzi" (4) photographers (paparazzi) who stalk their prey, and "roofie" (3) Rohypnol, the date-rape drug. 6. Most Original: "prebuttal" (18) preemptive rebuttal; quick response to a political adversary. Runner-up: "alpha geek" (14). 7. Most Euphemistic: tie (18 each) between "urban camping" living homeless in a city, and "food insecure" said of a country where people are starving. 8. Word of the Year, first vote: "mom" 7, "alpha geek" 7, "drive-by" 7, "go there" to mention a topic 6, "dot" 5, "all that" 5, "Macarena" 2, "stalkerazzi" 2, "nail" 1, "prebuttal" 1, "una" as in Unabomber 1. Second vote: "mom" 12, "alpha geek" 9, "drive-by" 7, "go there" 7, "dot" 4, "all that" 3. Third vote: "mom" 17, "alpha geek" 10, "drive-by" 9, "go there" 6. Final vote: "mom" 25, "alpha geek" 16. The vote for Word of the Year 1997 will take place at the Society's annual meeting in New York City at the Grand Hyatt Hotel January 8-10, 1998. Nominations should be sent to the chair of the Society's Committee on New Words, Professor Wayne Glowka, Dept. of English and Speech, Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville GA 31061; e-mail wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:19:37 -0700 From: William King Subject: Re: WOTY On Tue, 7 Jan 1997, Wayne Glowka wrote: > >Wayne, wasn't the winner "(hyphen)mom"?> > Yes, it was, although the hyphen was David's joke. The Chicago Sun-Times > got the story wrong and the error was spread by AP. Peter Jennings should > be told that "the phrase" is accented like a compound word despite its > spelling. Jennings had the pronunciation correct, and I'm sure that he knows what a compound noun is. That said, his point was that the word of the year is two words. He then said that at least it wasn't some phrase that I can't remember. It is several words long, new, and common enough to be recognized by a wide audience. Bill King University of Arizona ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 13:31:13 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: WOTY >On Tue, 7 Jan 1997, Wayne Glowka wrote: >> >Wayne, wasn't the winner "(hyphen)mom"?> >> Yes, it was, although the hyphen was David's joke. The Chicago Sun-Times >> got the story wrong and the error was spread by AP. Peter Jennings should >> be told that "the phrase" is accented like a compound word despite its >> spelling. >Jennings had the pronunciation correct, and I'm sure that he knows >what a compound noun is. That said, his point was that the word of the >year is two words. He then said that at least it wasn't some phrase that >I can't remember. It is several words long, new, and common enough to be >recognized by a wide audience. >Bill King >University of Arizona I'll have to forgive the man. He is always my example in class for a centralized onset for the vowel rendered as "ou" or "ow" in spelling. Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:32:02 -0600 From: Dennis Baron Subject: Ebonics At the risk of reduplicating, here is my revised op-ed essay, which will appear in some form close to this in the Chronicle for Higher Education (which will no doubt supply its own title). Hooked on Ebonics by Dennis Baron The word of the year so far is "ebonics." Although it's been around since the 1970s, few people had heard of it before last Dec. 18, when the Oakland, Cal., School Board unanimously passed a resolution declaring ebonics to be the "genetically-based" language of its African American students, not a dialect of English. In the full text of its resolution, printed in the San Francisco Chronicle (Jan. 2, 1997, p. A18), the school board called ebonics a separate language derived from African linguistic roots, with heavy borrowings from English vocabulary. The board declared its intention to instruct "African American students in their primary language [ebonics] for the combined purposes of maintaining the legitimacy and richness of such language . . . and to facilitate their acquisition and mastery of English language skills." Claiming that "African-American people and their children are from home environments in which a language other than English is dominant," the board indicated that it would also seek bilingual education funding from the federal government for the teaching of standard English. After a great deal of negative publicity, Oakland backed away from some aspects of its original resolution. Oakland now plans to follow a less controversial path, educating teachers about the language of their students, and teaching students how to translate from ebonics to standard English. I strongly agree with Oakland's efforts to recognize and value the language that students bring with them to school. But I do not think that the method chosen, teaching them English as if it were a foreign language, is likely to move students from ebonics to a more mainstream variety of English. Nor do I think that acquiring standard English will guarantee success, either in school or in the world of work. The linguist Max Weinreich once said that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy. The schoolchildren of Oakland, who are predominantly African American, do not have the kind of power that brings their speech linguistic prestige. The school board tried to do something to change the negative image of black language by calling it ebonics and asking teachers to learn something about the speech of their students. But the American public reacted to the school board's declaration of linguistic independence as if to an act of secession. Black leaders and intellectuals condemned the board's decision. They denounced black speech as slangy, non-standard, and unworthy of the classroom; they condemned as racist the separatism that would result from any recognition of black English. They warned that ebonics would give schoolchildren a misplaced sense of pride and that students' continued use of black English would exclude students from higher education and the corporate boardrooms of the nation. The U.S. Department of Education immediately reaffirmed the position it took during the Reagan administration that black English was a dialect of English, not a distinct language eligible for bilingual-education funds. And a delegate to the Virginia House introduced a bill to prohibit Virginia schools from teaching ebonics. Stung by the negative reaction, the Oakland school board backed away from its initial claims, assuring the public that it never intended to teach students anything but standard English. But it was clear from televised clips of Oakland schoolrooms and from statements by Oakland educators that the schools already were using exercises in which their students translated from "ebonics" to "standard English." After the initial round of criticism, some observers sought to explore the positive side of the Oakland move. Perhaps approaching black English as a foreign language might help students become fluent in standard English when other methods have failed. And educators nationwide began affirming the need to learn more about the language of at-risk students. Even its harshest critics aligned themselves with Oakland once they were assured that the schools would not burden their students with a second-class dialect. At the least, the Oakland school board's action has focused public debate on a number of important linguistic questions: Is ebonics a separate language, or is it a dialect of English? We can say that two people use the same language-or dialects of that language-if they can understand each other's speech. If they can't communicate, they are speaking separate languages. But linguists define languages politically and culturally, as well as by degree of comprehension. Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible, yet both are Chinese. They are held together by an army and a navy and share a common writing system as well as a common cultural definition of what it means to be Chinese. Serbian and Croatian are mutually intelligible, though they use different alphabets, but because of their two separate armies what once was Serbo-Croatian is now considered by Serbs and Croats to be two separate languages. Most linguists, myself included, think of black English, or African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as a dialect of English. It may exhibit some features derived from African languages, but it is readily recognizable and understandable as English. Afrocentrists may see a political and cultural advantage in calling AAVE ebonics and treating it as an independent language, but even Oakland has backed away from this separatist position. In any case, the linguistic differences that do exist in the United States are symptoms of separateness, not its causes. Language barriers are erected at social borders as well as national frontiers. When social mobility for speakers of a language is low, dialects abound; when mobility is high, linguistic as well as other distinctions tend to disappear. It seems to me that if Oakland is prepared to characterize its students as strangers in a strange land, in need of learning English as a second language, it is doing so out of a fear that Americans really are drifting farther apart. Are ebonics and other dialects of English simply incorrect, sloppy speech? American schools, particularly in the northern United States, have treated AAVE as a form of language requiring remediation by speech pathologists or special-education teachers. But linguists have known for some time that non-standard dialects, such as AAVE and Hawaiian Creole, to name another example, are consistent, legitimate varieties of language, with rules, conventions, and exceptions, just like standard English. These dialects do not carry the prestige of standard English, but they influence and enrich the standard language, keeping it vibrant and constantly evolving. Examples from black English abound: in an article on ebonics, the New York Times cited Richard Nixon's use of "right on!" "Rip-off," "chill out," and "dis" are other popular borrowings. Hawaiian gives us "aloha," and Hawaiian Creole expressions permeate travel brochures as well as the English of the islands. Furthermore, we know that all speakers of a language are able to adapt it to fit changing social circumstances. Given sufficient exposure to new situations, all language users can switch between prestige and non-prestige forms, between formal and informal ones, between intimate and polite ones, without explicit instruction or conscious translation. Americans, no matter what dialect they speak, are exposed to standard English through television. As a result, AAVE is not all that different from standard English. It seems then that it takes more than dialectal differences to account for the lack of success in school. Are foreign-language teaching techniques useful in teaching English-speaking students standard English? Although educators using translation techniques have claimed success in raising the scores of ebonics speakers on standardized tests, others find these claims unproved. Moreover, it seems alienating and misdirected to teach English as a second language to students who already speak English as their first language, if you believe as I do that ebonics is just a dialect of English. When the Oakland school board explained that it was simply having students translate from ebonics to standard English, rather than teaching students both ebonics and standard English, many critics began to relax, for that strategy looked like something they could live with. But second-language educators do not rely on translation alone. Instead they offer a rich combination of immersion and explicit teaching: students not only study vocabulary and grammar, they converse, role play, read newspapers and magazines, watch television and movies, and most important, interact with fluent users of the language in authentic communication situations. Similarly, students who speak nonstandard varieties of English will become fluent in the more mainstream forms of English only if they can first break down social barriers and participate as equals in authentic, mainstream social contexts. Even with such varied methods, foreign language instruction in our schools does not typically create fluent speakers. Everyone who has taught or taken a foreign language in school knows the difficulty of getting students to learn a language well in a classroom situation. Simply translating from one language to another is never enough to achieve fluency. It would be a mistake, too, to think that Oakland's plan for translating from black to standard English will solve the reading and writing problems of the students in its schools. Do we really want to condemn students to speaking English as well as the typical American high-schooler speaks French or Spanish? Don't students need standard English to be successful in school and in the workplace? Perhaps. But it is also true that discrimination-on account of their language-against people who speak non-standard English usually masks other, more sinister forms of prejudice. Women and members of every ethnic and racial minority have found that mastering the mainstream varieties of English-say, legal language, business English, or technical jargon-by itself will not guarantee them equal treatment. Even if your language is irreproachable, if teachers, employers, or landlords want to discriminate against you, they will find another way to do so. Standard English may be necessary, but it is seldom sufficient, for school and workplace success. And if our sports heroes, media celebrities, and public figures are anything to judge by, success is often achieved without standard English. In addition, few of the success stories of first-generation immigrants to this country involve the learning of impeccable standard English. Is ebonics only "a black thing"? No. For one thing, not all African Americans speak ebonics, and not all ebonics speakers are African American. A significant number of whites, Hispanics, and Asian Americans who live and work closely together speak dialects that can be characterized as black English. As linguists study AAVE, they find that, just like standard English, it is not monolithic, but comes in flavors and varieties. In addition, as I've indicated above, mainstream English has borrowed heavily from the speech of African Americans. So, in many ways, it is easier to conceive of all the dialects of English as variable and continuous, rather than categorical and separate. For another thing, the problems ebonics speakers face are shared by speakers of other nonstandard dialects as well, whether they live in the inner city, in rural America, or even in the suburbs. As this discussion suggests, the flap over ebonics is more complex than the school board's action and the initial public response indicate. It raises crucial questions about the workings of language and our attitudes toward its use, especially in school contexts. Many teachers assume that their students are empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge. But by the age of five or six, students already have learned more about their native language than they will learn from school. Teachers must learn to recognize the rich and flexible linguistic talent that students already possess, working with it as they move students not toward a monolithic, mechanical correctness, but toward increasing linguistic depth and flexibility. The teacher's job is not merely to conduct lessons in translation, but to introduce students to, and get them to function more comfortably in, new and ever more diverse language environments. It is this richness and flexibility, rather than strict adherence to a vaguely-defined standard, that will bring about successful communication. Non-English-speaking immigrants have found that learning English does not guarantee they will make their way in American society. In the same way, speakers of nonstandard forms of English, whether or not they are members of a racial or ethnic minority, may find that it takes a lot more than speaking standard English to get accepted into the mainstream. Sometimes it takes an army and a navy. Or the Supreme Court and the National Guard. Or the Civil Rights Act. Or perhaps a school board waking us up to a long-neglected problem. We must not reject Oakland's attention to ebonics out of hand. Teachers are seldom adequately trained to deal with the language that students bring with them to the classroom, whether those students are suburban, rural, urban, or inner-city. The Oakland ebonics question has opened the way for much-needed linguistic training, for teachers as well as students. We must make sure such training is both available and effective. But increased efforts to work with students' language will not solve the problems of inner-city schools. Translating into standard English will not replace lack of textbooks, deteriorating schools, overcrowded classrooms, and canceled affirmative action programs as a tool for solving the educational, social, and economic ills of the nation. _______________ Dennis Baron is professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dennis Baron debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uiuc.edu Department of English office: 217-333-2392 University of Illinois fax: 217-333-4321 608 S. Wright Street home: 217-384-1683 Urbana, IL 61801 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:36:51 -0700 From: William King Subject: Re: POTY: "Show me the money!!" On Wed, 8 Jan 1997, Barry A. Popik wrote: > Perhaps Peter Jennings wants POTY--Phrase of the Year? > The back page of the 7 January 1997 New York Post (sports section) shows > New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing (a free agent at year's end) and a catch > phrase from the Tom Cruise movie about sports agents, JERRY MAGUIRE: > "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!" The only thing new about "Show me the money!!" is that somebody was paid for writing it. Jeesh. No, the best sports phrase, but it's been out there a while, is "We didn't come ready to play" which basketball players with multimillion dollar salaries offer as an explanation for getting stomped, often by some lousy team. > One can just imagine some Asian arms dealer romping naked in the > Lincoln bedroom in the Clintstone White House being said this. What better > phrase for Hillary, Bill, Newt & Co.? I really like this one. If you get support from the the tobacco lobby you don't have to ask such annoying questions. Bill King University of Arizona ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 13:44:48 -0500 From: Allan Metcalf Subject: LSA on Ebonics >From the Linguistic Society itself, the exact text of the resolution they adopted: LSA RESOLUTION ON THE OAKLAND " EBONICS" ISSUE Whereas there has been a great deal of discussion in the media and among the American public about the l8 December l996 decision of the Oakland School Board to recognize the language variety spoken by many African American students and to take it into account in teaching Standard English, the Linguistic Society of America, as a society of scholars engaged in the scientific study of language, hereby resolves to make it known that: a. The variety known as "Ebonics," "African American Vernacular English" (AAVE), and "Vernacular Black English" and by other names is systematic and rule-governed like all natural speech varieties. In fact, all human linguistic systems--spoken, signed, and written -- are fundamentally regular. The systematic and expressive nature of the grammar and pronunciation patterns of the African American vernacular has been established by numerous scientific studies over the past thirty years. Characterizations of Ebonics as "slang," "mutant," " lazy," "defective," "ungrammatical," or "broken English" are incorrect and demeaning. b. The distinction between "languages" and "dialects" is usually made more on social and political grounds than on purely linguistic ones. For example, different varieties of Chinese are popularly regarded as "dialects," though their speakers cannot understand each other, but speakers of Swedish and Norwegian, which are regarded as separate "languages," generally understand each other. What is important from a linguistic and educational point of view is not whether AAVE is called a "language" or a "dialect" but rather that its systematicity be recognized. c. As affirmed in the LSA Statement of Language Rights (June l996), there are individual and group benefits to maintaining vernacular speech varieties and there are scientific and human advantages to linguistic diversity. For those living in the United States there are also benefits in acquiring Standard English and resources should be made available to all who aspire to mastery of Standard English. The Oakland School Board's commitment to helping students master Standard English is commendable. d. There is evidence from Sweden, the US, and other countries that speakers of other varieties can be aided in their learning of the standard variety by pedagogical approaches which recognize the legitimacy of the other varieties of a language. From this perspective, the Oakland School Board's decision to recognize the vernacular of African American students in teaching them Standard English is linguistically and pedagogically sound. Chicago, Illinois January l997 Selected references (books only) Baratz, Joan C., and Roger W. Shuy, eds. 1969. Teaching Black Children to read. Washington, DC: Center or Applied Linguistics. Baugh, John. 1983. Black street speech: Its history, structure and survival. Austin: University of Texas Press. Bloome, David, and J. Lemke, eds. 1995. Special Issue: Africanized English and Education. Linguistics and Educaton 7. Burling, Robbins. 1973. English in black and white. New York: Holt. Butters, Ron. 1989. The death of Black English: Convergence and divergence in American English. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Dandy, Evelyn. 1991. Black communications: Breaking down the barriers. Chicago: African American Images. DeStephano, Johanna 1973, ed. Language, society and education: A profile of Black English. Worthington, OH: Charles A. Jones. Dillard, J. L. 1972. Black English: Its history and usage in the United States. New York: Random House. Fasold, Ralph W., and Roger W. Shuy, eds. 1970. Teaching Standard English in the inner city. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. Gadsden, V. and D. Wagner , eds. 1995. Literacy among African American youth. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Jones, Regina, ed. 1996. Handbook of tests and measurements. Hampton, VA; Cobbs. Kochman, Thomas. 1981. Black and white styles in conflict. NY: Holt Rinehart. Kochman, Thomas, ed. 1972. Rappin' and stylin' out. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Labov, William 1972. Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English verna cular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Lippi-Green, Rosina. To appear. English with an accent. London: Routledge. Mufwene, Salikoko S., John R. Rickford, Guy Bailey and John Baugh, eds. To appear. African American English. London: Routledge. Rickford, John R., and Lisa Green. To appear. African American Vernacular English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Shuy, Roger W., ed. 1965 . Social dialects and language learning. Champaign, Ill., National Council of Teachers of English. Simpkins, G., G. Holt, and C. Simpkins. 1977. Bridge: A cross-cultural reading program. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Smith, Ernie A. 1994. The historical development of African American Language. Los Angeles: Watts College Press. Smitherman, Geneva. 1986. Talkin and testifyin: The language of Black America. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. _____ 1994 Black Talk. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. _____, ed. 1981. Black English and the Education of Black Children and Youth. Detroit: Center for Black Studies, Wayne State University Press. Taylor, Hanni U. 1989. Standard English, Black English, and bidialectalism: A controversy. NY: Peter Lang. Williams, Robert L. 1975 Ebonics: The true language of Black folks. St Louis: Institute of Black Studies. Wolfram, Walt 1969. A linguistic description of Detroit Negro speech. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. _____ 1991. Dialects and American English. Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Prentice Hall and Center for Applied Linguistics. Wolfram, Walter A., and Donna Christian 1989. Dialects and education: Issues and answers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Wolfram, Walter A. and Clarke, Nona, eds. 1971. Black-White speech relationships. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 13:52:08 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: Ebonics Dear Dennis, Bravo! One question: why the lower case on "ebonics"? Wayne Glowka ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:58:27 -0700 From: William King Subject: Re: A new term? On Tue, 7 Jan 1997, Bethany K. Dumas wrote: > On another list, someone posted the ff.: > > > We had our own three cats when my daughter landed us with the three > > brother cats she had found as kittens in the Minnesota woods. You can > > believe our three were pretty horked off, ... > ^^^^^^^^^^ > > The term "horked off" is new to me. Anyone else know it? (I don't have > DARE here.) > That just seems to be a variant of "torked off" which may be a combination of "torque" and "dork". Anyhow, the cats were pissed off. Bill King ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:18:40 -0700 From: William King Subject: Popular Ebonics Newsweek, Jan. 13th, has two pieces in the very end of the magazine. There is also a blurb in the "Conventional Wisdom Watch" that appears on page six: Ebonics <-> Goofy debate's silver lining: dissing "black English" no longer taboo. So much for the articles on pp. 78-80. Bill King U. of Arizona ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 14:11:29 -0600 From: Greg Pulliam Subject: Re: Popular Ebonics >Newsweek, Jan. 13th, has two pieces in the very end of the magazine. >There is also a blurb in the "Conventional Wisdom Watch" that appears on >page six: > Ebonics <-> Goofy debate's silver lining: dissing > "black English" no longer taboo. > >So much for the articles on pp. 78-80. > >Bill King >U. of Arizona Is Newsweek being sarcastic here? Using "dissing" in this blurb? If not, I'm completely stunned. Gregory J. Pulliam Illinois Institute of Technology Lewis Department of Humanities Chicago, IL 60616 gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 15:11:46 -0500 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" Subject: LJP There is an access problem with "Language in the Judicial Process." I am working on it and hope to have full access restored shortly. However, for those of you browsing, it is still possible to access the very first issue: http://hamlet.la.utk.edu/arch/1-1/LJP-1-1.HTML Also, please note that my email address in Vol. 1 No. 1 is now incorrect. My address is . Thanks, Mark Mandel, for calling the problem to my attention. Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 415 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 15:19:19 -0500 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" Subject: Email address My correct email address is now . Sorry for the typo earlier. Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 415 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 15:25:42 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: LJP -Reply Bethany K. Dumas writes: >>>>> [...] Also, please note that my email address in Vol. 1 No. 1 is now incorrect. My address is . <<<<< Alas, that's missing a dot. It certainly should be dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu * as in the .sig (quoted below). >>>>> Thanks, Mark Mandel, for calling the problem to my attention. <<<<< At your service! :-)\ >>>>> Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu * * ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 20:44:36 -0700 From: William King Subject: Re: Popular Ebonics > >There is also a blurb in the "Conventional Wisdom Watch" that appears on > >page six: > > Ebonics <-> Goofy debate's silver lining: dissing > > "black English" no longer taboo. > > Is Newsweek being sarcastic here? Using "dissing" in this blurb? If not, > I'm completely stunned. > > Gregory J. Pulliam That's the complete and unexpurgated copy, as the paperback covers used to say. I think that the intention is to be clever, or at best ironic. It is ironic that Newsweek, so clever and informed, sums this up as a debate, given the number of issues. Any guesses as to Newsweek's marketing department's current reader profile? Bill King U. of Arizona SLAT program ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 22:47:49 EST From: Larry Horn Subject: Re: Popular Ebonics Thanks all, by the way, for the earlier postings on this topic. I fielded an inquiry from the local newsrag, the New Haven Register, today, and after chatting with (and probably being totally misunderstood by) the reporter, I was able to promise him to send some informational material forthwith. After hanging up, I faxed him copies of the LSA statement and Dennis B's longer essay on the topic. He may even read them. --Larry ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 7 Jan 1997 to 8 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There are 21 messages totalling 601 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. hoopty (2) 2. WOTY 3. hoopy 4. Soccer Moms in Georgia 5. Soccer-Mom-Soccer-Mother? (3) 6. WOTY PARODY!!: Forbidden Words 1997 (3) 7. I don't think of this often (2) 8. I don't think of this often -Reply (2) 9. horked off (2) 10. Ebonics (2) 11. LSA on Ebonics 12. WOTY PARODY!!: Forbidden Words 1997 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 00:42:26 -0600 From: "Donald M. Lance" Subject: Re: hoopty 'Hoopty' would very likely be a variant of 'hoopy', which was a common term for an old rattly car in the 1930s when I was a kid. 'Hoopy' is in DARE, with citations from several states. I'm sure I heard it in movies in the 50s or so too. The sound of the word always reminded me of the sound of a Model T or Model A Ford. A hoopty would be a Model A with hiccoughs. This item was discussed earlier on ads-l. Some mentioned 'hoopdy'. Maybe 'hoopty' has been around a long time too. I think Michael Miller surveyed this term in Chicago, but I don't see the item in his questionnaire in his article in the Glowka & Lance volume: "How to Study Black Speech in Chicago." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 01:16:32 -0600 From: "Donald M. Lance" Subject: Re: WOTY Both daily newspapers in Columbia MO had articles on WOTY -- in papers I didn't see because I was away but friends told me about. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 23:44:34 -0800 From: "Thomas L. Clark" Subject: hoopy Don Lance's memory or hoopty in the fifties reminds me that when I was doing fieldwork for DARE in 1966, I heard this term several times. It seemed always to occur between Steubenville OH and Marietta OH and in Parkersburg West Virginia. It referred to folks from down in the hills who came upriver to the glass plants along with the shipments of hoops used for barrels by glass manufacturers. Many of these people wound up around Akron and environs. It was pejorative, like redneck or cracker. Thomas L. Clark Department of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas Las Vegas NV 89154-5011 702/895-3473 FAX 702/895-4801 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 08:05:12 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Soccer Moms in Georgia A friend who works for the Georgia Soccer Association in Atlanta called me last night to talk about a proposal for a book celebrating the 30-year history of soccer in Georgia. I casually asked if he had what the word of the year was, and he responded with some excitement about seeing the news about "soccer mom" in the Atlanta Constitution and the Wall Street Journal. He was planning to mention the WOTY in his book proposal even before I informed him of my professional affiliation with this marvelous learned society. Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 09:08:54 -0500 From: "Dale F.Coye" Subject: Soccer-Mom-Soccer-Mother? Going back to something I brought up a few weeks ago, I can't help thinking the term should be Soccer Mother. Mom just doesn't sound right to me. Compare Den mother, Earth mother, Mother hen- can you imagine saying Den Mom, Earth Mom, Mom hen? Or imagine Saddam Hussein threatening us with the Mom-of-all-Battles. The other thing I don't get with this word is, why soccer? Back in the 60s my mother (not my mom) was driving us around to baseball games and dutifully watching us as much as any matriarch of the 90s. So why not baseball or basketball mom? Certainly in NJ soccer is big, but baseball is just as big. Dale Coye The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Princeton, NJ. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 09:20:50 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: WOTY PARODY!!: Forbidden Words 1997 From the Village Voice (and other weeklies), 14 January 1997, page 114, "Life in Hell" cartoon by Matt Groenig. The 25-panel cartoon shows characters mouthing the following: FORBIDDEN WORD 1997 Arch Deluxe Awesome Been there, done that Booty call Cyber-anything Don't go there Edgy Empowerment Family values Anything -gate Just don't do it No-brainer Paradigm shift Phat Proactive Rock the vote The rules Soccer mom Tickle-Me-Elmo User-friendly V-chip And the winners are... Won't you help us build the bridge to the 21st century? And... Well, _duh_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- EBONICS This week's Village Voice has a cover story on "Ebonics: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know but Were Afraid To Ax." (Shouldn't that be "Everything you ever wanted to know but WAS afraid to AKS"?) It might be available on http://villagevoice.com. Salikoko Mufwene and William Labov are quoted. The Ebonics controversy is getting every hack to bring out jokes that should have died with AMOS 'N' ANDY. The Village Voice is supposed to be politically correct, but check out "Ebonics for Travelers" by James Hannaham on page 37, col. 4: THIRD LESSON (THIR LESSIN) In the Inner City _In d' 'Hood_ We're hungry. _Yo, where d' White Castle at?_ We're homeless. _Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, my name is John Brown. I'm sorry to bother you, but I happen to be homeless and I happen to be hungry. Anything you can spare would be appreciated. I will now sing a loud, off-key version of an old standard from the '30s._ Where are you taking that package? _You gon' give me a cut, or am I goin' haveta call d' narcs on yo' ass?_ Excuse me, madam, I've mistaken you for a lady of the night. I'm very embarrassed. _I gots twenny bux. Dat goo' 'nuff?_ Again, this is the Village Voice! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" Show me more citations! I used Excite, and "Show me the money" turned up 2,907,783 items. Methinks that's either a lot of money or Excite gets too excited. The New York Times online had two important items, both from 5 January 1997: On College Football by Malcolm Moran (...) The lucrative side shows are everywhere. A man on the floor of the Louisiana Superdome was about to attempt to throw a football through a hole for a million dollars in a halftime promotion. As fans dashed for restrooms after a two-hour first half, the announcer was yelling in an attempt to create some excitement, encouraging the crowd to shout: "Show me the money....show me the money...." Show me? The money was everywhere.... Making the Shift from "Boyz" to Man by Steve Oney (...) And "Show me the money," a line he (Cuba Gooding, Jr.--ed.) delivers during a rousing verbal duel with the title character, a sports agent played by Tom Cruise, may well become a catch phrase. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 09:32:19 EST From: heather Subject: I don't think of this often Hi everyone. I read this the other day and found the part about the 't' in "often" most disturbing (I never pronounce it, what's more, I always thought it was some form of hypercorrection). Other note: I never heard "As if" used as a synonym for "duh". Heather Hewitt (no cool .sig--just a student at URI) hhew1030[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uriacc.uri.edu ======================================================================== 184 As it appeared in the Detroit News. You'll have to read around some of the html code. (I've tried to get rid of most of it) Language lovers provide last word: University releases list of overused, misused,useless verbiage - 1/1/97 Wednesday, January 1, 1997 Associated Press SAULT STE. MARIE -- People at Lake Superior State University are, like, tired of certain words. People who use them should "Get a life." Or better yet, "Don't go there." The university's 21st annual list of misused, overused and useless words is rich in the kind of slang popularized by the movie "Clueless." Such phrases include "as if," which is interchangeable with another word the university finds annoying, "duh." Topping this year's list is "whatever," which in its typical slang warble is lengthened to "whatev-er-r-r." Rachel Bivens, a high school student from Manton, asks, "Whatever what? Whatever I want? Whatever I need? It doesn't make any sense." But if you agree with Bivens, please don't applaud by saying, "You go, girl!" This phrase, too, is on the list of phrases the university would like to see banned. Lake Superior, the smallest public university in Michigan with about 3,400 students, releases the list each Jan. 1 after gathering submissions from around the world. Thousands words have been nominated from academia, advertising, business, journalism, the military, politics and sports. For you business types, the university wants to "outphase" the word "outsourcing," which is the practice of having parts and supplies produced by another company. Lake Superior English Professor Polly Fields says "down time" may be OK for computers, but not humans. Mark Terwilliger, a campus math professor, said he is tired of playing "phone tag." Even phrases like Joe Sixpack bother some people. "Joes should not be lumped together as common or every day," says -- can you guess his name? -- Joe Gallagher of Port Huro Robert Sutherland of London, Ontario has two words for "La Macarena." "Ad nauseam." Words aren't even suitable for what George Reid of Marquette thinks of people who use "a-whole-nother." "Aaarrrggghhh Other banished words and phrases include: * "Paper or plastic?" "Are they talking about payment or package totes?" asks Paul D. Freedman of Sault Ste. Mari * "Thank you for taking my call." "This groveling by callers to talk shows accomplishes nothing," says Dan McManman of Ironwoo * "Bridge" metaphors. "'Bridge to the 21st century?' It's called a calendar," say Dan and Nancy Friesen of Windsor, Ontario Naysayers: Lake Superior State University's 21st annual list of words and phrases proposed for banishment from everyday language * "Doing the ----- thing," as in "doing the mom thing," "doing the lunch thing," etc. * "La Macarena." It isn't even good exercise. * "Phone tag." * "Attitude," when used to describe an overly aggressive person. * "Multi-tasking," as in doing several things at once. * "Aromatherapy," as it appears on the labels of many products such as shampoos and air fresheners. * "Down time," when referring to anything but computers. * "Get a life." * "Outsourcing." * "Paper or plastic?" * "Bridge" metaphors, as is "bridge to the 21st century." * "Whatever," as pronounced "WHAT-everrrrrrr," usually by a disgusted teen. * "You go, girl!" as seen on TV. * "Don't go there," or "Don't even go there." * "As if." See "whatever" above. * "I'm like," as in "I'm like, 'Where're we going?'" * "Joe Sixpack." * "Thank you for taking my call," as heard on TV call-in shows. * "Often," when pronounced without the "t." * "Just play one game at a time." * "No doubt about it." * "Winningest." * "Extra-added." * "Free, gratis." * "Separate it out." * "Oscillating back and forth." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 09:46:44 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: WOTY PARODY!!: Forbidden Words 1997 What does "booty call" mean? Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 09:54:12 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: I don't think of this often -Reply Heather, since you (or someone whose post you are quoting) say "I've tried to get rid of most of [the HTML code]", presumably it was taken from the Web. Can you give us the URL? Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 07:48:04 -0800 From: Lex Olorenshaw Subject: Re: Soccer-Mom-Soccer-Mother? A few thoughts... > Going back to something I brought up a few weeks ago, I can't help thinking > the term should be Soccer Mother. Mom just doesn't sound right to me. > Compare Den mother, Earth mother, Mother hen- can you imagine saying Den > Mom, Earth Mom, Mom hen? Or imagine Saddam Hussein threatening us with the > Mom-of-all-Battles. I think that "mom" made a strong connection to sports several years ago when (mainly) pro football players started saying "Hi, Mom!" on national television. (No one was saying "Hello, Mother!".) Perhaps a stonger reason is that "mom" may be considered a safer term than "mother", now that "mother" has become a shortened version of "mother f___er". > The other thing I don't get with this word is, why soccer? Back in the 60s my > mother (not my mom) was driving us around to baseball games and dutifully > watching us as much as any matriarch of the 90s. So why not baseball or > basketball mom? Certainly in NJ soccer is big, but baseball is just as big. Soccer seems to be the most PC of all kids' sports these days, since there are teams for both sexes. (Thus, it was good for the campaign trail.) Baseball is big, but there are still very few girls in the sport. (Though "women's softball" has made some headway.) Now that we all understand what a soccer mom is, has anyone compiled the first documented use? (I think this was discussed before, but never really nailed. If it was, could someone kindly re-post?) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Lex Olorenshaw E-mail: lexo[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lsi.sel.sony.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 11:05:21 -0500 From: George Donahue Subject: horked off On Tue, 7 Jan 1997, Bethany K. Dumas wrote: > On another list, someone posted the ff.: > > > We had our own three cats when my daughter landed us with the three > > brother cats she had found as kittens in the Minnesota woods. You can > > believe our three were pretty horked off, ... > ^^^^^^^^^^ > > The term "horked off" is new to me. Anyone else know it? (I don't have > DARE here.) > I've heard "hork" used often in Northwest Florida and southern Alabama, especially among Cajun commercial fishermen along the Gulf Coast, to mean "to vomit." "Boudreau horked his grits." I've also heard it used (with and without "off") in the general population in that area to mean "angrily upset." I don't recall hearing either term before the mid-seventies. I haven't heard either in NYC, though. George Donahue ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 11:18:29 +0000 From: Duane Campbell Subject: Re: horked off George Donahue wrote: > > The term "horked off" is new to me. Anyone else know it? (I don't have > > DARE here.) > > > > I've heard "hork" used often in Northwest Florida and southern Alabama, > especially among Cajun commercial fishermen along the Gulf Coast, to mean "to > vomit." Dave Bary wrote a very funny piece about dinner time around the Barry table. The dog saw sitting down at the table as a signal to begin makine loud horking sounds. Anyone who has a dog knows this sound. It is not vomiting, but rather a precurser to vomiting. Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epix.net When I die and go to Hell, at least I can keep my same ISP ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 13:04:18 -0500 From: Suzanne Cadwell Subject: Re: WOTY PARODY!!: Forbidden Words 1997 I've heard young African American women use this to refer to a late-night telephone call from a young man. If he's calling that late he must be lookin' for booty. Best, Suzanne Cadwell Graduate Student Department of English University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 13:15:54 -0500 From: "Dale F.Coye" Subject: Re: I don't think of this often Heather wrote: -- I read this the other day and found the part about the 't' in "often" most disturbing (I never pronounce it, what's more, I always thought it was some form of hypercorrection).-- Often with t pronounced is probably right up there in the top ten pronunciations that get under people's skin. And vice-versa, as noted by the guy you quote who was ticked off at the t-less pronunciation. I'll bet a poll of the literati would not approve it as standard, but the t-pronouncers seem to be taking over the world anyway. If I were a school teacher, I'd point out soften, whistle, listen for starters, explain what a spelling pronunciation is, and then admit the power of the masses (witness the amazing success of calm, palm, etc. pronounced with /l/). Dale Coye The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Princeton, NJ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 14:26:15 EST From: "Heather M. Hewitt" Subject: Re: I don't think of this often -Reply The URL for the Lake Superior list (for Mark and anyone else who would like to look at it) is: Heather Hewitt hhew1030[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uriacc.uri.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 13:44:55 -0600 From: Dennis Baron Subject: Re: Ebonics I upper-cased it in my article, but all the journalists are now lower-casing it. The copy-editor changed it. I've asked why, but have gotten no answer. Dennis -- Dennis Baron debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uiuc.edu Department of English office: 217-333-2392 University of Illinois fax: 217-333-4321 608 South Wright Street Urbana, Illinois 61801 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 15:02:03 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: Ebonics >I upper-cased it in my article, but all the journalists are now >lower-casing it. The copy-editor changed it. I've asked why, but have >gotten no answer. > >Dennis It's the name of a theory, not of a language? We could not agree on a definition at the WOTY session. Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 17:13:41 -0500 From: Donna Metcalf Subject: Re: LSA on Ebonics I hope everyone is reading Mike Royko's hilarious columns on the subject. Chicago Tribune 1/8/97 and 1/9/97. Donna Metcalf ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 17:15:08 -0500 From: Donna Metcalf Subject: Re: hoopty One of my alternative high school students said it today. "He be gettin himself a hooptee." And everyone in the circle of kids around her and I and another teacher knew what she was talking about--no doubt. Jacksonville, Illinois ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 20:24:02 -0500 From: Peggy Smith Subject: Re: Soccer-Mom-Soccer-Mother? Re: -mom vs -mother I think the term -mom implies youth, modern hip-ness, fast-peced life, and certainly informality- jeans and t-shirts and baseball caps. It seems to me thathat it first appeared in the 80's with "Supermom" (perhaps a feminist reaction to superman) the woman who could spend the day as a corporate lawyer, run the carpool, come home and cook a gourmet meal with a baby slung on her hip, close a deal on the phone, and then still have great sex later on. This is NOT the image of -mother, which maybe goes back to the 50's housewife in shirtwaist and pearls who deferred to father, who knew best. It connotes much more dignity, formality, stuffiness, a regimented "dinner at 6" slower pace. Den mother in her silly uniform doing projects by the book, Earth mother, connected to the elements and the slow-floating spiritual world, mother hen-stuffy and fussy and prissy. This is all IMHO. But as I am a sports mom of the 90's, I guess I have the right to help define the genre, no? Peggy Smith ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 19:44:41 -0700 From: William King Subject: Re: WOTY PARODY!!: Forbidden Words 1997 On Thu, 9 Jan 1997, Barry A. Popik wrote: > "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" Show me more citations! > I used Excite, and "Show me the money" turned up 2,907,783 items. > Methinks that's either a lot of money or Excite gets too excited. At least 2,900,700 will have to do with Missouri, Indiana Jones, Paulie Shor, "We're in the Money", Jerome Kern, and Larry Flint. ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 8 Jan 1997 to 9 Jan 1997 ********************************************** There are 6 messages totalling 354 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. royko on ebonics 2. DARE feature story 3. Apolitical soccer mom of 1993 4. WOTY News from DataTimes 5. Ebonics and parody 6. "Atlanta" -Reply ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 01:10:56 -0600 From: Greg Pulliam Subject: royko on ebonics >I hope everyone is reading Mike Royko's hilarious columns on the subject. >Chicago Tribune 1/8/97 and 1/9/97. >Donna Metcalf I dumped the Tribune. What's the jist of his columns? Gregory J. Pulliam Illinois Institute of Technology Lewis Department of Humanities Chicago, IL 60616 gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 08:57:44 -0500 From: Allan Metcalf Subject: DARE feature story The Chicago Tribune for Jan. 10 features in its Tempo section a long report on DARE: about Vol 3, publication schedule, Fred Cassidy, Joan Hall, and money. The latter being a reminder that gifts are not only welcome but needed. I suspect that if you happened to give about $5,000,000, they might dedicate Volume 4 to you. That's purely unofficial speculation, though. If you do want to give, get in touch with Joan Hall at jdhall[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]facstaff.wisc.edu. Happy new year!- Allan Metcalf ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 09:10:21 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Apolitical soccer mom of 1993 I haven't had time to do an organized search, but here is an earlier use of "soccer mom" without the political implications. Note the use of "soccer parents." Wayne Glowka ARTICLE TITLE: Coach is a goal mine: Soccer mom kicks in talent AUTHOR(S): Russell, Judi NEWSPAPER: Times-Picayune | Sec. OTA, p. 1, col. 5 | Nov 14, 1993 NOTES: Photograph | Feature | Medium (6-18 col inches) | ISSN: 1055-3053 ABSTRACT: Maggie Bean coaches soccer at the Plantation Athletic Club in Algiers LA. Bean offers advice to other soccer parents and coaches. SUBJECTS: Soccer | Coaches & managers | Parents & parenting | Algiers Louisiana ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 11:52:46 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: WOTY News from DataTimes DataTimes has 129 recent citations for "soccer mom" and related terms like "soccer dad." Here are 27 references to "soccer mom" as the WOTY, you watchdogs of the American language, you. Wayne Glowka 1. Soccer moms' influence now extends to linguists | Times Union (Albany, NY) | A2 | Main | Date: 19970105 2. THE SOCCER MOM PHENOMENON SPORT BOOMS, BUT IT CAN TAKE A HEFTY PRICE IN FAMILY LIFE | Kathleen Ingley, Staff Writer | The Arizona Republic | A1 | Front | Date: 19961201 3. 'Soccer mom' beats 'alpha geek' as top word of '96 | The Cincinnati Enquirer | A02 | News | The Associated Press | Date: 19970105 4. Words for the wise: Soccer mom, alpha geek | The State Journal-Register Springfield, IL | 5 | NEWS | CHICAGO | NEWS | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Date: 19970105 5. Linguists razz 'soccer mom' | Rocky Mountain News wire reports | Rocky Mountain News | 49a | NEWS / NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL | Date: 19970105 6. BUZZ-TERM OF THE YEAR IS 'SOCCER MOM' | The Associated Press | The Commercial Appeal Memphis, TN | A16 | News | Date: 19970105 7. Political buzz-term chosen by linguists to be Word of Year | Associated Press | The Las Vegas Review-Journal | 6A | A | Date: 19970105 8. 'SOCCER MOM' IS VOTED BEST WORD(S) OF 1996 | The Associated Press | Sun-Sentinel Ft. Lauderdale | 9A | CHICAGO - | NATIONAL | Date: 19970105 9. 'Soccer mom' is voted word of the year for '96 | The Des Moines Register | 5 | Main News | Associated Press | Date: 19970105 10. Linguists bless 'soccer mom' | The Cincinnati Post | 10A | NEWS | Date: 19970106 11. 'Soccer mom' wins honor as term of year | San Antonio Express-News | 22A | Main | Associated Press | Date: 19970105 12. 'Soccer mom' scores with language referees | The News & Observer Raleigh, NC | A5 | News | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Date: 19970105 13. 'Soccer mom' wins linguists' Word of Year award for '96 | The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Dolan Media | 3 | Chicago | News | Associated Press | Date: 19970105 14. ''SOCCER MOM'' IS VOTED YEAR'S BEST NEW ENGLISH WORD | The Associated Press | Greensboro News & Record | A4 | GENERAL NEWS | Date: 19970105 15. 'SOCCER MOM' EARNS LINGUISTS' OK | ASSOCIATED PRESS | Dayton Daily News | 1A | NEWS | Date: 19970105 16. Linguists call 'soccer mom' tops for 1996 | JOHN CARPENTER | Chicago Sun-Times | 20 | NEWS | Date: 19970104 17. 'Soccer mom' kicks off list of top words of '96 | The Pantagraph Bloomington, IL | A1 | CHICAGO | CHART FOLLOWS. | NEWS | AP | Date: 19970105 18. NATION IN BRIEF Hottest phrase these days: 'Soccer mom' | From news services | Atlanta Journal and Constitution | A; 15 | NATIONAL NEWS | Date: 19970105 19. NATION IN BRIEF Hottest phrase these days: 'Soccer mom' | From news services | Atlanta Journal and Constitution | A; 15 | NATIONAL NEWS | Date: 19970105 20. NATION IN BRIEF Hottest phrase these days: 'Soccer mom' | From news services | Atlanta Journal and Constitution | A; 15 | NATIONAL NEWS | Date: 19970105 FROM WIRE DISPATCHES AND STAFF REPORTS | The Washington Times | A2 | A;AMERICAN SCENE | Date: 19970105 21. Word Is 'Soccer Moms' Gaining in Importance | Tulsa World | A7 | NEWS | AP | Date: 19970105 22. 'SOCCER MOM' SCORES BIG-TIME WITH AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY | The Associated Press | The News Tribune Tacoma, WA | A2 | General | Date: 19970105 23. Linguistically Speaking, 2 Words Win as Top Word: 'Soccer Mom' | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The Salt Lake Tribune | A6 | Nation-World | Date: 19970105 24. Linguists get a real kick out of soccer moms, alpha geeks | Associated Press | The Detroit News | A5 | Date: 19970105 25. 'Soccer mom' voted word of year by watchdogs of American English | The Ottawa Citizen | D7 | NEWS | CHICAGO | NEWS | ASSOCIATED PRESS | Date: 19970105 26. 'Soccer mom' voted top word in '96 | The Associated Press | Calgary Herald | D2 | GENERAL | CHICAGO | NEWS | Date: 19970105 27. 'Soccer mom' voted Word of the Year for 1996 // Buzz-term for 'suburban woman in key voting bloc' tops list from American Dialect Society | Austin American-Statesman | A6 | Date: 19970105 | By MATTHEW GILBERT, Special from The Boston Globe | The Record, Northern New Jersey | y01 | INTERVIEW | YOUR TIME | Date: 19970102 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 12:17:28 CST From: Ellen Johnson Subject: Ebonics and parody This is hilarious. Forwarded from ling anth list. Ellen ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ Subject: Ebonics and parody Author: "Mark Allen Peterson" at INETGW Date: 1/10/97 12:11 PM A friend of mine pulled this off the web and sent it to me. In light of the ebonics discussions, I thought it might be of interest: >'GEEKONICS' IS JUST A BEGINNING >by John Woestendiek >Philadelphia Inquirer >Wed., January 8, 1997 >***************************** > >NEWS BULLETIN: Saying it will improve the education of children who have >grown up immersed in computer lingo, the school board in San Jose, Calif., >has officially designated computer English, or "Geekonics", as a second >language. > >The historic vote on Geekonics - a combination of the word "geek" and the >word "phonics" - came just weeks after the Oakland school board recognized >black English, or Ebonics, as a distinct language. > >"This entirely reconfigures our parameters," Milton "Floppy" Macintosh, >chairman of Geekonics Unlimited, said after the school board became the >first in the nation to recognize Geekonics. > >"No longer are we preformatted for failure," Macintosh said during a >celebration that saw many Geekonics backers come dangerously close to >smiling. "Today, we are rebooting, implementing a program to process the >data we need to interface with all units of humanity." > >Controversial and widely misunderstood, the Geekonics movement was spawned >in California's Silicon Valley, where many children have grown up in >households headed by computer technicians, programmers, engineers and >scientists who have lost ability to speak plain English and have >inadvertently passed on their high-tech vernacular to their children. > >HELPING THE TRANSITION > >While schools will not teach the language, increased teacher awareness of >Geekonics, proponents say, will help children make the transition to >standard English. Those students, in turn, could possibly help their parents >learn to speak in a manner that would lead listeners to believe that they >have actual blood coursing through their veins. > >"Bit by bit, byte by byte, with the proper system development, with >nonpreemptive multitasking, I see no reason why we can't download the data >we need to modulate our oral output," Macintosh said. > >The designation of Ebonics and Geekonics as languages reflects a growing >awareness of our nation's lingual diversity, experts say. > >Other groups pushing for their own languages and/or vernaculars to be >declared official viewed the Geekonics vote as a step in the right direction. > >"This is just, like, OK, you know, the most totally kewl thing, like, ever," >said Jennifer Notat-Albright, chairwoman of the Committee for the >Advancement of Valleyonics, headquartered in Southern California. "I mean, >like, you know?" she added. > >THEY'RE HAPPY IN DIXIE > >"Yeee-hah," said Buford "Kudzu" Davis, president of the Dixionics Coalition. >"Y'all gotta know I'm as happy as a tick on a sleeping bloodhound about this." > >Spokesmen for several subchapters of Dixionics - including Alabonics, >Tennesonics and Louisionics - also said they approved of the decision. > >Bill Flack, public information officer for the Blue Ribbon Task Force on >Bureaucratonics said that his organization would not comment on the San Jose >vote until it convened a summit meeting, studied the impact, assessed the >feasibility, finalized a report and drafted a comprehensive action plan, >which, once it clears the appropriate subcommittees and is voted on, will be >made public to those who submit the proper information-request forms. > >Proponents of Ebonics heartily endorsed the designation of Geekonics as an >official language. > >"I ain't got no problem wif it," said Earl E. Byrd, president of the Ebonics >Institute. "You ever try talkin' wif wunna dem computer dudes? Don't matter >if it be a white computer dude or a black computer dude; it's like you be >talkin' to a robot - RAM, DOS, undelete, MegaHertZ. Ain't nobody >understands. But dey keep talkin' anyway. 'Sup wif dat?" > >Those involved in the lingual diversity movement believe that only by >enacting many different English languages, in addition to all the foreign >ones practiced here, can we all end up happily speaking the same boring one, >becoming a nation that is both unified in its diversity, and diversified in >its unity. > >Others say that makes no sense at all. In any language. Received: from galileo.cc.rochester.edu by INETGW.WKU.EDU (SMTPLINK V2.11 PreRelease 4) ; Fri, 10 Jan 97 12:11:06 CST Return-Path: Received: (majord[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]localhost) by galileo.cc.rochester.edu (8.8.4/8.6.4) id MAA17991 for linganth-outgoing; Fri, 10 Jan 1997 12:54:01 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <9701101751.AA13132[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DGS.dgsys.com> From: "Mark Allen Peterson" To: "Linganth" Subject: Ebonics and parody Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 12:53:53 -0500 X-Msmail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-linganth[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cc.rochester.edu Precedence: bulk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 15:04:33 -0500 From: "Peter L. Patrick" Subject: Re: "Atlanta" -Reply (if this thread isn't dead...) I thought nasals in that position were generally flapped, making it impossible to tell whether there's an /nt/ or just /n/ from surface evidence. The environment is stressed-vowel, NT, unstressed vowel, or /Vntv/, and it's a generall flapping rule for American dialects, nothing Southern or Georgian. I've depended on this before in work without actually knowing what the argum,ents for possible derivbations are-- since the bit about lack of surface evidence seems clear-- but if anyone knows any lit. on the subject I'd very much like a reference... --peter patrick ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 9 Jan 1997 to 10 Jan 1997 *********************************************** There are 2 messages totalling 76 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Job with ACLS 2. IPA to Internet? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 13:37:16 -0500 From: Allan Metcalf Subject: Job with ACLS The consortium of learned societies to which ADS belongs has a position available. It's a nice place to work, a small office at the top of the humanities and social sciences food chain. Here is what they sent me. - Allan Metcalf ------------------------------------------------ ACLS is looking for an education program officer. The position description is below. Note particularly . . . that the person will work closely with the education-related activities of the learned societies. Will you suggest to us anyone who might be good, or pass this along to them? We mean to move this search along quickly, but do want to find the right person. Many thanks. --Doug Bennett **************** Education Program Officer American Council of Learned Societies The American Council of Learned Societies seeks applications and nominations for a position as education program officer. This position will include responsibility for ACLS education programs and activities concerned with school-college collaborations, with curriculum innovation in the liberal arts and sciences, and with international education exchanges. The program officer will work closely with the education-related activities of the learned societies which are members of ACLS. We seek a person with a Ph.D. in the humanities or social sciences, a record of teaching and scholarship, some pertinent administrative experience, and broad interests in the world of scholarship beyond his/her own discipline. ACLS is the leading private organization devoted to research and teaching in the humanities and humanistic social sciences in the United States. It is composed of 58 learned societies in the humanities and humanistic social sciences representing more than 350,000 scholars and teachers throughout the United States and Canada. Among the current program foci of the Council are the internationalization of scholarship, liberal education (K-12 and higher education), and electronic scholarly publishing and communication. Review of applications will begin immediately. Applications (cover letter, c.v., and a list of references) should be addressed to Douglas Bennett, Vice President, American Council of Learned Societies, 16th floor, 228 East 45th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017-3398. ACLS is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 23:50:41 EST From: "Heather M. Hewitt" Subject: IPA to Internet? Does anybody know where I can find an IPA to legend? Many thanks, Heather Hewitt hhew1030[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uriacc.uri.edu ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 10 Jan 1997 to 11 Jan 1997 ************************************************ There is one message totalling 123 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Murphy's Law ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 04:16:40 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Murphy's Law Eddie Murphy has a new movie coming out this week called METRO. It's advertised on the huge 59th Street Bridge (Roosevelt Island tram) billboard by my home. The billboard has a dubious reputation--almost every flick advertised on it has been a bomb. Which brings me to-- Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong will." I'll antedate the term and beat OED by a year. Murphy himself was supposed to drop by to say hello to y'all. He's late--let's see if he comes by before I finish. Cecil Adams's Straight Dope Message Boards have discussed this item since 12-30-96. On that date, KCB615 provided some corollaries: 1. Nothing is as easy as it looks. 2. Everything takes longer than you think. 3. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one that goes wrong. 4. If you have 4 ways that something will go wrong, and you find solutions to all 4, a 5th problem will promptly develop. 5. Left to themselves, things will go from bad to worse. 6. Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first. 7. Every solution breeds new problems. 8. It is impossible for something to be foolproof because fools are so ingenious. 9. Mother Nature is a bitch. KCB615 later wrote: I forgot one... Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage. Another poster added "Anything that can go wrong will...and in the WORST possible way." Some people have said that "Murphy was an optimist." Another post reminded not to forget "Murphy's Mother-in-Law," which is "See, I told you so!!" Who is Murphy? Where did he come from? Murphy is a fairly new Americanism--the second half of the 20th century. Nothing before 1950 (that I know of, at least) has him. I've done WWII; Kilroy is there, but not Murphy. WHAT'S IN A NAME? Reflections of an Irrepressible Name Collector by Paul Dickson doesn't list Murphy's Law under eponyms (pp. 100-107), nor anywhere else. WHAT'S IN A NAME? Everything You Wanted to Know by Leonard R. N. Ashley didn't have EVERYTHING I wanted to know. Murphy is not in the names into words on pp. 194-197. Eureka tracked twelve titles, dating from 1979--1994. In 1977, a popular poster contained Murphy's Laws, and this later "morphed" into a book by Arthur Bloch. In 1993-94, computer books such as MURPHY'S LAWS OF DOS, MURPHY'S LAWS OF EXCEL, and MURPHY'S LAWS OF WORDPERFECT were printed. OED comes very close, and nearly hits it right on the head: 3. MURPHY'S LAW: a name humorously given to various aphoristic expressions of the apparent perverseness and unreasonableness of things (see quots.). orig. U.S. 1958 _Nation_ (N.Y.) 7 June 506/1 There is an old military maxim known as Murphy's Law which assets that where-ever there is a bolt to be turned, someday there will be someone to turn it the wrong way. 1961 LEEDS & WEINBERG _Computer Programming Fun_ viii. 241 What we desire is the presentation of the information in such an accurate and complete form that the reader will be able to use the subroutine correctly without hesitation or question. Recalling "Murphy's law"--"If something can go wrong or be misinterpreted, it will"--should be enough stimulus for the goals we desire." 1962 J. GLENN in _Into Orbit_ 85 We blamed human errors like this on what aviation engineers call "Murphy's Law." "Murphy" was a fictitious character who appeared in a series of educational cartoons put out by the U. S. Navy... Murphy was a careless, all-thumbs mechanic who was prone to make such mistakes as installing a propellor backwards. Aah!! The 1958 and 1962 citations lead us to what I believe is the answer. A WorldCat search turned up this: TITLE: Maintenance safety in aviation: Murphy's Law. PLACE: Washington, D.C. PUBLISHER: United States Navy. YEAR: 1957. PUB TYPE: Audiovisual. FORMAT: 8 min. : sd. col. 16 mm. NOTES: United States Navy training film. Shows how improper installation of aircraft equipment can cause accidents. SUBJECT: Aeronautics--Safety measures. OTHER: United States. Navy. Transfilm, inc., New York. Murphy's Law. (Motion pictures) Murphy's Law is from 1957--now 40 years old. See also Eric Partridge; he has entries on the later terms of "Sod's law" and "Spode's law." And so, with our OED antedate firmly in hand, we end our-- MURPHY: Sorry I'm late. I got stuck in traffic. POPIK: Murphy's Law #2: Everything takes longer than you think. Tell the folks what you've been doing these past forty years. MURPHY: I was your publicist. POPIK: Not for forty years! MURPHY: I was also your family's managed care physician. POPIK: What else? MURPHY: I was also publicity director for the New Jersey Nets. Can I sit down? POPIK: Sure. There's a Murphy bed. I understand you've done some tv acting? MURPHY: Father Murphy Mysteries. Murphy Brown. POPIK: Which also brought you into politics. MURPHY: I'm helping Newt Gingrich RIGHT NOW! POPIK: Forty years and you're still not married! You've blown your chances! MURPHY: Things always go wrong. It's not as easy as it looks. Things take longer than you think. Things have gone from bad to worse. POPIK: Do you have any friends? MURPHY: Kramer. From Seinfeld. POPIK: I know you don't eat meat, so I made some Murphy potatoes. MURPHY: Potatoes! That was the Murphy Brown I did! I--AAAAH! POPIK: Murphy? Murphy? It's a Murphy bed! It goes back into the wall! Murphy? I have a date later tonight! I can't have problems in bed! This never occurred to me before--I've gotta buy a Castro, or a Jennifer! Anything but a --! MURPHY? MURPHY, GET OUT OF THERE!!!!!!! ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 11 Jan 1997 to 12 Jan 1997 ************************************************ There are 24 messages totalling 1443 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Murphy's Law 2. Murphy's Law -- 1949 (3) 3. IPA to Internet? 4. Hebonics (4) 5. Ruronics (10) 6. IPA to Internet? -Reply 7. More Hebonics 8. Hebonics (Is Joke) (fwd) 9. -onics 10. Ebonics and parody ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 23:33:59 -0600 From: Dan Goodman Subject: Murphy's Law John W. Campbell Jr., editor of Astounding Science Fiction (which became Analog Science Fact/Fiction) discussed Murphy's Law and related laws. (As did many contributors to the letter column). I'm not sure, but I think at least some of this discussion was before 1957. > Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 04:16:40 -0500 > From: "Barry A. Popik" > Subject: Murphy's Law > > Eddie Murphy has a new movie coming out this week called METRO. It's > advertised on the huge 59th Street Bridge (Roosevelt Island tram) billboard > by my home. The billboard has a dubious reputation--almost every flick > advertised on it has been a bomb. Which brings me to-- > Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong will." > I'll antedate the term and beat OED by a year. > Murphy himself was supposed to drop by to say hello to y'all. He's > late--let's see if he comes by before I finish. > Cecil Adams's Straight Dope Message Boards have discussed this item > since 12-30-96. On that date, KCB615 provided some corollaries: > > 1. Nothing is as easy as it looks. > 2. Everything takes longer than you think. > 3. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will > cause the most damage will be the one that goes wrong. > 4. If you have 4 ways that something will go wrong, and you find solutions to > all 4, a 5th problem will promptly develop. > 5. Left to themselves, things will go from bad to worse. > 6. Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first. > 7. Every solution breeds new problems. > 8. It is impossible for something to be foolproof because fools are so > ingenious. > 9. Mother Nature is a bitch. > > KCB615 later wrote: > > I forgot one... > Cole's Law: > Thinly sliced cabbage. > > Another poster added "Anything that can go wrong will...and in the > WORST possible way." > Some people have said that "Murphy was an optimist." > Another post reminded not to forget "Murphy's Mother-in-Law," which is > "See, I told you so!!" > Who is Murphy? Where did he come from? > Murphy is a fairly new Americanism--the second half of the 20th > century. Nothing before 1950 (that I know of, at least) has him. I've done > WWII; Kilroy is there, but not Murphy. > WHAT'S IN A NAME? Reflections of an Irrepressible Name Collector by > Paul Dickson doesn't list Murphy's Law under eponyms (pp. 100-107), nor > anywhere else. WHAT'S IN A NAME? Everything You Wanted to Know by Leonard R. > N. Ashley didn't have EVERYTHING I wanted to know. Murphy is not in the > names into words on pp. 194-197. > Eureka tracked twelve titles, dating from 1979--1994. In 1977, a > popular poster contained Murphy's Laws, and this later "morphed" into a book > by Arthur Bloch. In 1993-94, computer books such as MURPHY'S LAWS OF DOS, > MURPHY'S LAWS OF EXCEL, and MURPHY'S LAWS OF WORDPERFECT were printed. > OED comes very close, and nearly hits it right on the head: > > 3. MURPHY'S LAW: a name humorously given to various aphoristic expressions of > the apparent perverseness and unreasonableness of things (see quots.). orig. > U.S. > 1958 _Nation_ (N.Y.) 7 June 506/1 There is an old military maxim known as > Murphy's Law which assets that where-ever there is a bolt to be turned, > someday there will be someone to turn it the wrong way. > 1961 LEEDS & WEINBERG _Computer Programming Fun_ viii. 241 What we desire is > the presentation of the information in such an accurate and complete form > that the reader will be able to use the subroutine correctly without > hesitation or question. Recalling "Murphy's law"--"If something can go wrong > or be misinterpreted, it will"--should be enough stimulus for the goals we > desire." > 1962 J. GLENN in _Into Orbit_ 85 We blamed human errors like this on what > aviation engineers call "Murphy's Law." "Murphy" was a fictitious character > who appeared in a series of educational cartoons put out by the U. S. Navy... > Murphy was a careless, all-thumbs mechanic who was prone to make such > mistakes as installing a propellor backwards. > > Aah!! > The 1958 and 1962 citations lead us to what I believe is the answer. A > WorldCat search turned up this: > > TITLE: Maintenance safety in aviation: > Murphy's Law. > PLACE: Washington, D.C. > PUBLISHER: United States Navy. > YEAR: 1957. > PUB TYPE: Audiovisual. > FORMAT: 8 min. : sd. col. 16 mm. > NOTES: United States Navy training film. > Shows how improper installation of aircraft equipment can cause > accidents. > SUBJECT: Aeronautics--Safety measures. > OTHER: United States. Navy. > Transfilm, inc., New York. > Murphy's Law. (Motion pictures) > > Murphy's Law is from 1957--now 40 years old. See also Eric > Partridge; he has entries on the later terms of "Sod's law" and "Spode's > law." > And so, with our OED antedate firmly in hand, we end our-- > MURPHY: Sorry I'm late. I got stuck in traffic. > POPIK: Murphy's Law #2: Everything takes longer than you think. Tell the > folks what you've been doing these past forty years. > MURPHY: I was your publicist. > POPIK: Not for forty years! > MURPHY: I was also your family's managed care physician. > POPIK: What else? > MURPHY: I was also publicity director for the New Jersey Nets. Can I sit > down? > POPIK: Sure. There's a Murphy bed. I understand you've done some tv > acting? > MURPHY: Father Murphy Mysteries. Murphy Brown. > POPIK: Which also brought you into politics. > MURPHY: I'm helping Newt Gingrich RIGHT NOW! > POPIK: Forty years and you're still not married! You've blown your chances! > MURPHY: Things always go wrong. It's not as easy as it looks. Things take > longer than you think. Things have gone from bad to worse. > POPIK: Do you have any friends? > MURPHY: Kramer. From Seinfeld. > POPIK: I know you don't eat meat, so I made some Murphy potatoes. > MURPHY: Potatoes! That was the Murphy Brown I did! I--AAAAH! > POPIK: Murphy? Murphy? It's a Murphy bed! It goes back into the wall! > Murphy? I have a date later tonight! I can't have problems in bed! This > never occurred to me before--I've gotta buy a Castro, or a Jennifer! > Anything but a --! MURPHY? MURPHY, GET OUT OF THERE!!!!!!! > > ------------------------------ > > End of ADS-L Digest - 11 Jan 1997 to 12 Jan 1997 > ************************************************ > Dan Goodman dsgood[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]visi.com http://www.visi.com/~dsgood/index.html Whatever you wish for me, may you have twice as much. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 00:08:07 -0600 From: Dan Goodman Subject: Murphy's Law -- 1949 Murphy's Law prov. The correct, *original* Murphy's Law reads: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." This is a principle of defensive design, cited here because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design for lusers. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it `THIS WAY UP'; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical (see also the anecdote under [1]magic smoke). Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) quoted at a news conference a few days later. Within months `Murphy's Law' had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing as they went. Most of these are variants on "Anything that can go wrong, will"; this is sometimes referred to as [2]Finagle's Law. The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's Law http://www.clueless.com/jargon/Murphy's_Law.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 04:05:01 -0500 From: "Barry A. Popik" Subject: Re: Murphy's Law -- 1949 Thanks! I think I've heard this one before. It might be right. But why can't I find a title before that Navy training film in 1957? --Barry ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 03:57:38 -1000 From: Norman Roberts Subject: Re: IPA to Internet? >Does anybody know where I can find an IPA to legend? > Here is one I downloaded some time ago. It's rather long so I hope your mail server accepts it. sci.lang #38113 (11 more) [1] From: Georgy Pruss [1] Repost: FAQ: Representing IPA Phonetics in ASCII Date: Wed May 10 10:22:59 HST 1995 Organization: Zest Systems Lines: 524 Distribution: world NNTP-Posting-Host: render.gu.kiev.ua X-Return-Path: zs!zs.kiev.ua!georgy[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]figaro.gu.kiev.ua Some people asked me to re-send it. Here you are. >Newsgroups: sci.lang,alt.usage.english >From: evan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hplerk.hpl.hp.com (Evan Kirshenbaum) >Subject: FAQ: Representing IPA Phonetics in ASCII >Sender: news[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hplabsz.hpl.hp.com (News Subsystem (Rigel)) >Message-ID: >Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 18:58:07 GMT >Reply-To: kirshenbaum[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hpl.hp.com >Nntp-Posting-Host: hplerk.hpl.hp.com >Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories >Lines: 502 >Xref: lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk sci.lang:16066 alt.usage.english:38835 > >[Last Modified, 4 Jan 1993] > >This article describes a standard scheme for representing IPA >transcriptions in ASCII for use in Usenet articles and email. The >following guidelines were kept in mind: > > o It should be usable for both phonemic and narrow phonetic > transcription. > > o It should be possible to represent *all* symbols and > diacritics in the IPA. > > o The previous guideline notwithstanding, it is expected that > (as in the past) most use will be in transcribing English, > so where tradeoffs are necessary, decisions should be made > in favor of ease of representation of phonemes which are > common in English. > > o The representation should be readable. > > o It should be possible to mechanically translate from the > representation to a character set which includes IPA. The > reverse would also be nice. > >In order to be able to represent a wide range of segments while making >common segments easy to type, we allow more than one representation >for a given segment. Each segment has an "explicit" representation, >which is a set of features between curly braces ("{" and "}"). Each >feature is represented as a three letter abbreviation taken from a >standardized set. The phoneme /b/ (a voiced, bilabial stop) could be >represented as /{vcd,blb,stp}/. A first cut at the feature set >appears in appendix A below. > >The word "tag" could thus be represented phonemically as > /{vls,alv,stp}{low,fnt,unr,vwl}{vcd,vel,stp}/ >and phonetically as > [{vls,asp,alv,stp}{low,fnt,lng,unr,vwl}{unx,vcd,vel,stp}] > >This works, but it's a bit of a pain. To simplify transcription, we >allow an "implicit" representation for a segment which consists of a >(generally alphabetic) symbol followed by diacritics. Thus /b/ stands >for /{vcd,blb,stp}/. Case is significant (/n/ and /N/ are different >segments). The segment symbols are given in appendix B below. > >The word "tag" can thus be represented phonemically as > /t&g/ > >The diacritics for a segment are represented between angle brackets >("<" and ">") and consist of symbols or features. (In the common case >where the diacritic symbol is a single character which does not encode >a segment, the brackets may be removed.) The features which the >diacritics map to override those of the segment. > >The word "tag" thus becomes narrowly > [t&g] >or > [t&<:>g] >or > [t&:g] > >Some diacritic symbols encode more than one feature set. Which one is >meant should be apparent from context. For example, "." stands for >"{rnd}" when attached to a vowel, but "{rfx}" when attached to a >consonant. > >Clicks are common to many languages (especially in Africa), but there >is no IPA diacritic that means "click". Rather than use up several >characters for clicks (which are infrequent in the languages most >often discussed), we instead use the diacritic "!" after the >homorganic unvoiced stop. Thus /t!/ (= /t/ = /{alv,clk}/) is the >sound commonly written "tsk" and used in English to show disapproval. > >The complete set of diacritic symbols appears in appendix C below. >Appendices D and E contain representations of segments more or less >ordered by feature (appendix D in tabular form, appendix E as a list). >Appendix F contains a list of all of the ASCII characters and the uses >they have been pressed to. > >For transcription of any specific language a group can by convention >alter the character mappings (as an example, for Spanish /R/ may be >better used to represent /{alv,trl}/ than /{mid,cnt,rzd,vwl}/). An >author may also press a little used symbol (for the language under >consideration) into service to highlight a distinction. Such an >alteration should be made explicitly to avoid confusion. > >The diacritics "+" and "=" and the segment symbols "$" and "%" are >explicitly left unspecified so that they can be used to mark >language-specific features (that are otherwise cumbersome to mark). >Such symbols can be assigned either by convention for a specific >language or in an ad-hoc manner by an individual author. > >Stress marks are prepended to the syllable they attach to. "'" >signals primary stress, "," signals secondary stress. Spaces should >be employed to separate words (cliticized words may be written >unseparated). When discussing single words, it may be helpful to >insert a space before each syllable that doesn't carry a >suprasegmental marker. > >The "I hear the secretary" for an American might be something like > /aI hir D[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] 'sEkrI,t&ri/ >while to an Englishman it might be more like > /aI hi[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] DI 'sEkr^tri/ > >Transcribing tone is harder. Here's an attempt. For register tone >languages (e.g., Hausa, Navajo), numbers should be used with one being >the lowest. Thus in Navajo, "1" is low tone and "2" is high. In >Yoruba "1" is low, "2" is mid, and "3" is high. The language's >"default" tone need not be specified. For contour tone languages >(e.g., Mandarin, Thai), there is generally a numeric system in place >(Mandarin: "1" is high, "2" is rising, "3" is falling rising, "4" is >falling). The tone indication should follow the syllable (vowel?). > >The symbol "#" is used to represent a syllable or word boundary. > >Appendix A. Feature Abbreviations >---------------------------------- > >vcd voiced nas nasal fnt front >vls voiceless orl oral cnt center > apr approximant bck back >blb bilabial vwl vowel >lbd labio-dental lat lateral unr unrounded >dnt dental ctl central rnd rounded >alv alveolar trl trill >rfx retroflex flp flap asp aspirated >pla palato-alveolar clk click unx unexploded >pal palatal ejc ejective syl syllabic >vel velar imp implosive mrm murmured >lbv labio-velar lng long >uvl uvular hgh high vzd velarized >phr pharyngeal smh semi-high lzd labialized >glt Glottal umd upper-mid pzd palatalized > mid mid rzd rhoticized >stp stop lmd lower-mid nzd nasalized >frc fricative low low fzd pharyngealized > > >Appendix B. Segment Symbols >---------------------------- > >This table lists the symbol, the associated feature set, and the >Unicode character code and name for the corresponding IPA character. >In some cases (e.g., /I/) there are multiple IPA characters in use for >the segment. I have listed both. In some cases (e.g. /j/), the IPA >symbol seems to be ambiguous (generally between an approximant and the >homorganic voiced fricative). > >The entries marked with "??" are those that I am least sure of. When >I have listed more than one possibility for a symbol, the first is my >current preference. > >a {low,cnt,unr,vwl} U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A >b {vcd,blb,stp} U+0062 LATIN SMALL LETTER B >c {vls,pal,stp} U+0063 LATIN SMALL LETTER C >d {vcd,alv,stp} U+0064 LATIN SMALL LETTER D >e {umd,fnt,urd,vwl} U+0065 LATIN SMALL LETTER E >f {vls,lbd,frc} U+0066 LATIN SMALL LETTER F >g {vcd,vel,stp} U+0067 LATIN SMALL LETTER G > U+0261 LATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT G >h {glt,apr} U+0068 LATIN SMALL LETTER H >i {hgh,fnt,unr,vwl} U+0069 LATIN SMALL LETTER I >j {pal,apr}/{vcd,pal,frc} U+006A LATIN SMALL LETTER J >k {vls,vel,stp} U+006B LATIN SMALL LETTER K >l {vcd,alv,lat} U+006C LATIN SMALL LETTER L >m {blb,nas} U+006D LATIN SMALL LETTER M >n {alv,nas} U+006E LATIN SMALL LETTER N >o {umd,bck,rnd,vwl} U+006F LATIN SMALL LETTER O >p {vls,blb,stp} U+0070 LATIN SMALL LETTER P >q {vls,uvl,stp} U+0071 LATIN SMALL LETTER Q >r {alv,apr} U+0279 LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED R >s {vls,alv,frc} U+0073 LATIN SMALL LETTER S >t {vls,alv,stp} U+0074 LATIN SMALL LETTER T >u {hgh,bck,rnd,vwl} U+0075 LATIN SMALL LETTER U >v {vcd,lbd,frc} U+0076 LATIN SMALL LETTER V >w {lbv,apr}/{vcd,lbv,frc} U+0077 LATIN SMALL LETTER W >x {vls,vel,frc} U+0078 LATIN SMALL LETTER X >y {hgh,fnt,rnd,vwl} U+0079 LATIN SMALL LETTER Y >z {vcd,alv,frc} U+007A LATIN SMALL LETTER Z > >A {low,bck,unr,vwl} U+0251 LATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT A >B {vcd,blb,frc} U+03B2 GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA >C {vls,pal,frc} U+00E7 LATIN SMALL LETTER C CEDILLA >D {vcd,dnt,frc} U+00F0 LATIN SMALL LETTER ETH >E {lmd,fnt,unr,vwl} U+025B LATIN SMALL LETTER EPSILON >F -- Unused -- >G {vcd,uvl,stp} U+0262 LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL G >H {vls,phr,frc} U+0127 LATIN SMALL LETTER H BAR >I {smh,fnt,unr,vwl} U+026A LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL I > U+0269 LATIN SMALL LETTER IOTA >J {vcd,pal,stp} U+025F LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS J BAR >K -- Unused -- >L {vcd,vel,lat} ?? U+026B LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH MIDDLE TILDE > U+029F LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL L > {vls,alv,lat,frc} ?? U+026C LATIN SMALL LETTER L BELT >M {lbd,nas} U+0271 LATIN SMALL LETTER M HOOK >N {vel,nas} U+014B LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG >O {lmd,bck,rnd,vwl} U+0254 LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O >P {vls,blb,frc} U+03A6 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI >Q {vcd,vel,frc} U+0263 LATIN SMALL LETTER GAMMA >R {mid,cnt,rzd,vwl} ?? U+025A LATIN SMALL LETTER SCHWA HOOK > {alv,trl} ?? U+0280 LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL R >S {vls,pla,frc} U+0283 LATIN SMALL LETTER ESH >T {vls,dnt,frc} U+03B8 GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA >U {smh,bck,rnd,vwl} U+028A LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON > U+0277 LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED OMEGA >V {lmd,bck,unr,vwl} U+028C LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED V >W {lmd,fnt,rnd,vwl} ?? U+0153 LATIN SMALL LETTER O E >X {vls,uvl,frc} U+03C7 GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI >Y {umd,fnt,rnd,vwl} ?? U+00F8 LATIN SMALL LETTER O SLASH > {lmd,fnt,rnd,vwl} ?? U+0153 LATIN SMALL LETTER O E >Z {vcd,pla,frc} U+0292 LATIN SMALL LETTER YOGH > >? {glt,stp} U+0294 LATIN SMALL LETTER GLOTTAL STOP >[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] {mid,cnt,unr,vwl} U+0259 LATIN SMALL LETTER SCHWA >& {low,fnt,unr,vwl} U+00E6 LATIN SMALL LETTER A E >* {vcd,alv,flp} U+027E LATIN SMALL LETTER FISHHOOK R >% -- Ad Hoc Segment -- >$ -- Ad Hoc Segment -- > >Appendix C. Diacritics >----------------------- > >~ Vowels: {nzd} U+0303 NON-SPACING TILDE > Consonants: {vzd} U+0334 NON-SPACING TILDE OVERLAY >: {lng} U+02D0 MODIFIER LETTER TRIANGULAR COLON >- Vowels: {unr} -- No equivalent -- > Consonants: {syl} U+0329 NON-SPACING VERTICAL LINE BELOW >! {clk} -- No equivalent -- >. Vowels: {rnd} -- No equivalent -- > Consonants: {rfx} U+0322 NON-SPACING RETROFLEX HOOK BELOW > U+0323 NON-SPACING DOT BELOW >` Voicless: {ejc} U+02BC MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE > Voiced: {imp} -- No equivalent -- >[ {dnt} U+032A NON-SPACING BRIDGE BELOW >; {pzd} U+02B2 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL J > U+0321 NON-SPACING PALATALIZED HOOK BELOW >" Vowels: {cnt} -- No equivalent -- > Consonants: {uvl} -- No equivalent -- >^ {pal} -- No equivalent -- >+ -- Add Hoc Diacritic -- >= -- Add Hoc Diacritic -- > {fzd} U+0334 NON-SPACING TILDE OVERLAY > {asp} U+02B0 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL H > {unx} ?? U+02DA SPACING RING ABOVE > {vls} ?? U+0325 NON-SPACING RING BELOW > {rzd} U+02B3 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL R > {lzd} U+02B7 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL W > U+032B NON-SPACING INVERTED DOUBLE ARCH BELOW > {mrm} U+02B1 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL H HOOK > U+0324 NON-SPACING DOUBLE DOT BELOW > >Appendix D. Segment Table >-------------------------- > > blb-- -lbd-- --dnt-- --alv-- -rfx- -pla-- --pal--- --vel-- -----uvl----- > >nas m M n[ n n. n^ N n" >stp p b t[ d[ t d t. d. c J k g q G >frc F V f v T D s z s. z. S Z C C x Q X g" >apr r r[ r r. j j g" >lat l[ l l. l^ L >trl b r r" >flp * *. >ejc p` t[` t` c` k' >imp b` d` d` J` g` q` G` >clk p! t! c! c! k! > > > ---- lbv ---- --phr-- ---glt--- > >nas n alv lat frc: s z >stp t d ? lat flp: * >frc w w H H h lat clk: l! >apr w h > > > ----- unr ----- unr ----- rnd ----- > fnt cnt bck cnt fnt cnt bck > rzd >hgh i i" u- y u" u >smh I I. U >umd e [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] o- R Y o >mid [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] R [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]. >lmd E V" V W O" O >low & a A &. a. A. > > >Appendix E. Segment List >------------------------- > >Where a segment requires more than one character to represent, and >there is a single IPA character, the Unicode code and name is noted. >If I couldn't find an IPA symbol for a segment, I left it out. > >{blb,nas} /m/ >{vls,blb,stp} /p/ >{vcd,blb,stp} /b/ >{vls,blb,frc} /F/ >{vcd,blb,frc} /V/ >{blb,trl} /b/ U+0299 LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL B >{blb,imp} /b`/ U+0253 LATIN SMALL LETTER B HOOK >{blb,ejc} /p`/ >{blb,clk} /p!/ U+0298 LATIN LETTER BULSEYE > >{lbd,nas} /M/ >{vls,lbd,frc} /f/ >{vcd,lbd,frc} /v/ >{lbd,apr} /r/ U+028B LATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT V > >{dnt,nas} /n[/ >{vls,dnt,stp} /t[/ >{vcd,dnt,stp} /d[/ >{vls,dnt,frc} /T/ >{vcd,dnt,frc} /D/ >{dnt,apr} /r[/ >{dnt,lat} /l[/ >{dnt,imp} /d`/ (same as {alv,imp}) >{dnt,ejc} /t[`/ >{dnt,clk} /t!/ U+0287 LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T > (by rights this should be alveolar, but the alveolar > and palatal clicks use the same symbol (/c!/)) > >{alv,nas} /n/ >{vls,alv,stp} /t/ >{vcd,alv,stp} /d/ >{vls,alv,frc} /s/ >{vcd,alv,frc} /z/ >{alv,apr} /r/ >{alv,lat} /l/ >{alv,trl} /r/ U+0072 LATIN SMALL LETTER R > (perhaps /R/) >{alv,flp} /*/ >{vls,alv,lat,frc} /s/ U+026C LAIN SMALL LETTER L BELT >{vcd,alv,lat,frc} /z/ U+026E LATIN SMALL LETTER L YOGH >{alv,imp} /d`/ U+0257 LATIN SMALL LETTER D HOOK >{alv,ejc} /t`/ >{alv,clk} /c!/ (same as {pal,clk}) > >{rfx,nas} /n./ U+0273 LATIN SMALL LETTER N RETROFLEX HOOK >{vls,rfx,stp} /t./ U+0288 LATIN SMALL LETTER T RETROFLEX HOOK >{vcd,rfx,stp} /d./ U+0256 LATIN SMALL LETTER D RETROFLEX HOOK >{vls,rfx,frc} /s./ U+0282 LATIN SMALL LETTER S HOOK >{vcd,rfx,frc} /z./ U+0290 LATIN SMALL LETTER Z RETROFLEX HOOK >{rfx,apr} /r./ U+027B LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED R HOOK >{rfx,lat} /l./ U+026D LATIN SMALL LETTER L RETROFLEX HOOK >{rfx,flp} /*./ U+027D LATIN SMALL LETTER R HOOK > >{vls,pla,frc} /S/ >{vcd,pla,frc} /Z/ > >{pal,nas} /n^/ >{vls,pal,stp} /c/ >{vcd,pal,stp} /J/ >{vls,pal,frc} /C/ >{vcd,pal,frc} /C/ U+029D LATIN SMALL LETTER CROSSED-TAIL J > (perhaps /j/ (same as {pal,apr})) > >{pal,apr} /j/ >{rnd,pal,apr} /j/ U+0265 LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED H >{pal,lat} /l^/ U+028E LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED Y >{pal,imp} /J`/ U+0284 LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS J BAR HOOK >{pal,clk} /c!/ U+0297 LATIN LETTER STRETCHED C > >{vel,nas} /N/ >{vls,vel,stp} /k/ >{vcd,vel,stp} /g/ >{vls,vel,frc} /x/ >{vcd,vel,frc} /Q/ >{vel,apr} /j/ U+0270 LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED M WITH LONG > LEG >{vel,lat} /L/ >{vel,imp} /g`/ U+0260 LATIN SMALL LETTER G HOOK >{vel,ejc} /k'/ >{vel,clk} /k!/ U+029E LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K > >{lbv,nas} /n/ Written as "ng" with tie above >{vls,lbv,stp} /t/ Written as "kp" with tie above >{vcd,lbv,stp} /d/ Written as "gb" with tie above >{vls,lbv,frc} /w/ U+028D LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED W >{vcd,lbv,frc} /w/ (same as {lbv,apr}) >{lbv,apr} /w/ > >{uvl,nas} /n"/ U+0274 LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL N >{vls,uvl,stp} /q/ >{vcd,uvl,stp} /G/ >{vls,uvl,frc} /X/ U+03C7 GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI >{vcd,uvl,frc} /g"/ (same as {uvl,apr}) >{uvl,apr} /g"/ U+0281 LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL INVERTED R >{uvl,trl} /r"/ U+0280 LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL R >{vls,uvl,imp} /q`/ U+02A0 LATIN SMALL LETTER Q HOOK >{vcd,uvl,imp} /G`/ U+029B LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL G HOOK > >{vls,phr,frc} /H/ >{vcd,phr,frc} /H/ U+0295 LATIN LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP > >{glt,stp} /?/ >{glt,apr} /h/ >{mrm,glt,frc} /h/ U+0266 LATIN SMALL LETTER H HOOK > >{vcd,lat,flp} /*/ U+027A LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED R WITH LONG > LEG >{lat,clk} /l!/ U+0296 LATIN LETTER INVERTED GLOTTAL STOP > >{hgh,fnt,unr,vwl} /i/ >{hgh,fnt,rnd,vwl} /y/ >{smh,fnt,unr,vwl} /I/ >{smh,fnt,rnd,vwl} /I./ U+028F LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL Y >{umd,fnt,unr,vwl} /e/ >{umd,fnt,rnd,vwl} /Y/ >{lmd,fnt,unr,vwl} /E/ >{lmd,fnt,rnd,vwl} /W/ >{low,fnt,unr,vwl} /&/ >{low,fnt,rnd,vwl} /&./ U+0276 LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL O E > >{hgh,cnt,unr,vwl} /i"/ U+0268 LATIN SMALL LETTER BARRED I >{hgh,cnt,rnd,vwl} /u"/ U+0289 LATIN SMALL LETTER U BAR >{umd,cnt,unr,vwl} /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/ U+0258 LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED E >{umd,cnt,unr,rzd,vwl} /R/ U+025D LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED EPSILON > HOOK >{mid,cnt,unr,vwl} /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/ >{mid,cnt,unr,rzd,vwl} /R/ >{mid,cnt,rnd,vwl} /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]./ U+0275 LATIN SMALL LETTER BARRED O >{lmd,cnt,unr,vwl} /V"/ U+025C LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED EPSILON >{lmd,cnt,rnd,vwl} /O"/ U+025E LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED REVERSED > EPSILON >{low,cnt,unr,vwl} /a/ U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A > >{hgh,bck,unr,vwl} /u-/ U+026F LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED M >{hgh,bck,rnd,vwl} /u/ >{umd,bck,unr,vwl} /o-/ U+0264 LATIN SMALL LETTER BABY GAMMA >{umd,bck,rnd,vwl} /o/ >{lmd,bck,unr,vwl} /V/ >{lmd,bck,rnd,vwl} /O/ >{low,bck,unr,vwl} /A/ >{low,bck,rnd,vwl} /A./ U+0252 LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED SCRIPT A > >Appendix F. ASCII Table >------------------------ >In the following table, the following abbreviations are used: > P: punctuation > S: segment > D: diacritic > : diacritic that must be delimited > > >sp P: Separate words and segments Q S: {vcd,vel,frc} >! D: {clk} R S: {mid,cnt,rzd,vwl} >" D Vowel: {cnt} S S: {vls,pla,frc} > Cons: {uvl} T S: {vls,dnt,frc} ># Unused U S: {smh,bck,rnd,vwl} >$ S: Ad Hoc V S: {lmd,bck,unr,vwl} >% S: Ad Hoc W S: {lmd,fnt,rnd,vwl} >& S: {low,fnt,unr,vwl} X S: {vls,uvl,frc} >' P: Primary stress Y S: {umd,fnt,rnd,vwl} >( Unused Z S: {vcd,pla,frc} >) Unused [ P: Phonetic delimiter >* S: {vcd,lav,flp} D: {dnt} >+ D: Ad Hoc \ Unused >, P: Secondary stress ] P: Phonetic delimiter >- D: Vowel: {unr} ^ D: {pal} > Cons: {syl} _ Unused >. D: Vowel: {rnd} ` D Voiced: {imp} > Cons: {rfx} Voiceless: {ejc} >/ P: Phonemic delimiter a S: {low,cnt,unr,vwl} >0 Unused b S: {vcd,blb,stp} >1 P: Tone 1 c S: {vls,pal,stp} >2 P: Tone 2 d S: {vcd,alv,stp} >3 P: Tone 3 e S: {umd,fnt,urd,vwl} >4 P: Tone 4 f S: {vls,lbd,frc} >5 Unused g S: {vcd,vel,stp} >6 Unused h S: {glt,apr} >7 Unused : {asp} >8 Unused i S: {hgh,fnt,unr,vwl} >9 Unused j S: {pal,apr}/{vcd,pal,frc} >: D: {lng} : {pzd} >; D: {pzd} k S: {vls,vel,stp} >< P: Diacritic delimiter l S: {vcd,alv,lat} >= D: Ad Hoc m S: {blb,nas} >> P: Diacritic delimiter n S: {alv,nas} >? S: {glt,stp} o S: {umd,bck,rnd,vwl} > : {mrm} >[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] S: {mid,cnt,unr,vwl} : {unx} >A S: {low,bck,unr,vwl} p S: {vls,blb,stp} >B S: {vcd,blb,frc} q S: {vls,uvl,stp} >C S: {vls,pal,frc} r S: {alv,apr} >D S: {vcd,dnt,frc} : {rzd} >E S: {lmd,fnt,unr,vwl} s S: {vls,alv,frc} >F Unused t S: {vls,alv,stp} >G S: {vcd,uvl,stp} u S: {hgh,bck,rnd,vwl} >H S: {vls,phr,frc} v S: {vcd,lbd,frc} > : {fzd} w S: {lbv,apr}/{vcd,lbv,frc} >I S: {smh,fnt,unr,vwl} : {lzd} >J S: {vcd,pal,stp} x S: {vls,vel,frc} >K Unused y S: {hgh,fnt,rnd,vwl} >L S: {vcd,vel,lat} z S: {vcd,alv,frc} >M S: {lbd,nas} { P: Feature set delimiter >N S: {vel,nas} | Unused >O S: {lmd,bck,rnd,vwl} } P: Feature set delimiter >P S: {vls,blb,frc} ~ D: Cons: {vzd} > Vowel: {nzd} > -- Georgy ---------------------------------------------------------------- |\ _,,,---,,_ | email: georgy[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]zs.kiev.ua ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ | email: georgy[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]gu.kiev.ua |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-' | phone: +7 044 412 39 02 '---''(_/--' `-'\_) | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 09:21:08 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Hebonics David Muschell tells me that he saw a post from here about Hebonics. We've had some trouble with our out-of-state Internet connection, and I never saw the post. Would someone mind posting it again or sending me a copy? Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 FAX: 912-454-0873 Office: Arts & Sciences 3-04 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 09:30:50 -0500 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" Subject: Re: Hebonics On Mon, 13 Jan 1997, Wayne Glowka wrote: > David Muschell tells me that he saw a post from here about Hebonics. We've > had some trouble with our out-of-state Internet connection, and I never saw > the post. Hebonics? And I thought my "ruronics" was out of line! Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 415 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 10:18:38 +0000 From: Duane Campbell Subject: Re: Murphy's Law -- 1949 Dan Goodman wrote: > > prov. The correct, *original* Murphy's Law reads: "If there are two or > more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a > catastrophe, then someone will do it." I heard it with even greater specificity in mid to late 1950s. As I first learned it: That which is likely to happen and beneficial will not happen, while that which is unlikely and detrimental will. Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epix.net When I die and go to Hell, at least I can keep my same ISP ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 12:22:57 -0500 From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Hebonics Here is the missing post from HEL. Wayne Glowka >>At the request of Susan Ervin-Tripp, the linguistic anthropologist Jim >>Wilce has created a web site for postings (including newspaper material) on >>Ebonics. The temporary site URL is http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jmw22/ which >>links to linganthnet archives (linguistic anthropology list archives). If >>you want your postings on the topic to be in this archive, contact Jim at >>this URL. > >The Ebonics debate resulted in the distribution of the following humorous >item >around the Web: > >Jewish English or "Hebonics" > >The Encino School Board has declared Jewish English a second language. >Backers of the move say the district is the first in the nation to recognize > >Hebonics as the language of many of America's Jews. Here are some >characteristics of the language and sample phrases in standard English >and Jewish English. > >Pronunciation Characteristics > >Jewish English or "Hebonics" hardens consonants at the ends of words. >Thus, "hand" becomes "handt." > >The letter "W" is always pronounced as if it were a "V". >Thus "walking" becomes "valking" > >"R" sounds are transformed to a guttural that is difficult to >represent in standard English orthography. For example, >It is "ghraining" "algheady". > >Idiomatic Characteristics > >Questions are always answered with questions: >Question: "How do you feel?" >Hebonics response: "How should I feel?" > >The subject is often placed at the end of a sentence >after a pronoun has been used at the beginning: >"She dances beautifully, that girl." > >Sarcastic emphasis is obtained by repeating a word >after adding or substituting "sh" at the beginning. >money becomes "money shmoney" >love becomes "luv shmuv" > >Usage Comparisons > >Standard English Phrase Hebonics Phrase > >"He walks slowly" "Like a fly in the >ointment, he walks" >"You're sexy" (unknown concept) >"Sorry, I do not know the time" "What do I look like, a clock?" >"I hope things turn out for the best " "You should BE so lucky" >"Anything can happen" "It is never so bad, it can't >get worse" > >received by David Korenstein from Dawn who received it from Dani. > >forwarded by Israel Cohen >izzy[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]telaviv.ddddf.com > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 14:19:05 -0500 From: "Lawrence M. Davis" Subject: Re: Hebonics If Wayne Glowka's data are accurate, I wonder why "Hebonics" isn't "Yidonics." All of the examples involve Yiddish sources rather than Hebrew ones. Or perhaps I'm being too literal (Talmudic?). Ciao, y'all. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 15:37:52 -0500 From: "David W. Donnell" Subject: Re: Ruronics I've forgotten who mentioned it - but *please* tell me more about ruronics... David in NYC ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 16:35:19 -0500 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" Subject: Re: Ruronics On Mon, 13 Jan 1997, David W. Donnell wrote: > I've forgotten who mentioned it - but *please* tell me more about ruronics... > Is bad joke: rural + phonics = ruronics, a variant of hillbilly Mea culpa, Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 415 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 16:25:25 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Subject: IPA to Internet? -Reply Heather M. Hewitt asks: >>>>> Does anybody know where I can find an IPA to legend? <<<<< I have found three proposals on the Web: Computer-coding the IPA: a proposed extension of SAMPA: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/x-sampa.htm (John Wells, Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London) Proposal for an ASCII Version of the IPA http://weber.u.washington.edu/~yuenren/ASCII_IPA.html (David Prager Branner) Usenet IPA/ASCII transcription http://weber.u.washington.edu/~dillon/ipaascii.html (Evan Kirshenbaum) The Usenet system may be in use in the newsgroups sci.lang and alt.usage.english (since around 1/93). I do not know if the other two are actually in use. Mark A. Mandel : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 18:02:13 -0400 From: "Dennis R. Preston" Subject: Re: Ruronics I smell a euphemism - shouldn't ruronics be hillbonics? DInIs (who are one) I've forgotten who mentioned it - but *please* tell me more about ruronics... > >David in NYC Dennis R. Preston Department of Linguistics and Languages Michigan State University East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu.edu Office: (517)432-1235 Fax: (517)432-2736 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 19:05:10 -0500 From: Beverly Flanigan Subject: Re: Ruronics I feel guilty about even disseminating another variant on Ruronics/Hillbonics, but it's bound to come out. Around here, the term is Apponics--Appalachian phonics, for those non-regionalists. Beverly Flanigan Ohio University, Athens flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ohiou.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 19:09:58 -0500 From: Jules Levin Subject: More Hebonics First, re the first usage of "Hebonics"; I heard it very early on after the controversy started, on the Dennis Prager radio show, where the host said something like, "What Chutzpa, as we say in Hebonics..." But I'm not sure if he or a caller first used it. Whether it is the appropriate name misses the point; after all, Ebonics is awful from the standpoint of language name creation--at least it should be "Ebonic". So a good parody should try to reproduce the slightly "off" tone of the original word. What's interesting about the vocabulary of Hebonics is not that this or that word is Yiddish or Hebrew, but like the vocabulary of Ebonics, which is mostly independent of African lexicon, building on American English roots, its vocabulary is often peculiarly *American*, unrecognizable to a real East European Yiddish speaker. Two quick examples: the word "derma" for "kishke" is a pseudo-Anglicism. It pretends to be an English translation of the latter, but in fact is known ONLY by practitioners of Hebonics or regular visiters at old-fashioned Jewish style delis; second example: affair... In Hebonics, an affair in a hotel is something attended by 500 people, not something done discretely that only two people are supposed to know about. Any Gentile can master the typical germano-hebraic vocabulary; the true native speaker knows all the subtle NON-germano-hebraic elements. And finally, the stylistically preferred response to the question, "How are you?" is not "How should I be...?" but rather "I can't complain..." (When you are in robust health....) Jules Levin from HEL. > >Wayne Glowka > > >>>At the request of Susan Ervin-Tripp, the linguistic anthropologist Jim >>>Wilce has created a web site for postings (including newspaper material) on >>>Ebonics. The temporary site URL is http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jmw22/ which >>>links to linganthnet archives (linguistic anthropology list archives). If >>>you want your postings on the topE