Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 16:47:45 -0800 From: Mary Bucholtz Subject: street slang I'm doing some pro bono work for a public defender, and I'd like to know what the expression "break yourself" can mean, especially in its use among African American urban youth (but other groups' use of it is also important). I'd appreciate any citations anyone might have, including music or pop culture attestations, as well as anything scholarly that may have been written about it. Thanks very much. Mary Bucholtz Department of Linguistics University of California, Berkeley bucholtz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]garnet.berkeley.edu