Date:  Wed, 8 Jan 1997 20:44:36 -0700
From:  William King <wfking[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU>
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