Date:  Mon, 3 Nov 1997 02:34:26 -0500
From:  Jim Crotty <Monkmag[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: "it's all good"

In a message dated 11/2/97 6:31:11 PM, you wrote:

<<On Sun, 2 Nov 1997, STEVE ALLEN NOLDEN wrote:

> Why does everything have to originate from AAVE or "Black Talk?"
> Some phrases or sayings are just that, not because they originated from
> black people, but just sayings. Damn!, why cant it come from "White
> talk" and what exactly would white talk be? I'm not trying to offend
> anybody its just that this "black talk" issue is kind of touchy for me.>>

Well, this notion of "black talk" is, in part, fostered by "black" writers. I
have a book on my shelf by Geneva Smitherman called Black Talk, which argues
that there is definitely a uniquely "black" way of speech. Though she doesn't
have "all good," she does have "all that." But I agree, I prefer to be
color-blind in most things, including vernacular. Though there are times when
words or expressions clearly come from a very specific racial group.