Date:  Wed, 26 Oct 1994 10:09:46 -0500

From:  Joan Livingston-Webber <webber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CWIS.UNOMAHA.EDU>

Subject: Re: a couple (of) things



#1. An new mag, Image, (for black men, the cover says) has

an article on the word 'nigger' in its premier issue, about sept

or oct, I think. It's a slick high gloss mag with corporate

looking men in the clothing ads.



#2. Raised in Johnstown, PA, I didn't know needs + -ed was a dialect

form till it was corrected on a grad paper in North Dakota. (non-

native, hurumph!) Also postive anymore--it took several times for

Tim Frazer to explain it to me, since it's such a natural form

for me, I couldn't figure out how to distinguish it from other

uses (negative anymore, I guess). (HI Mechnaicsburg PA!)



#3. My kids learned "go with" (along with "borrow me that") in

North Dakota. I pikced up the first but not the second. In

Nebrasksa and in south-central IL, "go with" gets commented on (commenting

on?) but no one ever said anything about it needing done--I

think my kids have quit going with, but I haven't--especially to

intro to linguistics students, who need a good dose of "nonstandard"

speech in high places. (Well, I'm high to them, I guess, or at

least to some of them.)

--

Joan Livingston-Webber  webber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]unomaha.edu

"What gets better is the precision with which we vex each other."

                        -Clifford Geertz