Like Ebonics? As i-if?

[Tom Stanton]

LBernier at tribune.com wrote:
> So, I was, like, driving around in my totally gnarly beemer? that 
> Daddy gave me after I, like, totally flaked?...

You be omitting OKAY and Y'KNOW everywhere, e.g., "I was, y'know, 
like, driving  around in my totally gnarly beemer, okay? that Daddy 
gave me after I, like, y'know totally flaked?..

One of my favorite party tricks is to recite Snoop Doggy-Dogs "Gin 
and Juice" in a very snotty Harvard-esque accent, which can give 
it a sort of Shakespearean quality if sufficient stimulants have 
been ingested. Here's what I think are the words:

	I got the juice and the gin
	They got their cups but they ain't chipped in
	Now these things happen all the time
	You got to get yours before I get mine
	But everythings fine when you're hangin' with the dee oh gee
	I got the funky-ass rthymes that be captivating me
	
	So listen
	To the words that I speak
	As I take me and Drey down the middle of the street
	And turn our mack on this trick named Sadie
	She used to be my home-boys lady
	80 degrees when I turn that trick please
	But you get none of these
	At ease
	With my home boys feeling the breeze as I

	Go rollin' down the street
	Smoking menthol
	Sippin' on gin & juice
	Laid back
	With my mind on my money and my money on my mind

	(Repeat)

I love rap music, which places me in a massive minority amongst my
peers (40+ white guys). It has its own poetic structure and, IMHO,
has more energy than a lot of stuff being published in obscure
journals. But the leap from rap as poetry to ebonics as a legit
language is a stretch for me. I agree we have to reach out & I agree
that English probably is a second language for street kids, but up
where I come from (Detroit) many black civic leaders are up in arms
& decrying Ebonics as a step back into a highly "white" version of
English, with its roots closer to poor Southern whites than to the
street. 

We shall see...

Tom