NP Ebonics (was It ain't only Rock & Roll, it's Jazz too)

[Abdiel OAbdiel]

--- David Morris <fqmorris at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> Terrance,
> 
> You started this thread.  How dare you scold where
> it led, and where you pushed
> it.  I find this last comment of yours LAME!  It is
> unworthy of you.

 
As far as where the thread ended up, I think that it's
fairly obvious that Black Talk or Ebonics is a huge
topic and our thread could have and certainly still
can unwind in thousands of ways. But I had no interest
in rehashing the grammar wars or the great grammar
debate. This topic is taken up by Thomas R. Pynchon in
TSI. TSI is the short story some of us have been
discussing because it's what we scheduled. In the
Introduction to SL Pynchon talks about his case of
"bad ear." What about Mr. McAfee's language/dialect?
No bad ear thee. Why not? TSI is about integration in
public school. It's about language and power. So the
thread come out of the story. 
Thank God the language mavens have lost on this one.
Parents, angry and determined, faught ignorance and
racism in the courts and won. But in a Bush presidency
we need to keep fighting because under both Reagan and
Bush we lost ground. So much progress has been made
and to see it turned back by the language mavens in
the name of some  american
prescriptive/proscriptive.perscriptive ideal standard
ain something we should take standing in the back of
the bus. 

When I say "I am" believe me. 
When I say "I is" believe me, too -
Because I were, and was, and I is, 
Deep in love with you. 
Damn if I ain't!

     --James B. Simple, Langston Hughes

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