Category: Uncategorized
Tíu litlir negrastrákar
A bit of a brouhaha is taking place in Iceland over the question of whether the word negri, meaning “negro,” is pejorative. Tolerating Intolerance. “In most of the western world, a book called ‘Ten Little Negro Boys’ would not make it past the agent’s desk, let alone down onto the presses and onwards into most…
AT&T Tech Channel roundtable discussion on texting slang
A few weeks ago I joined Harris Salat of Visual Thesaurus and John Briggs of the University of California to discuss texting, slang, and the overall effect of technology on English in a video roundtable hosted by AT&T Tech Channel. I particularly liked to hear Dr. Briggs confirm what I know but what many people…
Dry snitching, forever piece
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: dry snitch v. to reveal a secret or to draw unwanted attention to another person under the guise of doing it accidentally, doing it for the person’s own good, or being helpful. Mainly used in Black English and hip-hop culture. forever piece n. a clothing or personal…
Bitches and new words
Megan Scott quotes me in an article where she tackles the very large subject of “bitch”. She comes out of it pretty much okay. Mark Weisenmiller also quoted me, this time in an article about new words for Inter Press Service, but unfortunately the article is behind a paywall. If you have a subscription, go…
Oopsie baby, taco meat hair
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: oopsie baby n. a baby resulting from an unplanned conception. taco meat hair n. the tight, dark curly hair of a black person. Often used self-referentially and between black people themselves.
Notes from the Ends of Slang: -tard, -tastic, and -tacular
I’ve got a new column in the Malaysian Star today, this one about clipped endings of words like -tard, -tastic, and -tacular, and about retard and retarded.
Underpowered, hood tax
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: underpowered adj. in research or information-gathering, having insufficient data. hood tax n. a mugging or the things taken in a mugging.
Granny farming, passablanc
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: granny farming: n. a form of voting fraud in which pre-marked absentee ballots are taken to nursing homes to be used and mailed by residents. passablanc adj. in New Orleans, being of mixed race but presenting oneself as a white person.
Quality scholarship: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
If you want to see what proper research into the roots of American English looks like, I highly recommend Michael Montgomery’s From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English. Michael is also co-editor of the Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English and the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 5: Language. You can get…
Humdinger of a Bad Irish Scholar
It is quite incredible that Corey Kilgannon would write in the New York Times about Daniel Cassidy’s book How the Irish Invented Slang without talking to historical lexicographers, historical linguists, or experts in Irish Gaelic linguistics. They would tell him that Cassidy’s theories are insubstantial, his evidence inconclusive, his conclusions unlikely, his Gaelic atrocious and…