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Subject:Re: Ebonics From:Mitch Berg <mberg -at- IS -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 23 Dec 1996 08:54:12 -0600
> There is only one slang term in the example (jive, which may no longer
> even be considered slang). I think the examples some people have
> provided as Ebonics (fly, whack, word up) are not Ebonics as much as
> they are hip-hop or slang. Ebonics, or Black English, as I understand
> it, is really defined by its unique sentence structure, verb
> constructions, and phonetics -- not the use slang terminology, which
> changes from generation to generation. The other elements, however,
> remain consistent through each generation.
You are, of course, correct - but it's the volatility of the vocabulary
that makes it interesting to me...