Hey, Yigal!  Has anyone compared this aspect of Hebonics (and why not
Hebronics?) to "signifying" or "playing the dozens" in Ebonics?
        cpate

On Fri, 7 Jun 2002, Yigal Levin wrote:

> NEW YORK, February 1 - The New York City school board has officially
> declared Jewish English - now dubbed Hebonics - as a second language.
>
> Backers of the move say the city's School District is the first in the
> state  to recognize Hebonics as a valid language and significant attribute of
> New York culture.
> According to Howard Schollman, linguistics professor at New York University
> and renowned Hebonics scholar, the sentence structure of Hebonics
> derives  from middle and eastern European language patterns, as well as
> Yiddish.
> Prof. Schollman explains, "In Hebonics, the response to any question is
> usually another question-plus a complaint that is implied or stated.
> Thus 'How are you?' may be answered, 'How should I be, with my feet?'"
>
> Schollman says that Hebonics is a superb linguistic vehicle for expressing
> sarcasm or skepticism. An example is the repetition of a word with "sh" or
> "shm" at the beginning: "Mountains, shmountains. Stay away. You want a
> nosebleed?"
>
> Another Hebonics pattern is moving the subject of a sentence to the end,
> with its pronoun at the beginning: "It's beautiful, that dress."
> Schollman says one also sees the Hebonics verb moved to the end of the
> sentence. Thus the response to a remark such as 'He's slow as a turtle,'
> could be: "Turtle, shmurtle! Like a fly in Vaseline he walks."
>
> Schollman provided the following examples from his textbook, Switched-On
> Hebonics.
>
> Question: "What time is it?"
> English answer: "Sorry, I don't know."
> Hebonic answer: "What am I, a clock?"
>
> Remark: "I hope things turn out okay."
> English response: "Thanks."
> Hebonic response: "I should BE so lucky!"
>
> Remark: "Hurry up. Dinner's ready."
> English response: "Be right there."
> Hebonic response: "All right already, I'm coming. What's with the 'hurry'
> business? Is there a fire?"
>
> Remark: "I like the tie you gave me; wear it all the time."
> English response: "Glad you like it."
> Hebonic response: "So what's the matter; you don't like the other ties I
> gave you?"
>
> Remark: "Sarah and I are engaged."
> English response: "Congratulations!"
> Hebonic response: "She could stand to gain a few pounds."
>
> Question: "Would you like to go riding with us?"
> English answer: "Just say when."
> Hebonic answer: "Riding, shmiding! Do I look like a cowboy?"
> To guest of honor at his birthday party:
>
> English remark: "Happy birthday."
> Hebonic remark: "A year smarter you should become."
>
> Remark: "A beautiful day."
> English response: "Sure is."
> Hebonic response: "So the sun is out; what else is new?"
>
> Answering a phone call from child:
> English remark: "It's been a long time since you called."
> Hebonic remark: "You didn't wonder if I'm dead yet?"
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
> Dr. Yigal Levin
> Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
> University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
> 615 McCallie Avenue
> Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
> U.S.A.
>