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?" > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Note: the material in the above email is unverified, unattributed and may > be factually incorrect. The sender is not responsible for any use made of > the aforesaid information. > > > > > > > Dr. Yigal Levin > Dept. of Philosophy and Religion > University of Tennessee at Chattanooga > 615 McCallie Avenue > Chattanooga TN 37403-2598 > U.S.A. >