End of ADS-L Digest - 14 Jun 1998 to 15 Jun 1998
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<br>There are 15 messages totalling 664 lines in this issue.
<br>
<br>Topics of the day:
<br>
<br>  1. "the man" in WSVE (2)
<br>  2. NEW YORK magazine's invented words
<br>  3. Rock and Roll (1907 songs & 1920s-1930s lullabies)
<br>  4. gazillion (3)
<br>  5. PREPONE
<br>  6. letters on paper
<br>  7. RE>Re: gazillion
<br>  8. non-email notes? (Re: 9guzillion9)
<br>  9. <No subject given>
<br> 10. Digital Dialect Archives
<br> 11. ADS Site Search Resumes
<br> 12. henna?
<br>
<br>----------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>
<br>Date:    Tue, 16 Jun 1998 01:27:49 -0400
<br>From:    Bob Haas <rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: "the man" in WSVE
<br>
<br>In keeping with Ron's ideas, I seem to remember a line from the old song, "The
<br>Midnight Special" that mentions working "for the man," or something to that
<br>effect.  I know the song from CCR's cover, but it's been around a long time.  I'm
<br>pretty certain Jimmy Rogers did it a long while back, as well as many R&B
<br>artists.  In any case, it's certainly would point to southern origins for the
<br>term.  That is, of course, if I'm remembering correctly.  Any help?
<br>
<br>Ron Butters wrote:
<br>
<br>> I am familiar with the term THE MAN from working-class white (and black)
<br>> speakers in the South (particularly in Wilmington, NC), who in the early 1970s
<br>> (and probably earlier) used the phrase to indicate what I would have indicated
<br>> by THE BOSS. For example, if someone came to a job site looking for work, he
<br>> might ask, "Who is the man?"
<br>>
<br>> I'm not questioning  the fact that the spread of THE MAN as a recent vogue
<br>> term stems from AAVE, but I think it most likely that it originated in the
<br>> South in relationship to the general phrase BOSS MAN, rather than (as an
<br>> earlier writer suggested) specifically in AAVE as a term women used for their
<br>> husbands and bouyfriends.
<br>
<br>   --
<br>
<br>Bob Haas
<br>University of North Carolina at Greensboro
<br>rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu
<br>
<br>"No matter where you go, there you are."
<br>