Date:  Wed, 28 Jan 1998 08:41:28 -0500
From:  Robert Ness <ness[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DICKINSON.EDU>
Subject: Re: "to dis"

I assume that you have many answers by now, but if not:
    to dis: a clipping from disrespect, with functional
shift from noun to verb. On Tue, 27 Jan
1998, JANE M SPALDING-JAMIESON wrote:

> Is "to dis" a verb now?
>
> I am a student of linguistics at U.PEI. in Canada, and have heard two
> instances of a slang term, wondering if anyone else has heard it, or
> knows about its origins:
>
> 1/ Last week, Will Smith on "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" tv show says to
> his girlfriend, "Are you dissin' me?"
> Apparent meaning is something like, Are you trying to get rid of me,
> or Are you disrespecting me?
>
> 2/ Here in Charlottetown, Angela Marchbank of PEI Special Olympics
> said to me, also last week, "If you don't get through on the phone,
> or if they say no to a donation ... just throw them all in a dis
> pile. The dis pile is what we throw in the garbage later."
>
> Dis- is listed in the Oxford dictionary as a prefix, which can mean
> rejected, among other things. But how did it become a word? Any
> thoughts?
>
> (I realize this is just slang, but sometimes yesterday's
> slang is today's serious vocabulary ... and I see in my peers a more
> and more informal attitude towards the English language, which at
> some point affects standard usage)
>
> - Jane Spalding-Jamieson
> jspaldingjam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]upei.ca
> (University of Prince Edward Island,
> Charlottetown, PEI, Canada)
>