Comments on: Who’s afraid of the big bad Wolof? http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2004/10/09/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolof/ anythingarian bubbles and troubles from the land of the fretting nun Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:50:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Prentiss Riddle http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2004/10/09/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolof/#comment-982 Prentiss Riddle Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2004/10/09/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolof/#comment-982 I think you've got an empty "" in that last link daring us to look up Wolof for ten. I guess you meant it to point back to the Peace Corps dictionary. At any rate the punch line is in there if you dig for it. I had never heard of C Major before this and have no idea of how credible his claims are. I know there's been some shaky scholarship on both sides of the tug-of-war between Afro- and Eurocentric schools of thought on the etymology of American slang, so if he is as wrong as you suggest he wouldn't be the first. My hunch is that there's just not enough historical data from the speech communities most pertinent to these questions and so the field will always be fraught with speculation. Speaking of speculation, if (h+k)/2 is anything like Hebrew or Yiddish /kh/ or /ch/, then I think it could enter English as either h or k. Consider the name Chaim, which in English became Hyman or Hymie. But the same root in <a href="http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_lechaim.htm">the one Hebrew word every Gentile knows</a> is usually rendered with a k. I think you’ve got an empty “” in that last link daring us to look up Wolof for ten. I guess you meant it to point back to the Peace Corps dictionary. At any rate the punch line is in there if you dig for it.

I had never heard of C Major before this and have no idea of how credible his claims are. I know there’s been some shaky scholarship on both sides of the tug-of-war between Afro- and Eurocentric schools of thought on the etymology of American slang, so if he is as wrong as you suggest he wouldn’t be the first.

My hunch is that there’s just not enough historical data from the speech communities most pertinent to these questions and so the field will always be fraught with speculation.

Speaking of speculation, if (h+k)/2 is anything like Hebrew or Yiddish /kh/ or /ch/, then I think it could enter English as either h or k. Consider the name Chaim, which in English became Hyman or Hymie. But the same root in the one Hebrew word every Gentile knows is usually rendered with a k.

]]> By: Trevor http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2004/10/09/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolof/#comment-983 Trevor Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2004/10/09/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolof/#comment-983 You're righter than right, and the lack of evidence of any kind makes me regret the lack of a discipline called creative etymology, which would not tell us anything useful about the past but would be fine training for citizens of the future. You’re righter than right, and the lack of evidence of any kind makes me regret the lack of a discipline called creative etymology, which would not tell us anything useful about the past but would be fine training for citizens of the future.

]]> By: Geoff http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2004/10/09/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolof/#comment-984 Geoff Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2004/10/09/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolof/#comment-984 It's called <a href="http://homopoliticogeek.us/posts/200409/the-blogosphere-as-the-ultimate-check-and-balance/">XBSD: eXtensible BullShit Detection</a> It’s called XBSD: eXtensible BullShit Detection

]]>