Does this sound native? If not, please point out the place where the meaning is not clear.

@oristarA,

Poifectly clear, Ori.

@oristarA,

Not bad writing. Detective novel?

0 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

(Not written by the thread starter)
I wasn’t that guy you see on TV in a “Wife beater” tank top and underwear watching TV in the dark with five o’clock shadow but I was a weekend drinker with a mind for television.

The "wife beater" IS underwear. It is an undershirt.
Its a little conceptually redundant to say (in effect): underwear and underwear.

3 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

oristarA wrote:
(Not written by the thread starter)
I wasn’t that guy you see on TV in a “Wife beater” tank top and underwear watching TV in the dark with five o’clock shadow but I was a weekend drinker with a mind for television.
The "wife beater" IS underwear. It is an undershirt.
Its a little conceptually redundant to say (in effect): underwear and underwear.

Thanks for the reminding.
BTW, do you think whether the word chick sounds negative or pejorative (e.g. relevant to or implying porn or prostitute) in the sentence below (no more context available):
A standard college chick outfit is not complete without tight yoga pants and maybe a wife beater , which are both hot.

2 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Poifectly clear, Ori.

"Perfectly clear"? Or you've deliberately written as "Poifectly clear", JTT?
No Google hits for "Poifectly clear".

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Its a little conceptually redundant to say (in effect): underwear and underwear.

What about his underpants? Anyhow, wife beaters are not always worn as underwear, especially in warm weather.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

No Google hits for "Poifectly clear".

'Poifectly' is a phonetic representation of how a working class northeastern American (a typical wife beater wearer) might pronounce 'perfectly'.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Dave is, as he usually is, full of ****.

0 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

BTW, do you think whether the word chick sounds negative or pejorative (e.g. relevant to or implying porn or prostitute) in the sentence below (no more context available):
A standard college chick outfit is not complete without tight yoga pants and maybe a wife beater , which are both hot.

The word "chick" is not, by and large, negative nor pejorative in the US and does not imply pornography or prostitution. It's merely a slang word used to refer to a young woman. Some feminists may take offense to the word, but most chicks don't.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

oristarA wrote:
(Not written by the thread starter)
I wasn’t that guy you see on TV in a “Wife beater” tank top and underwear
watching TV in the dark with five o’clock shadow but I was a weekend drinker
with a mind for television.
The "wife beater" IS underwear. It is an undershirt.
Its a little conceptually redundant to say (in effect): underwear and underwear.

oristarA wrote:

Thanks for the reminding.

We 'd more ofen say:
Thanks for the reminder
or
thanks for reminding me.
Incidentally, I hope that my own use of fonetic spelling,
(which I employ in efforts to lead my fellow countrymen
away from inefficiency in obsolete spelling) does not trouble u.
I have some uncertainty in regard to applying fonetic spelling
during efforts to assist e.s.l. students. Comment ?

oristarA wrote:

BTW, do you think whether the word chick sounds negative or pejorative
(e.g. relevant to or implying porn or prostitute) in the sentence below
(no more context available):
A standard college chick outfit is not complete without tight yoga pants
and maybe a wife beater, which are both hot.

Around the 1950s, I got into the habit of referring to nice,
attractive, cute young ladies as being chicks, referring to cute,
adorable baby chickys. It was an expression of admiration & approval.
Around the 1980s, I encountered some insistent resistance to this
from feministic acquaintances of mine in NY. I truthfully asserted
that it was complimentary. Their (dispositive) counter-argument was:
"well if u r doing it to be nice to us and we don 't like it, then Y do u DO it ?"
Thay deemed my praise to be insolence. Their refutation prevailed.

The party sought to be praised shud be the final authority
qua whether intended praise is found by her to be offensive.
Accordingly, out of deference to their expressed wishes,
I discontinued the practice. I note that some of them apply it
to themselves or to one another, anyway; but most of the time,
I have tended to leave it alone. Substantively, I see nothing bad
about it; it does not impugn their character nor suggest deficiency.

The word certainly has no relation to ladies of the night
nor does it relate to porn.

The word was applied mostly to girls in either high school or college
or possibly in their 20s.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Om: during efforts to assist e.s.l. students. Comment ?

Stop trying to assist ESLs, Om. Nine point nine times out of ten you screw up royally.

0 Replies

@contrex,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Its a little conceptually redundant to say (in effect): underwear and underwear.

contrex wrote:

What about his underpants?

( I considered that ); then it shud be set forth as:
wearing a wifebeater and underpants.

contrex wrote:

Anyhow, wife beaters are not always worn
as underwear, especially in warm weather.

Well, for guys who don t care about looking grungy, yea.
I remember a churlish Italian who used to walk around my naborhood about 50 years ago,
unshaven in his sleeveless undershirt; very ruff (until he murdered his son, who was about in his 40s).
I know not whether he beat his wife.

0 Replies

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:
No Google hits for "Poifectly clear".

'Poifectly' is a phonetic representation of how a working class
northeastern American (a typical wife beater wearer) might pronounce 'perfectly'.

Unless joking around, in a spirit of humor,
there is nowhere in America that employs that error of pronunciation.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

contrex wrote:

'Poifectly' is a phonetic representation of how a working class
northeastern American (a typical wife beater wearer) might pronounce 'perfectly'.
Unless joking around, in a spirit of humor,
there is nowhere in America that employs that error of pronunciation.

Well, I am pretty sure I remember Popeye talking like that, which might fall into the category of 'joking', (he is said to talk like a New England whaler - in the cartoon She-Sick Sailors, there's a sign at the rail station near Olive's house that says Bridgeport, Connecticut) and also when I dated a girl from New Jersey her pronunciation veered that way, and I can think of two people who would definitely disagree with your assertion, namely Michael W. Robbins and Wendy Palitz, authors of 'Brooklyn, A State of Mind' (1998) in which they include a 'glossary of Brooklynese' and say:

Quote:

The letter “r” is seldom pronounced anywhere in the Northeast, from New Hampshuh to Hahvud to New Yawk. In Brooklyn, “more” is “moowuh,” “door” is “doowuh,” and “her” is “huh.” “Brooklyn” itself comes out (something like) “Bwookn,” while “Canarsie” is “Cnawsee.” Furthermore, the vowel sound that precedes the unpronounced “r” sound is pronounced “oi.”:

Bensonhurst = Bensonhoist
bird = boid
first = foist
girl = goil
heard = hoid
murder = moiduh
nerve = noive
perfect = poifect
world = woild
certain = soitun

http://brooklynhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/excerpted-from-brooklyn-state-of-mind.html

My girlfriend definitely said 'Bensonhoist' (her cousin lived there, and when we went to see her she said it too).

2 Replies

@contrex,

The state of mind harkens back to another time,
predominantly around the 1930s-1940s, give or take.

In sentimental deference to that state of mind,
that verbal aberration is employed in a spirit of nostalgia, tho it be obsolete.

0 Replies

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

. . . I can think of two people who would definitely disagree with your assertion, namely Michael W. Robbins and Wendy Palitz, authors of 'Brooklyn, A State of Mind' (1998) in which they include a 'glossary of Brooklynese' and say:

Quote:

The letter “r” is seldom pronounced anywhere
in the Northeast, from New Hampshuh to Hahvud

Of New England: that is currently true.

Quote:

to New Yawk.

NO. Absolutely not.
As a native citizen of New York City (Queens), who learned
to speak English there, I assure u with 1OO% confidence
that letter r is fully spoken in NY. I do it myself, and I 'd consider it odd
if someone else erred in that respect. My speech was indistinguishable
from that of my NY nabors. No one in NY ever questioned
my pronunciation.

Quote:

In Brooklyn, “more” is “moowuh,” “door” is “doowuh,” and “her” is “huh.” “Brooklyn” itself comes out (something like) “Bwookn,” while “Canarsie” is “Cnawsee.” Furthermore, the vowel sound that precedes the unpronounced “r” sound is pronounced “oi.”

I deny that; not in this century.
I practiced law in the courts of Brooklyn in the mid and later 1900s.
During voir dire of candidates for jury selection residing in Brooklyn
necessarily, there was dialog. Thay spoke the same as residents
of Manhattan, Staten Island or Queens; the same was also true
qua normal commercial transactions thru out the Boro of Brooklyn.
During that time, I found the same ordinary patterns of speech
and pronunciation to be extant in Brooklyn as elsewhere in NYC.
Those quoted aberrations were obsolete.
I dont remember encountering anyone in the later half of the 1900s
who spoke that way, except while kidding around,
which did not happen much.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

A Generation X New Yorker that I had known a couple of decades ago had told me that he had worked as an "ahm gahd."

I said, "a what?"

He repeated, "an ahm gahd."

I had to think about it for a while. He was saying, "an armed guard."

1 Reply

@InfraBlue,

InfraBlue wrote:

A Generation X New Yorker that I had known a couple of decades ago
had told me that he had worked as an "ahm gahd."

I said, "a what?"

He repeated, "an ahm gahd."

I had to think about it for a while. He was saying, "an armed guard."

That sounds like he came from Boston.
He might have been in NY for the moment.
He did not learn to speak like that in NY.

0 Replies

@InfraBlue,

It's funny you mention some feminists take offense to the word because I totally HATE that word. It's so derogatory! If any boy at school uses the word "chick", they'll definitely have to listen to me scold. Smile

However, I do not consider myself a feminist. And, to get back to the question, I agree with @InfraBlue on the meaning of the word. But it does objectify women. Wink

0 Replies

Does this sound native? If not, please point out the place where the meaning is not clear.

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