The expressions your mother wears combat boots and your mother wears army boots descend from the African-American tradition of the Dozens, also known as sounding or capping or snapping, where people try to top each other’s insults. This is...
“You’d better behave, or I’ll knock you from an amazing grace to a floating opportunity!” This African-American saying, used as a motherly warning, first popped up in the 1930 play Mule Bone by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale...
Shadowdabbled. Moon-blanched. Augusttremulous. William Faulkner often used odd adjectives like these. But why? Grant and Martha discuss the poetic effects of compressed language. Also, African-American proverbs, classic children’s books, pore...
PLO n.— «Jeddah is the gateway for pilgrims heading to Islam’s holy cities, Mecca and Medina. For centuries, Asian, African and Middle Eastern pilgrims have gone there; those who stayed—often called “PLOs,” for pilgrim...
blaccent n. a mode of speech which is said to imitate African-American vernacular English, especially when used by a white person. Also blackcent. Editorial Note: This term is usually derogatory. Etymological Note: Black + accent (source: Double...