The Dozens

The Dozens PDF Author: Elijah Wald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199895406
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Following his groundbreaking explorations of the blues and American popular music in Escaping the Delta and How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, Elijah Wald turns his attention to the tradition of African American street rhyming and verbal combat that ruled urban neighborhoods long before rap: the viciously funny, outrageously inventive insult game called "the dozens."At its simplest, the dozens is a comic concatenation of "yo' mama" jokes. At its most complex, it is a form of social interaction that reaches back to African ceremonial rituals. Whether considered vernacular poetry, verbal dueling, a test of street cool, or just a mess of dirty insults, the dozens has been a basic building block of African-American culture. A game which could inspire raucous laughter or escalate to violence, it provided a wellspring of rhymes, attitude, and raw humor that has influenced pop musicians from Jelly Roll Morton to Ice Cube. Wald explores the depth of the dozens' roots, looking at mother-insulting and verbal combat from Greenland to the sources of the Niger, and shows its breadth of influence in the seminal writings of Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston; the comedy of Richard Pryor and George Carlin; the dark humor of the blues; the hip slang and competitive jamming of jazz; and most recently in the improvisatory battling of rap. A forbidden language beneath the surface of American popular culture, the dozens links children's clapping rhymes to low-down juke joints and the most modern street verse to the earliest African American folklore.In tracing the form and its variations over more than a century of African American culture and music, The Dozens sheds fascinating new light on schoolyard games and rural work songs, serious literature and nightclub comedy, and pop hits from ragtime to rap.

The Dozens

The Dozens PDF Author: Elijah Wald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199895406
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
Following his groundbreaking explorations of the blues and American popular music in Escaping the Delta and How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, Elijah Wald turns his attention to the tradition of African American street rhyming and verbal combat that ruled urban neighborhoods long before rap: the viciously funny, outrageously inventive insult game called "the dozens."At its simplest, the dozens is a comic concatenation of "yo' mama" jokes. At its most complex, it is a form of social interaction that reaches back to African ceremonial rituals. Whether considered vernacular poetry, verbal dueling, a test of street cool, or just a mess of dirty insults, the dozens has been a basic building block of African-American culture. A game which could inspire raucous laughter or escalate to violence, it provided a wellspring of rhymes, attitude, and raw humor that has influenced pop musicians from Jelly Roll Morton to Ice Cube. Wald explores the depth of the dozens' roots, looking at mother-insulting and verbal combat from Greenland to the sources of the Niger, and shows its breadth of influence in the seminal writings of Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston; the comedy of Richard Pryor and George Carlin; the dark humor of the blues; the hip slang and competitive jamming of jazz; and most recently in the improvisatory battling of rap. A forbidden language beneath the surface of American popular culture, the dozens links children's clapping rhymes to low-down juke joints and the most modern street verse to the earliest African American folklore.In tracing the form and its variations over more than a century of African American culture and music, The Dozens sheds fascinating new light on schoolyard games and rural work songs, serious literature and nightclub comedy, and pop hits from ragtime to rap.

Talking 'bout Your Mama

Talking 'bout Your Mama PDF Author: Elijah Wald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199394040
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
A game which could inspire raucous laughter or escalate to violence, the dozens provided a wellspring of rhymes, attitude, and raw humor that has influenced pop musicians from Jelly Roll Morton and Robert Johnson to Tupac Shakur and Jay Z. Wald explores the depth of the dozens' roots, looking at mother-insulting and verbal combat from Greenland to the sources of the Niger, and shows its breadth of influence in the writings of Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston; the comedy of Richard Pryor and George Carlin; the dark humor of the blues; the hip slang and competitive jamming of jazz; and most recently in the improvisatory battling of rap.

Ribbin', Jivin', and Playin' the Dozens

Ribbin', Jivin', and Playin' the Dozens PDF Author: Herbert L. Foster
Publisher: Herbert Foster
ISBN: 9780962484704
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Every six months or so, a study reports about our inability to educate black males. Yet, after reading Ribbin', Jivin, and Playin' the Dozens: The Persistent Dilemma in Our Schools, teachers learned how to teach black males. Through 99 Realities and other examples, Ribbin', describes, discusses, and explains black male street corner language and behavior and how it is played out in the classroom. Too often, teachers misunderstand and misinterpret their black male student's language and behavior resulting in their black male students being referred to special education or considered a discipline problem disproportionate to their numbers in the school. Ribbin' will provide you with the educational insight to successfully educate black males-the information woefully lacking in contemporary education courses. Authentic examples are provided that demonstrates how some teachers handled challenging situations with their black male students to help you develop your own teaching style relative to your persona and student population. When you open Ribbin', Reality 1 is a must read, it recounts my first day of substitute teaching in the N. Y. C. Public Schools and what happened to me that Friday morning. I was so discouraged, I considered suicide that weekend because I always wanted to be a teacher and, after one day, I was a failure. However, read how I rebounded on Monday, and turned things around. To enhance your ability to teach black males, Chapter 8 about dress and grooming for teachers is a must. In brief, respect and feelings about yourself and your students is demonstrated by dressing professionally, at minimum, neat and clean. Your students expect you to dress well. Your students will keep a record of what you wear on what day and whether that stain has been cleaned away! Indeed, your students will compare notes on what car you drive, the watch you wear and your dress style. Chapter 5 Jive Lexicon and Verbal Communication is about words students may use to dupe or test you. Students must learn Standard English; the sine qua non to for economic success. Your students need a Standard English teaching model to emulate. However, teachers should learn the language their students use. It is viewed as "barrier busting" when students observe you trying to be hip and use their language-of course, this means "acceptable vocabulary." Moreover, it may be appropriate for your students to use the vernacular depending upon the subject you teach. Chapter 6 about classroom contests provides information about the "games" some students use to con, provoke, or test your "street" knowledge. "Playing the Dozens" from an historical perspective to how it playes out negatively in classrooms is described and explained. If you are unfamiliar with "Playing the Dozens"-also known by other names; best you learn. Hence, examples of teachers positively handling the dozens are presented. Reading Chapter 7 will help you through my Four Step Plan for Classroom Management and School Discipline. You need to get order for you to teach successfully. Your primary responsibility as a teacher is to figure out how to achieve an orderly and safe classroom so that your students can relax and allow you to teach them. If you wish to become a successful teacher, buy Ribbin'. If you want to be told how to become a teacher, do not buy Ribbin'. If you see yourself as a professional teacher, and willing to change your teaching behavior first, in order to get your students to change their behavior, purchase Ribbin'. In sum, a well-designed lesson plan will not ensure classroom success. Teachers must make educational and behavioral demands on students, black males in particular. Ribbin' demystifies this "persistent dilemma." Without a question, black males can and must be taught Standard English, mathematics, and the so-called middle class skills needed to make it economically in the U. S.

Dozens of Doughnuts

Dozens of Doughnuts PDF Author: Carrie Finison
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525518363
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 21

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Book Description
A generous but increasingly put-upon bear makes batch after batch of doughnuts for her woodland friends without saving any for herself in this delightful debut picture book about counting, sharing, and being a good friend. LouAnn (a bear) is making a doughnut feast in preparation for her long winter's nap. But just before she takes the first bite, DING DONG! Her friend Woodrow (a woodchuck) drops by. LouAnn is happy to share her doughnuts, but as soon as she and Woodrow sit down to eat, DING DING! Clyde (a raccoon) is at the door. One by one, LouAnn's friends come over--Topsy (an opossum) and then Moufette (a skunk) and then Chip and Chomp (chipmunks)--until it's one big party. Louann welcomes her surprise guests and makes batch after batch of doughnuts, always dividing them equally among her friends. But she makes one BIG miscalculation. Soon LouAnn's kitchen is bare, winter is near, and she's had nothing to eat at all!

A Dozen Dozens

A Dozen Dozens PDF Author: Harriet Ziefert
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company
ISBN: 9781402742460
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
The concepts of "half dozen" and "dozen" are taught by counting items such as pigs, goldfish, socks, and feet.

The Dozen Dozens

The Dozen Dozens PDF Author: Tom Green
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1525509268
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 61

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Book Description
Once upon a time there was a man named Mr. Dozen. Mr. Dozen’s first name was Odd. Odd is an odd name, but Odd was his name. Odd Dozen had a wife. Mrs. Dozen’s first name was Even. Even is a different kind of name, but Even was her name....

Revenge Body

Revenge Body PDF Author: Rachel Wiley
Publisher: SCB Distributors
ISBN: 1638340137
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
2023 Stonewall Book Award – Barbara Gittings Literature Award for Poetry Winner 2023 Feathered Quill Book Awards Finalist Revenge Body is Rachel Wiley’s third collection of poetry, full of the sharp wit and bold honesty we know and love from Rachel. Wiley invites her readers to join her on a journey filled with righteous anger, Black identity, magic, mental health, navigating maternal relationships, and the love and loss that comes from a breakup.

Language in the Inner City

Language in the Inner City PDF Author: William Labov
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812210514
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
With the recent controversy in the Oakland, California school district about Ebonics—or as it is referred to in sociolinguistic circles, African American Vernacular English or Black English Vernacular—much attention has been paid to the patterns of speech prevalent among African Americans in the inner city. In January 1997, at the height of the Ebonics debate, author and prominent sociolinguist William Labov testified before a Senate subcommittee that for most inner city African American children, the relation of sound to spelling is different, and more complicated than for speakers of other dialects. He suggested that it was time to apply this knowledge to the teaching of reading. The testimony harkened back to research contained in his groundbreaking book Language in the Inner City, originally published in 1972. In it, Labov probed the question "Does 'Black English' exist?" and emerged with an answer that was well ahead of his time, and that remains essential to our contemporary understanding of the subject. Language in the Inner City firmly establishes African American Vernacular English not simply as slang but as a well-formed set of rules of pronunciation and grammar capable of conveying complex logic and reasoning. Studying not only the normal processes of communication in the inner city but such art forms as the ritual insult and ritualized narrative, Labov confirms the Black vernacular as a separate and independent dialect of English. His analysis goes on to clarify the nature and processes of linguistic change in the context of a changing society. Perhaps even more today than two decades ago, Labov's conclusions are mandatory reading for anyone concerned with education and social change, with African American culture, and with the future of race relations in this country.

An Encyclopedia of Swearing

An Encyclopedia of Swearing PDF Author: Geoffrey Hughes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317476778
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 715

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Book Description
This is the only encyclopedia and social history of swearing and foul language in the English-speaking world. It covers the various social dynamics that generate swearing, foul language, and insults in the entire range of the English language. While the emphasis is on American and British English, the different major global varieties, such as Australian, Canadian, South African, and Caribbean English are also covered. A-Z entries cover the full range of swearing and foul language in English, including fascinating details on the history and origins of each term and the social context in which it found expression. Categories include blasphemy, obscenity, profanity, the categorization of women and races, and modal varieties, such as the ritual insults of Renaissance "flyting" and modern "sounding" or "playing the dozens." Entries cover the historical dimension of the language, from Anglo-Saxon heroic oaths and the surprising power of medieval profanity, to the strict censorship of the Renaissance and the vibrant, modern language of the streets. Social factors, such as stereotyping, xenophobia, and the dynamics of ethnic slurs, as well as age and gender differences in swearing are also addressed, along with the major taboo words and the complex and changing nature of religious, sexual, and racial taboos.

Talkin and Testifyin

Talkin and Testifyin PDF Author: Geneva Smitherman
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814318058
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
In this book, Smitherman makes a substantial contribution to an understanding of Black English by setting it in the larger context of Black culture and life style. In her book, Geneva Smitherman makes a substantial contribution to an understanding of Black English by setting it in the larger context of Black culture and life style. In addition to defining Black English, by its distinctive structure and special lexicon, Smitherman argues that the Black dialect is set apart from traditional English by a rhetorical style which reflects its African origins. Smitherman also tackles the issue of Black and White attitudes toward Black English, particularly as they affect educational policy. Documenting her insights with quotes from notable Black historical, literary and popular figures, Smitherman makes clear that Black English is as legitimate a form of speech as British, American, or Australian English.