Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner

This book by Geneva Smitherman is a good buy because it is very recent and it aims at explaining what that language some call ebonics, at least the variant that exists in the USA, is. The book is a dictionary in a way but the presentation is giving a central idea. Black talk is the language AfroAmericans create and use in their community both to differentiate themselves from the whites and to speak a language that is not understood by the whites. They are thus smuggling meaning into white society that only them understand. But the main phenomenon the author shows is that the whites are copycats and borrow that language from the blacks and keep it on loan, without interest, and enrich their own language with it. In a way today's black talk is tomorrow's white talk and today's white talk is yesterday's black talk. This shows a great level of creativity and even a great level of inspiration : AfroAmericans inspire the whites with their creativity, which tends to imply that the creativity of the whites, particularly among young people, is black driven and black inspired. The question that is not answered is why AfroAmericans, as a community, are not recognized for what they are : an essential engine in the creativity of American society and culture. Some will say that this is only words, but words are the tools of the mind and these words transport meaning. This is the other question that is not answered : the meaning the whites use in those black words is not what the blacks convey with them. Are the whites unable to get this meaning ? Doesn't this meaning apply to white society ? Is it a last form of racism, the racism of the language and the mind? I think it is more complex and words, when they shift from one situation to another, necessarily change meanings. This is a case of languages in contact. The whites borrow the words but they implant the meanings they want in them.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

This is a great reference. As a working screenwriter and published novelist, I find I use this book almost every day. One nit, however: it would be a lot more helpful if the book were cross-referenced so that you could look up a common word and find the Black Talk "translation." Just a thought for those of us who aren't hip. BTW, this author is very good, a fine writer and her work is extremely well researched. Check out her other books.

In studying the language of African Americans, there is rich, historical tradition of oral communication that pre-dates our arrival to the shores of America. Each time an author braves the winds and waves of time to re-capture how we say things, and why we say the things that we say is a cause for not only for excitement, but a reason for celebration.

Geneva Smitherman has accurately captured the humor, wit, and wisdom of our language in her revised volume "Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner (2000, Houghton Mifflin Publishers, 305 Pages)." With 300 additional new terms, phrases and definitions included, the book is quickly going to be a writer's companion, a teacher's dictionary and a journalist's friend. It covers a great deal of distance, and provides some explanations as to OUR language, our customs, and our traditions.

Now, the work was originally released in 1994. Smitherman has expanded this volume by including a little history behind our pronunciation patterns, the pros and cons of the great Ebonics debate of the 1990s, and brought forth explanations of terms that have found their way into the American mainstream from our people. One of the true beauties of this work is the inclusion of the Amen Corner--some of those terms and phrases that have emerged from the walls and pulpits of many a Black preacher, and Black church congregation.

This book will have young and old alike anxiously turning the pages to find out the meanings and the history behind such phrases as `Stuck On Stupid' (which is one of my personal favorites), and `Benjamins' (which has several sub-meanings coming from the Hip Hop language of today). No, it won't have the `exact' time and date of such word origins--but it does provide enough uncluttered background confirming whether or not a phrase or word which originated with us has/has not slipped into the American pool of daily conversation.

With all of the `fuss' being made over being bi-lingual because of the infusion of more and more of the Hispanic community into the American mainstream, Smitherman's work clearly shows that our language had long cleared the way for such inclusion. I would encourage any parent interested in teaching/reaching their youth concerning the historical origins of our language to invest in a copy of this book. Who knows? You, like I, may re-discover part of your childhood, as you can reflect on some of the sayings of your parents and grandparents around the dinner table, or on the porch during those summer evenings `Down Home'. I highly recommend it.

Mike Ramey

In this book, Dr. Smitherman provides us with a most needed gift. She manages to fit a vital part of the African-American experience, our language, into a clear and complete dictionary. Amazingly, she handles the daunting academic task of building a lexicon and the equally challenging task of "keeping it real", with ease. Instead of denying or distancing herself from her African-American roots, she embraces them and uses them to legitimate and fortalize this much needed work.

I laughed, I cried and, most importantly, I remembered many of these sayings as stated by my grandparents, parents and family from South Carolina and New York City. The history behind many of these words and phrases were of great interest to me. I am buying copies as holiday presents for family members.