Guest WAvery,

I note that you agreed with my comment about context determining whether a particular grammatical usage is or is not offensive to Black folk.

But whether you are Black or non-Black is not pertinent to the points that I made-or attempted to make- in my 31 May 06 - 12:34 AM post.

And WAvery, in your 31 May 06 - 04:26 AM post you also wrote that "...I doubt that many "Americanisms", whether by black Americans or others, are truly native. Most of these probably adapted from people in the old countries".

I'm not sure if we are correctly understanding each other's comments as I also don't think that your response really addresses the non-rhetorical question that I asked you in that post {Do non-Blacks from the American South also use the phrase 'done gone'?}.

Perhaps it depends on what the term "Americanisms" means to you.
I think that a good number of colloquial expressions and slang terms {maybe they're the same thing and maybe not] were 'born & bred in the good ole U.S. of A.'

Be that as it may [or may not be], I recognize the fact that this discussion is somewhat off topic. That is especially so if your intention in this thread was to seek different versions of that 'Looky Looky Yonder' song. Perhaps you did not expect a discussion of the origins & meanings of certain words. But you did open up the door to a look-see about the meanings and uses of specific words from that song in your initial post to this thread.

I'm neither a musician nor a vocalist. If I had to place myself in any category, I'd say that I am an amateur folklorist. My primary interest is in African American folk music {including children's rhymes}. Given my interests, I admit that I tend to try to broaden some Mudcat conversations by asking about such things as word origins & meanings and the presence of specific floating verses that are in examples of African American as well as non-African American folk music. And of course, I recognize that there are also differences of opinion about what "African American folk music" and non-African American folk music" mean.

I'd love to talk with you further about these subjects, but I won't continue to muddy up this thread.

Now if you were a member, I could private message you.

Mudcat membership is free and easy-hint hint.

Best wishes,

Azizi