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I haven't checked in on this discussion, nor very many of the discussions between Rut and others, because I'm not at all sure I have anything to add. But I just wonder, if the problem isn't that there are several different languages going on here. I'm reminded of the quip, "England and America are one people seperated by a common language" We all use the same words, but I'm not sure we're all meaning the same things. Knowing that Jeff is African-American, and that Chuck, Tony and others aren't, I can't help but see some cultural stuff that's really muddying the waters here. I'm not the world's greatest expert on cultural problems, but it feels as though y'all are talking past each other a lot of the time. I think the internet is really a weakness in this regard, since words are the sole medium (okay, there is the occasional smilie), and a lot of the nuance gets lost in the translation. Furthermore, words spoken and written act very differently in the black patois than in the standard white English. Once you get used to the black way of communicating, it's kind of rich and pleasant, but it is different, and shouldn't be taken by onlookers as white English. I think Jeff is complimenting us by talking black instead of holding back, and that us white folk who may not hear this kind of conversation much are just not getting it. Maybe. I wish I could get Tony and Jeff on the floor together and see how it goes. It could just be magic! (As long as no one used the F-word!)
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