[ExI] Linguistic Markers of Class

[Joshua Cowan]

Spike wrote:

>
>The five-year-olds hadn't been taught yet about the few exceptions: the
>Mormon boys are OK, the census taker is OK, the nurse and the social worker
>are probably OK.  The rest of them are invited to get out of the
>neighborhood.  We had places like that where I grew up.
>

Back in the early eighties I worked as a tenant organizer in East New York 
Brooklyn. This was during the height of the crack epidemic and ENY had the 
lowest income levels of anyplace in NY. My experience was slightly 
different. I heard of everyone on your list getting mugged. I was never 
successfully mugged (One attempt but I was fleet of foot, lucky and had 
friends) but most of my friends from that area swore the lack of attempts on 
my life were based on people assuming, as a white person, I was either a cop 
or crazy to be in that area. FWIW, Nurses were targets since they 
potentially carried drugs (though none I knew ever did but you don't need a 
high IQ to be a mugger) and as for social workers, well it was from my 
friends in ENY I heard the following; What's the difference between a social 
worker and a pit bull? The Pit Bull will give you're kid back when it's 
finished with it.

I've followed the discussion on linguistic markers of Class and I remain 
unconvinced. Many people effect the behaviors they believe will earn them 
the most status within a given group. For example, my daughter's use of chat 
has resulted in a habitual use of truncated wrds cuz it kul LOL when 
emailing peers but more formal writing with older generations. Perhaps, the 
use of "linguistic markers" can be some combination of a lack of experience, 
education and comfort level. Dropping a "g" from "ing" may be a testing the 
waters, if you respond in kind, you're welcomed into more intimacy and if 
not then you're treated more formally.  Thus, potentially markers of class 
but by no means definitively so. I do wonder if online worlds will offer 
formal FAQs that guide visitors in the "acceptable" usages of language so 
one could explicitly apply for initial membership by using said language .

Cheers,

josh