Filed under: City Living, Links From the Show
On today's show, we did a story about a new use of the word yo. Apparently, it's not just a greeting anymore. Some students in Baltimore, Maryland, are using it as a way to refer to a third person, in a gender neutral kind of way.
Here's how a couple of students at The Baltimore Career Academy use the pronoun:
And there's a back story: The pronoun got attention when, a few years ago, a group of Baltimore teachers in a linguistics class at Johns Hopkins University shared with each other the spontaneous uses of yo they were hearing at their schools. Some examples:
"Yo handin' out papers (She is handing out papers)
"Peep, yo!" (Look at him!)
"You acting like I said what yo said" (You're acting like I said what he/she said)
"Yo been runnin' in the halls" (He/She has been running in the halls)
Elaine Stotko, professor of the linguistics class and Margaret Troyer, Stotko's student and Baltimore teacher, did a study on the use of the pronoun and published their findings in American Speech.
In one phase of the data collection, students were given a set of cartoon drawings with characters "made to look like the African American children at the school." The students were asked to fill in the conversation bubble using slang, which was defined as "informal language, the way you talk to your friends, not the way you talk in school." Below are the four drawings:
From the American Speech article:
"Of the 115 students who participated, 68 students did not use yo at all and 47 used,yo,as an attention-focusing device in one or more of their conversations. Eight out of those 47 students also used yo as a third person pronoun. There were 8 uses of yo in the subject position:
Yo look like a sack a** gump.
Yo is a clown.
Yo sucks at magic tricks.
Yo needs to pull his pants down.
Yo looks like a freak.
Yo is a straight clown.
Yo going to put that chicken in his mouth.
Yo, looka that dude pants. Yo is a clown.
What I want to know is, what the heck is a sack a** gump?
Pauline Bartolone
1:48 PM ET
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01-31-2008
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Filed under: Links From the Show
Most people associate ice with chilling beverages, keeping food cold, or as something to use in order to prevent swelling. Did you know that ice is also a popular snack? So popular, that some Sonic Drive-In franchises actually sell it to go.
But is ice a healthy snack? The American Dental Association says that ice-chewing can damage teeth. Obsessive ice-chewers have found ways to make ice a safer snack, swapping tips on preparing the perfect ice at IceChewing.com.
It's the BPP's Most.
Chewing on the perfect ice/ British judge gets cranky on American Idol/ Soldier suicides at record level/ Putting an end to fractions/ Los Angeles adopts marijuana vending machines
Will Hoffman
6:44 AM ET
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01-31-2008
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Filed under: Links From the Show
Over a million Americans were diagnosed with skin cancer in 2007, making it one of the fastest growing types of cancer in the United States. UV exposure is the leading cause of skin cancer and to avoid overexposure many people protect their body with sunscreen.
Unfortunately, if people are protected the coral reefs suffer. A new study finds that chemicals in sunscreen wash off swimmers and awaken dormant viruses inside coral reefs.
Researchers from the online journal Environmental Health Perspectives estimate that "4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers annually in oceans worldwide, and that up to 10 percent of coral reefs are threatened by sunscreen-induced bleaching."
It's the BPP's Ramble.
Swimmers' sunscreen killing off coral/ Cop's report that woman attends church with crowbar in her pants/ Space race anniversary / Playground for 60-year-olds
Will Hoffman
6:16 AM ET
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01-31-2008
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Filed under: Links From the Show
Purl one, knit two has gone political, as a new wave of knitters create everything from installation projects to sexy outfits to multimedia presentations. On today's BPP, we continue our series on extreme hobbies as we have an avante-knitter in studio. I'm nor sure this guy is the best knitter or drummer, but he apparently can multitask.
Alison Stewart
5:02 AM ET
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01-31-2008
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