Hebonics Declared a Second Language at New York Public Schools
GA: The following self-loving satire appears on various Jewish websites. I didn't manage to identify the source.
Professor Shulman explains, "In Hebonics, the response to any question is usually another question with a complaint that is either implied or stated." Thus "How are you?" may be answered, "How should I be, with my bad feet?" Shulman says that Hebonics is a superb linguistic vehicle for expressing sarcasm or skepticism. An example is the repetition of a word with "sh" or "shm" at the beginning: "Mountains, shmountains. Stay away. You should want a nosebleed?" Another Hebonics pattern is moving the subject of a sentence to the end, with its pronoun at the beginning: "It's beautiful, that dress." Shulman says one also sees the Hebonics verb moved to the end of the sentence. Thus the response to a remark such as "He's slow as a turtle," could be: "Turtle, shmurtle! Like a fly in Vaseline he walks." Shulman provided the following examples from his best-selling textbook, Switched-On Hebonics: Question: "What time is it?" Remark: "I hope things turn out okay." Remark: "Hurry up. Dinner's ready." Remark: "I like the tie you gave me; I wear it all the time." Remark: "Rhonda and I are engaged." Question: "Would you like to go riding with us?" To the guest of honor at a birthday party: Remark: "A beautiful day." Answering a phone call from a son: jewishinstlouis note:The New York City Public Schools have officially declared Jewish English, now dubbed Hebonics, as a second language. Backers of the move say the city schools are the first in the nation to recognize Hebonics as a valid language and a significant attribute of American culture. According to Howard Ashland, linguistics professor at Brooklyn College and renowned Hebonics scholar, the sentence structure of Hebonics derives from middle
and eastern European language patterns, as well as Yiddish.
English answer: "Sorry, I don't know."
Hebonic response: "What am I, a clock?"
English answer: "Thanks."
Hebonic response: "I should be so lucky!"
English answer: "Be right there."
Hebonic response: "Alright already, I'm coming. What's with the 'hurry business?'
Is there a fire?"
English answer: "Glad you like it."
Hebonic response: "So what's the matter; you don't like the other ties I
gave you?"
English answer: "Congratulations!"
Hebonic response: "She could stand to lose a few pounds."
English answer: "Just say when."
Hebonic response: "Riding, shmiding! Do I look like a cowboy?"
English answer: "Happy birthday."
Hebonic response: "A year smarter you should become."
English answer: "Sure is."
Hebonic response: "So the sun is out; what else is new?"
English answer: "It's been a while since you called."
Hebonic response: "You didn't wonder if I'm dead already?"
Question: "Is this story for real?"
English answer: "What, are you nuts?
Hebonic response: "After everything we've done enough for you... you should even ASK this question?!"