19 August 2009
I’ve really got to spend more time paying attention to rap and hip hop. It’s a musical style that incorporates an astonishing amount of inventive language and wordplay. Here’s a video of Jay Smooth explaining the phrase no homo, a phrase I was unaware of until I saw this video. He describes its origin and how it’s used, and he gives a cogent summary of the problems with using a word or phrase that is derogatory to a group of people.
Hat tip to Mark Liberman over at Language Log.
