261 Matching Annotations
  1. Last 7 days
  2. sites.google.com sites.google.com
    (White) America - Lyrics
    103
    7. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      Pull ourselves up by our bootstraps

      Pull yourself up by the/your (own) bootstraps is an idiomatic expression that means "to improve your situation without any help from other people". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pull-haul-up-by-the-your-own-bootstraps With the following question, Eminem flips over the expression and reveals the uselessness of such a mentality: how can someone be independent and self-reliant if they lack the bare minimum to survive?

      Linguistic Interpretive
    21. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      eyesores

      Let's try to understand this together: this is a compound word, which means that it is composed of two words combined together. In this case, eye + sore. If sore indicates something that hurts, then eyesore means...

      Linguistic
    34. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      dope house

      "A house where dope heads (heroin addicts) live" and do drugs. http://dope-house.urbanup.com/7824692 Eminem is criticizing "how African American drivers are often stereotyped as drug dealers with a criminal background". https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/ Indeed, the key word in the sentence is "probably": the policeman does not know who the young man is, where he is going to or where he comes from, so he cannot do anything but hypothesize. The problem is twofold: 1. He mistakes his hypothesis for truth; 2. His hypothesis is biased: there is no logical reason as for why he associates the young black man with the "dope house". However, he does so because he cultivates prejudices against black men.

      Linguistic Interpretive
    57. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      dem

      This entire verse is written in Jamaican patois, that is, "an English-lexified creole language spoken by the majority of Jamaicans". As you will see, some words may be intuitive, but others are definitely not. While I was looking for the lyrics of the song, I found other anglicized versions which were certainly more comprehensible, but, I am afraid, less faithful to the singer's intention. Consequently, I opted for the original, more complex version. Why has the singer recurred to Jamaican patois? My hypothesis is that he features it as a way to give importance and centrality to a marginal community through its language.

      Dem is they. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/dem/961

      Linguistic
    59. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      monkey

      This word is a highly offensive, derogatory term used to insult Black people by comparing them to animals. The likening of a person to an ape, a monkey or a gorilla is a discriminatory practice that takes the name of simianization. Simianization dates back to the Middle Ages and has progressively taken a racist turn and started only to indicate black-skinned individuals. Reasons for this association may include the prevalence of apes in Africa and the aesthetic difference between whites and blacks. In any case and whatever the reason may be, it is a form of degradation and dehumanization. In this case, it is probable that Lamar is aiming for a reclaiming (that is, semantic inversion) of the term. In other words, the same reasoning applied for "nigga" in 2Pac's "Changes" is applicable here: the singer uses this term to affirm his identity as an African-American. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/simianization https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102

      Linguistic
    73. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      My mama didn't raise no fool

      From a strictly grammatical point of view, this expression is wrong: two negative forms (didn't and no) are not acceptable in a sentence. The correct form should be either "My mama did not raise any fools" or "My mama raised no fool". However, double negative (also called negative concord) is used in some varieties of English (in this case, African-American Vernacular English) to intensify the meaning of the sentence. In other words, the construction is a sub-standard form used mainly to give more emphasis and expressive force to what is being said. It should be avoided in written and formal writing, but it is normal to use in oral speech, especially in African-American communities.

      Curiosity: labeling an expression or an usage as "wrong" or "correct" is rarely a matter of language and more frequently a matter of (social) prestige: normally, it is considered "right" the variant of the language that is used by educated, white people; in contrast, "wrong" expressions are often the ones employed by minorities, uneducated or stigmatized groups. Long story short: people think they are judging an incorrect linguistic form, when, in fact, they are stigmatizing the community that uses it.

      https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double%20negative https://web.archive.org/web/20100810125721/https://www.american.edu/cas/tesol/resources/upload/Kirby_Philippa.pdf

      Linguistic
    88. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      nigga

      Just as the previous term, this one is charged with a derogatory connotation, so much as it is preferred to refer to it with the euphemistic expression "N-word", which emcompasses both this word and its -er variant. The phenomenon that allowed the erosion of the -er ending is called r-dropping: the -r is replaced by a schwa (ə), an indistinct vowel pronounced "uh". These terms have always been linked with white supremacy, racism and white power. Even though the two terms may seem synonyms, in fact there is a difference: the -er ending word is strictly connected with the all-encompassing hatred and contempt towards black people, whereas the second one is perceived as a term of endearment when uttered by someone belonging to the Black community. Indeed, starting from the 1980s, the word has underwent a process of reclaiming (also called semantic inversion or looping) which corresponds to "taking a word meant as a slur and reappropriating it as a term of endearment" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/11/09/the-n-word-an-entrenched-racial-slur-now-more-prevalent-than-ever/?utm_term=.1590a4928864). This strategy allows the originally oppressive term to be re-semantized (that is, to acquire a new meaning) and used to celebrate the community's unique identity and humanity as "an act of redemption by black folk. The word survives on the conditions that black folks have inscribed for it and nobody else can take that. And it becomes violent when other people try to take it and use it." Indeed, white people "have created the word in the first place, but […] they have lost the power to use it with impunity, they have lost the power to reclaim it." […] "If you understand the history of the word and how it's been used, it's not for white people to use […] So if you're not black you can't do that. You actually can't use the word in the way that we use it. It's not possible, because you're not in that space. So any other usage of it is completely wrong." (https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53749800). https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/N-word https://share.google/2p6rElVA4Vin0v2cC https://www.dailydot.com/irl/how-not-to-use-the-n-word/

      Linguistic
    93. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      Come on

      Disclaimer: some of the punctuation marks (commas, mainly) were not present in the original lyrics of the song; I added them later. I found it as a useful, non-intrusive alteration of the text which may result in a better understanding of the content. Commas, indeed, help separating sentences and organize the content in a clearer way; in this context, I argue that they are necessary, especially for non-learner students who are approaching a song that employs a variant of English (the African-American Vernacular English) they are probably not familiar with. Apart from punctuation, the lyrics were not altered in any way.

      Linguistic
    96. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      things'll

      Normally, will is contracted when preceded by there, here and personal pronouns (I, you, she\he\it, we, you, they) only in oral speech or informal writing. In this case, things'll https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/contractions In everyday casual language, it is quite common to find will contracted even when combined with proper nouns and objects just as in this case. However, it is important to remember that it is not appropriate to use this form in formal writing. In the following video, starting at the minute 4:16, you can see (and hear) other examples similar to things'll: https://youtu.be/tXTu2tpJKaM?si=4e6I2J3wHd7On5i3&t=256

      Linguistic
    100. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      blowin’

      This word presents a common linguistic phenomenon called g-dropping: it consists in the drop of the -g at the end of certain words. In fact, no -g is actually "dropped" because the 'g' is not even pronounced. All English speakers g-dropped, but the frequency of this phenomenon is tied to class belonging, race, sex and degree of formality. Generally, it is more common among lower social classes. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000878.html

      What does this mean in the context of this song? Answer: By adopting g-dropping and thus language-wise, Bob Dylan positions himself in the tradition of folk music and becomes the spokesman of the people.

      Linguistic
    Visit annotations in context

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    sites.google.com/view/white-america/lyrics
  3. sites.google.com sites.google.com
    (White) America
    96
    4. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      Pull ourselves up by our bootstraps

      Pull yourself up by the/your (own) bootstraps is an idiomatic expression that means "to improve your situation without any help from other people". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pull-haul-up-by-the-your-own-bootstraps With the following question, Eminem flips over the expression and reveals the uselessness of such a mentality: how can someone be independent and self-reliant if they lack the bare minimum to survive?

      Linguistic
    16. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      eyesores

      Let's try to understand this together: this is a compound word, which means that it is composed of two words combined together. In this case, eye + sore. If sore indicates something that hurts, then eyesore means...

      Linguistic
    29. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      dope house

      "A house where dope heads (heroin addicts) live" and do drugs. http://dope-house.urbanup.com/7824692 Eminem is criticizing "how African American drivers are often stereotyped as drug dealers with a criminal background". https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/ Indeed, the key word in the sentence is "probably": the policeman does not know who the young man is, where he is going to or where he comes from, so he cannot do anything but hypothesize. The problem is twofold: 1. He mistakes his hypothesis for truth; 2. His hypothesis is biased: there is no logical reason as for why he associates the young black man with the "dope house". However, he does so because he cultivates prejudices against black men.

      Linguistic Interpretive
    53. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      dem

      This entire verse is written in Jamaican patois, that is, "an English-lexified creole language spoken by the majority of Jamaicans". As you will see, some words may be intuitive, but others are definitely not. While I was looking for the lyrics of the song, I found other anglicized versions which were certainly more comprehensible, but, I am afraid, less faithful to the singer's intention. Consequently, I opted for the original, more complex version. Why has the singer recurred to Jamaican patois? My hypothesis is that he features it as a way to give importance and centrality to a marginal community through its language.

      Dem is they. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/dem/961

      Linguistic
    54. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice

      "This Black proverb appears as early as 1929 in the title of Wallace Thurman’s novel, The Blacker the Berry. Most agree that the phrase is meant as an affirmation of the richness and beauty of Black people and of darker skin Blacks. In many ways it is a counter response to the pervasive celebration of white or lighter skin Black Americans. The phrase appears in Tupac Shakur’s 1993 song “Keep Your Head Up,” and continues to flow through Black culture as a form of praise and affirmation." https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/save-culture-slang-exploration-black-language-expressions

      Linguistic
    56. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      monkey

      This word is a highly offensive, derogatory term used to insult Black people by comparing them to animals. The likening of a person to an ape, a monkey or a gorilla is a discriminatory practice that takes the name of simianization. Simianization dates back to the Middle Ages and has progressively taken a racist turn and started only to indicate black-skinned individuals. Reasons for this association may include the prevalence of apes in Africa and the aesthetic difference between whites and blacks. In any case and whatever the reason may be, it is a form of degradation and dehumanization. In this case, it is probable that Lamar is aiming for a reclaiming (that is, semantic inversion) of the term. In other words, the same reasoning applied for "nigga" in 2Pac's "Changes" is applicable here: the singer uses this term to affirm his identity as an African-American. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/simianization https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102

      Linguistic
    68. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      didn't raise no fool

      From a strictly grammatical point of view, this expression is wrong: two negative forms (didn't and no) are not acceptable in a sentence. The correct form should be either "My mama did not raise any fools" or "My mama raised no fool". However, double negative (also called negative concord) is used in some varieties of English (in this case, African-American Vernacular English) to intensify the meaning of the sentence. In other words, the construction is a sub-standard form used mainly to give more emphasis and expressive force to what is being said. It should be avoided in written and formal writing, but it is normal to use in oral speech, especially in African-American communities.

      Curiosity: labeling an expression or an usage as "wrong" or "correct" is rarely a matter of language and more frequently a matter of (social) prestige: normally, it is considered "right" the variant of the language that is used by educated, white people; in contrast, "wrong" expressions are often the ones employed by minorities, uneducated or stigmatized groups. Long story short: people think they are judging an incorrect linguistic form, when, in fact, they are stigmatizing the community that uses it.

      https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double%20negative https://web.archive.org/web/20100810125721/https://www.american.edu/cas/tesol/resources/upload/Kirby_Philippa.pdf

      Linguistic
    80. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      nigga

      Just as the previous term, this one is charged with a derogatory connotation, so much as it is preferred to refer to it with the euphemistic expression "N-word", which emcompasses both this word and its -er variant. The phenomenon that allowed the erosion of the -er ending is called r-dropping: the -r is replaced by a schwa (ə), an indistinct vowel pronounced "uh". These terms have always been linked with white supremacy, racism and white power. Even though the two terms may seem synonyms, in fact there is a difference: the -er ending word is strictly connected with the all-encompassing hatred and contempt towards black people, whereas the second one is perceived as a term of endearment when uttered by someone belonging to the Black community. Indeed, starting from the 1980s, the word has underwent a process of reclaiming (also called semantic inversion or looping) which corresponds to "taking a word meant as a slur and reappropriating it as a term of endearment" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/11/09/the-n-word-an-entrenched-racial-slur-now-more-prevalent-than-ever/?utm_term=.1590a4928864). This strategy allows the originally oppressive term to be re-semantized (that is, to acquire a new meaning) and used to celebrate the community's unique identity and humanity as "an act of redemption by black folk. The word survives on the conditions that black folks have inscribed for it and nobody else can take that. And it becomes violent when other people try to take it and use it." Indeed, white people "have created the word in the first place, but […] they have lost the power to use it with impunity, they have lost the power to reclaim it." […] "If you understand the history of the word and how it's been used, it's not for white people to use […] So if you're not black you can't do that. You actually can't use the word in the way that we use it. It's not possible, because you're not in that space. So any other usage of it is completely wrong." (https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53749800). https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/N-word https://share.google/2p6rElVA4Vin0v2cC https://www.dailydot.com/irl/how-not-to-use-the-n-word/

      Linguistic
    83. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      Come on, come on

      Disclaimer: some of the punctuation marks (commas, mainly) were not present in the original lyrics of the song; I added them later. I found it as a useful, non-intrusive alteration of the text which may result in a better understanding of the content. Commas, indeed, help separating sentences and organize the content in a clearer way; in this context, I argue that they are necessary, especially for non-learner students who are approaching a song that employs a variant of English (the African-American Vernacular English) they are probably not familiar with. Apart from punctuation, the lyrics were not altered in any way.

      Linguistic
    86. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      things'll

      Normally, will is contracted when preceded by there, here and personal pronouns (I, you, she\he\it, we, you, they) only in oral speech or informal writing. In this case, things'll https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/contractions In everyday casual language, it is quite common to find will contracted even when combined with proper nouns and objects just as in this case. However, it is important to remember that it is not appropriate to use this form in formal writing. In the following video, starting at the minute 4:16, you can see (and hear) other examples similar to things'll: https://youtu.be/tXTu2tpJKaM?si=4e6I2J3wHd7On5i3&t=256

      Linguistic
    90. digikid 22 Dec 2025
      blowin’

      This word presents a common linguistic phenomenon called g-dropping: it consists in the drop of the -g at the end of certain words. In fact, no -g is actually "dropped" because the 'g' is not even pronounced. All English speakers g-dropped, but the frequency of this phenomenon is tied to class belonging, race, sex and degree of formality. Generally, it is more common among lower social classes. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000878.html

      What does this mean in the context of this song? Answer: By adopting g-dropping and thus language-wise, Bob Dylan positions himself in the tradition of folk music and becomes the spokesman of the people.

      Linguistic
    Visit annotations in context

    Tags

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    URL

    sites.google.com/d/1KuCp_aj1w4QFka42TKJk2LFFgoTrtYdp/p/1FP5x2ukNY7ec_jcIEoVlKOdxeWbeVM8j/edit
  4. Dec 2025
  5. sites.google.com sites.google.com
    (White) America
    1
    Visit annotations in context

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    sites.google.com/d/1KuCp_aj1w4QFka42TKJk2LFFgoTrtYdp/p/1FP5x2ukNY7ec_jcIEoVlKOdxeWbeVM8j/edit