Just now on the Simpsons, Bart said to the brother of Sideshow Bob, who was speaking in the same stilted English that Bob does:You sound smart but you're dumb.... or words to that effect. Brilliant: the Simpsons' writers are making a point to distinguish pedantic-sounding English from smart argumentation. I know, it's nowhere near as important as Labov's "Logic of Non-Standard English",* but it's a nice little move for a cartoon.
* This should link to "Academic Ignorance and Black Intelligence", a related, popular piece by Labov, but I just see a link to the Atlantic, where that appeared.
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