In a story on FoxNews.com entitled Hip Hop Artists Rewrite Dictionary, Jennifer D’Angelo fawns over variant spellings used by hip-hop and rap artists, such as Nelly (“Hot in Herre”), Mya (“My Love Is Like … Wo”). and Christina Iwannabareall (“Dirrty”). She goes so far as to assert:
Every generation invents its own slang (think of the ever-changing synonyms for “cool.”) But this crop of artists is changing the spellings of already established English words.
I beg to differ. Ms. D’Angelo is forgetting:
| Song Title: | Artist: | Year: |
| “Tip Toe Thru’ The Tulips With Me” | Tiny Tim | 1968 |
| “Gimme Dat Ding” | Pipkins | 1970 |
| “Tuff Enuff” | Fabulous Thunderbirds | 1986 |
| “C’Mon And Get My Love” | D-Mob featuring Cathy Dennis | 1990 |
| “Nothing Compares 2 U” | Sinead O’Connor | 1990 |
| Source: The Billboard Book of One Hit Wonders | ||
| Song Title: | Artist: | Year: |
| “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” | Rod Stewart | 1979 |
| “I Gotcha” | Joe Tex | 1972 |
| “Outa-Space” | Billy Preston | 1972 |
| “Pop Muzik” | M | 1979 |
| “Use Ta Be My Girl” | The O’Jays | 1978 |
| Source: The Billboard Book of Gold & Platinum Records | ||
| Song Title: | Artist: | Year: |
| “Betcha By Golly Wow” | The Stylistics | 1972 |
| “C’mon Everybody” | Eddie Cochran | 1958 |
| “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” | Stevie Wonder | 1974 |
| “Every 1’s a Winner” | Hot Chocolate | 1978 |
| “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” | Lloyd Price | 1952 |
| “Rockit” | Herbie Hancock | 1983 |
| “U Got The Look” | Prince | 1987 |
| Source: The Heart of Rock and Soul | ||
And I didn’t even dig into my copy of Billboard Top 1000 Singles – 1955-2000, okay?
So D’Angelo has discovered a trend in song titling that has extended back 50 years at least. Perhaps she should have gotten a government grant of some sort to unearth it.
The difference, of course, between then and now is that some people, including some educators, are trying to legitimize these alternate spellings in written communication. In the name of self-expression, of course. However, half of written communication is expressing what you want to express. The other half is conveying that meaning so that the reader can understand.
Hence, variations in song titles are okay, because the actual communication is aural; that is, the recipient gets the benefit of a beat you can dance to and inflection. However, in written communication, standard spelling, syntax, and semantics alone convey all meaning, so if you’re busy “expressing your individuality” by writing gibberish and higherglyphics, you’re losing readers. Sorry to dent your self-esteem.
So what’re my points?
- Variant spelling in song titles and lyrics isn’t a new phenomenon.
- It’s okay for song titles and lyrics, but not for “the dictionary.”
- I have a lot of cool books about music.
