superrific
Legend of ZZL
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What are the general guidelines for this word? Growing up, I always thought this referred to black people, and that a white person should refrain from using it. This impression was at least tacitly reinforced in NYC. But since I moved to the Midwest, I hear it a lot from white people too. And of course there's the conspiracy-theory-chic, as in "You nailed it, brother."
Now I'm wondering if there are distinctions based on specific function in a sentence. For instance, "a brother" is a black person. "Can't a brother get mythological up in this motherfucker?" is said by a black person (in this particular case, one who was desperately trying to find a post basketball career). Same with, "if a brother tell you that, it's true." So it's used somewhat abstractly. Yes? No?
White people, by contrast, use the word more particularly. When you say, "you nailed it, brother," you're addressing one person specifically. "You". In fact, it doesn't change the meaning of the sentence to rephrase as "you nailed it, my brother" so literally a single person. I mean, you can do a plural version of this but anyway. I know people use the "my brother" phrasing but it seems kind of niche.
Spanish speaking people, of course, have their own phrases in this regard and I have my doubts they say "brother." The Indian people I went to law school with were enamored of calling each other n***a because I don't fucking know why and I didn't want to ask and then finally when I did, I did not get a prepared reply, surprising given how often the question must have been asked, unless "why can't we?" was their plan, but anyway, I digress. Point is, I think it's a black and white issue mostly.
This came up for me as I was writing a bit of dialogue. Reaching for rhythm, "brother" instinctively came to mind. It wouldn't work regardless, as the characters there are women, but it did make me wonder if this is something I should know if ever I want to write fiction.
Now I'm wondering if there are distinctions based on specific function in a sentence. For instance, "a brother" is a black person. "Can't a brother get mythological up in this motherfucker?" is said by a black person (in this particular case, one who was desperately trying to find a post basketball career). Same with, "if a brother tell you that, it's true." So it's used somewhat abstractly. Yes? No?
White people, by contrast, use the word more particularly. When you say, "you nailed it, brother," you're addressing one person specifically. "You". In fact, it doesn't change the meaning of the sentence to rephrase as "you nailed it, my brother" so literally a single person. I mean, you can do a plural version of this but anyway. I know people use the "my brother" phrasing but it seems kind of niche.
Spanish speaking people, of course, have their own phrases in this regard and I have my doubts they say "brother." The Indian people I went to law school with were enamored of calling each other n***a because I don't fucking know why and I didn't want to ask and then finally when I did, I did not get a prepared reply, surprising given how often the question must have been asked, unless "why can't we?" was their plan, but anyway, I digress. Point is, I think it's a black and white issue mostly.
This came up for me as I was writing a bit of dialogue. Reaching for rhythm, "brother" instinctively came to mind. It wouldn't work regardless, as the characters there are women, but it did make me wonder if this is something I should know if ever I want to write fiction.
