Talk:Signifying

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[edit] Example request

can we get an example in here? This article is, alas, incomprehensible to me as it is right now. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by AgentSteel (talk • contribs) 19:25, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't understand this article at ALL, and I have a degree in English, with a focus on history of the language. 64.132.218.4 15:51, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

I added a description from a good article I found. The concept is fuzzy so any specific example is going to lose some of the intended meaning, which is what the included quote makes clear. Mattgrommes 19:03, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I dont understand the article either. The most I can gather from it is the "signifying" is a fancy word for the use of figures of speech, irony or indeed any kind of indirect or allusive discourse, i.e. any form of communication other than flat-out plain literal speech. 206.222.198.12 20:49, 4 June 2007 (UTC)Tom

I don't know if the example is appropriate, but jive (which includes signifying) has been parodied several times in films and TV. One of the more memorable examples is the mother from Leave it to Beaver's performance in AIRPLANE!:

Attndnt : Would you tell him to just relax and I'll be back as

soon as I can with some medicine.

Woman : Jus' hang loose blooood. She goonna catch up on the`

rebound a de medcide.

Jivemn2 : What it is big mamma, my mamma didn't raise no dummy, I

dug her rap.

Woman4 : Cut me som' slac' jak! Chump don wan no help, chump

don git no help. Jive ass dude don got no brains

anyhow.

LostCause 07:41, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

well ... thanks but that dialog doesn't help much - what type of signifyin(g) is that supposed to exemplify? since "the concept is fuzzy", maybe someone with some expertise could provide examples of each of the assorted aspects/types/"subgenres" of it? it would help a lot, since the article as it now stands really doesn't clarify much at all.

for example, i found a reference in this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/arts/music/16ROCK-MUSIC.html?ei=5070&en=28c92b61ae0a1cf1&ex=1212552000&pagewanted=print&position=top "But there is a hidden humor in [Bo Diddley's songs], Mr. Levy said. 'They are often explicitly signifying records which involve putting over a joke on someone who doesn't understand the nuances of African-American thought and speech. It makes fun of white people without them realizing it.'"

since that's one "subgenre" of signifyin(g), some specific examples of it would be great - along with examples of other types, that is ... does it qualify as signifyin(g) when, on the Shine a Light soundtrack CD, Jagger refers to Buddy Guy as "Buddy Motherfvcker Guy" - especially given that Mr Guy uses the MF term all the time himself, quite often as an honorific? Sssoul (talk) 17:48, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The (g) and slang

I've restored both Gates' spelling ("signifyin(g)", per common usage—see Google) and the slang spelling ("signifyin'"—see Urban Dictionary).

I'm far from an expert on the topic, but I believe "signifyin(g)" was Gates' own spelling, and Gates himself had originally appropriated the term from African American slang ("signifyin'"), playing it against the more traditional notions of signification discussed in semiotics and related studies. The reason for the parenthetical "g" is to leave both spellings intact and to suggest a double meaning (rather appropriately, considering): signifyin' + signifying.

66.73.198.233 04:17, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Meaning?

Some explanation! The concept is left as incomprehensible as before. All we know from this "Airplane" quote is that "signifying" is done in a non-standard form of Enligh. Indeed, we don't know whether the "Airplane" quote is really "signifying" or some kind of parody thereof. Tom129.93.17.139 21:15, 1 July 2007 (UTC)