Dr. Robin Sabino Comments From Former Students

  Russ Connell, Secondary Language Arts Teacher, Ohatchee High School, Ohatchee, AL

 I think about you and your classes from time to time, and today a student of mine asked me if I wanted to come on the court (the basketball court...this was after school while the kids were practicing) so he could "Vick" on me!  WOW!  Here is an athlete that is in his rookie year in the NFL and his surname has made it into the lexicon of a RURAL Alabama town--being used as a verb!?!  Linguistics in action, no?  No longer is it, "Come on the court so I can 'dunk' on you..." it's "Come on the court so I can 'Vick' on you," which implies SO much more than simply being "dunked" on!  If someone "Vicks" on you, you've just been "dressed down," as it were, in a most shameful way (as Michael Vick does to opposing players each Sunday)!  I've heard my students use this new "verb" in the past tense as well, e.g., "Oooh...you got VICKED!"  I think it says a lot about the vocabulary in this tiny li'l Alabama town! So much of what we discussed in your linguistic classes are hitting home out here in the real (rural) world of east Alabama!

* * *

Headline from Miriam Johnson

This is really random, but I see these articles, and I think of you and our linguistics class:

Dakota Souix Language Saved By Scrabble