Top John H. McWhorter Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

John H. McWhorter Biography

John H. McWhorter

John Hamilton McWhorter V (born October 6, 1965) is an American academic and linguist who is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history. He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations. His research specializes on how creole languages form, and how language grammars change as the result of sociohistorical phenomena.

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John H. McWhorter Quotes

We must neither behave as children by resisting honesty, nor allow ourselves to be treated as children by having honesty withheld.

Allow, Behave, Children, Honesty, Resisting, Treated

I think what Obama does more than his amazing speaking ability is he's able to connect with voters. And it's that hope that he brings out in American citizens that we are all hungry for, that people get excited about Sen. Obama.

Citizens, Doe, People, Sen, Thinking, Voters

I don't think that we really know a whole lot about Barack Obama at all that you would really call distinctive.

Barack, Think, Thinking, Whole

Politics is work. Hiphop is music. The idea that hiphop, because it makes the body feel good to move to it and it makes the soul feel good to hear out angry young black men, can be transmuted into changing the world is narcotic but nonsensical. Wherever hiphop is ever "going," we can be sure it will not be in a constructive direction, anymore than fashions in the color of cars. And it shouldn't "concern" us in the least.

Anymore, Fashion, Men, Moving, Soul, World

If you took away the color of Barack Obama's skin, nobody right now would be paying him any attention.

Attention, Color, Right, Skins, Would Be

English, however, is kinky. It has a predilection for dressing up like Welsh on lonely nights.

Dressing, Dressing Up, Like, Lonely, Night, Nights

Racism is not dead. Definitely, there are these biases.

Biases, Dead, Definitely, Racism

The only way that residual racist feelings could affect legislation, in my opinion, is through a lack of priorities, from not doing things.

Feelings, Opinion, Priorities, Racist, Residual, Way

Barack Obama's said some very nice things and he says them well. But if you ask me, the reason that we're looking at somebody who is such an inexperienced senator, who has said some very pleasant but not especially sterling or innovative things, the reason that he's considered such a big deal is simply because he's black.

Nice, Black, Reason, Sterling, Says

A person you excuse from any genuine challenge is a person you do not truly respect.

Challenge, Challenges, Excuse, Genuine, Person, Respect

No longer can we measure compassion by how much we spend on poverty but how many people we help to lift out of poverty.

Compassion, People, Poverty, Spend, Help

Loving your language means a command of its vocabulary beyond the level of the everyday.

Command, Language, Level, Loving You, Mean, Vocabulary

Ebonics - or black English, as I prefer to call it - is one of a great many dialects of English. And so English comes in a great many varieties, and black English is one of them.

Black, Dialect, Dialects, English, Great Men, Varieties

Obama is seen as very, very cool. I think a lot of people find him sexy.

People, Sexy, Think, Thinking

Every third person in the world is a drama queen. And crying 'victim,' especially when you're not really a victim in any real way, feels good. It feels good to cry victim if you're not one.

Drama, Person, Queens, Real, Victim, Way