They do be bees everwhere.

 

I lived in Nashville but don't anymore, becomes, I be livin in Nashville but I not be livin there now.

 

I have lived in Nashville and still do, becomes, I be livin in Nashville and I let you know when I not be livin there anymore.

 

When I moved to Pittsburg, I had lived in Nashville for 10 years, becomes what? How you goin say that, man?

 

I do be thinkin bout the answer to your first question, bout why it be so hard. When teacher gots to dis you cause she don'ts know the answer, man, sumpthun be the mat-ter.

 

You last question remind me uh them three dogs walkin cross Texas -- ya know? Punch line be 'Christ, I HOPE so', only here I hopes NOT.

--- On Sun, 4/11/10, Geoffrey Layton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Brad - Some interesting posts!  What they evoke (provoke?) after some thought are two questions - first, what is it that makes the perfect tenses so difficult and second, given that they are so difficult, might they be candidates for future elimination, just as other obstuse tenses have been eliminated from English (I pity the French!).  A possibility for a revised tense structure? The Ebonics "be" construction!  For example, "We played tennis before lunch" becomes "We be playin' tennis before lunch."  Or, in your previous "Crow" message, "In the many times in my life that I <have hired> <hired> be hirin' salesmen or <trained> be trainin' other company's salesmen, they <have always been told> <were always told> always be told.  Will Ebonics become the "standard English" of the 21st century?  It continues the grand march of English towards simplification.

Geoff Layton
 
PS:  Whatever else might be said for or against your posts, your subject lines are always interesting!  I can always tell when it's a "message from Brad" just by reading the subject line.