Miss. Mocha
I have a hard time explaining myself without sounding like an idiot, so please bear with me. Ok, let me rephrase. Not exactly LEARN ebonics, I realize this is not a language, but speak in ebonics. For example, I've heard the saying "he's trying to be black" when someone was talking about a 'white' boy who was making an effort to speak in this way. This is why I was wondering if there was something more to it than I realized. I just didn't know or understand the history/background, so I wasn't sure why anyone would say something like that. Now that I know that it basically has been passed down through the years from your african-american decendants, I understand where it originated. Which brings me to the thought, do you find it flattering or insulting to hear someone not of African American decent speaking in this way? The original question spoke of the fact that many of you were considered 'trying to be white' when you spoke properly. I don't think this at ALL. Language, in my opinion, varies on where you live. I live in West Virginia. The most souther of the northern states and the most northern of the southern. You can really tell a difference in accent AND dialect. Some of us say Y'all, some don't. It's slang. I wasn't sure if ebonics was just slang created by location. Of course where you live ultimatly determines how you will speak. I might be American, but if I were brought up in Ireland, no doubt would I have an irish accent. SO. . .basically, my thought was--how can someone speak white and black? Ebonics, is it automatically considered to be black? I didn't know, so I thought I would ask questions about it. Basically I'm just curious. Maybe I just think TOO much, but stuff like language, history, religion and culture really fascinate me. . .guess I should have gone into Anthropology. I hope that better explains my direction. Again, I wasn't trying to be offensive, mearly inquisitive.
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