WOW!
Hello Ladies of SGRho, SFs and Gentlemen:
I have never been on this board before, but trust me, you finsta be seein' a lot mo' a me.
Anyways:
I feel that a lot of out situations are similar. I remember being told as a young girl that I sounded "white", etc.
I now have a son and everywhere I take him, I hear people say (literally) "Ooh, he talk educated." His Godmother (who is a teacher) chooses to call him ebonically challenged. I do correct his English becaus I believe that it is important for im to understand the way that he is "expected" to speak (i.e. in school/academic/professional settings). The "slang" (NOT ebonics) comes naturally and with time. I don't think it is something that is taught. I live in LA and a major issue was the teaching of ebonics in the Oakland school system.
The issue was actually educating the TEACHERS on ebonics so they could understand their students. WRONG! Teach the students how to communicate in the classroom. However, you can teach children all you want in the class, but when they go home, what's reinforced is what they will become comfortable with.
Also, understand that ebonics is not SLANG. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a good example. There are many numerous writings on this topic. I read one (I can't remember) and it was hard for me to really comprehend.
A lot of people think ebonics is saying things like "Oh, my bad." or " trippin' or dissin'" or things like that but it's not. Letters are excluded that we (being taught by what Europeans believe to be "proper" English) have grown accustomed to seeing. I had a class in undergrad (AFrican American theater)where we had to figure out words like "drysolongso" I hadn't a clue.
ALso, I have to agree with Original Ape in that the way we have been taught in this culture is NOT natural for African Americans. Despite the fact that we have been here for over 400 years and many of us have never and will never see Africa are linked to this natural heritage. Many African cultures and if you know African language you will see that many words do not end with consonants such as the letter "g". Therefore it IS natural for us (as African Americans (African being the key word)) to exclude this letter when speaking quickly. Hence the singin', dancin', eatin' etc.
And yes, we do write the way we speak.
How many times, on this board alone, have I seen someone write should of instead of should have (just an example).
I have seen people write (on this thread alone) "When I talk." or "I talk this way because." The "proper" word would be speak. When I speak...
We are all educated and we use incorrect English (even trying to be correct) all of the time. How about where are the shoes at? Never end a sentence with a proposition. I mean it goes on and on and on. This is not as obvious as "I's be fixin' to go to the sto'" but well, whatever.
It's deep. We are truly linked to our original heritage despite the fact that we have been taught in this society and have very little knowledge of our heritage.
Question:
I recently attended a research symposium where one of the topics was cultural competency. In the health field (and others) it is important to understand clients/patients to be most effective. He gave an example and I want to know who can figure this out.
A woman made a Dr.'s appt. and when the nurse called to remind her of the appointment, her response was "I ain't got the time." SO the nurse hung up. This happened like three or four more times until someone who was Black called, understood what she meant and etc., etc.
Who can tell me what the woman meant when she said "I ain't got the time?"
[This message has been edited by DELTABRAT (edited January 11, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by DELTABRAT (edited January 11, 2001).]
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