Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Georgia > Atlanta
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Closed Thread Start New Thread
 
Old 10-10-2013, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Canton
143 posts, read 242,644 times
Reputation: 170

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnsleyPark View Post
What term does your family use in place of y'all?
I'm guessing "yous guys" .

I grew up in a bilingual house in Alabama and I found that even though I was born and raised there, I didn't pick up the Southern drawl (mostly - I can put it on if I feel like it). Your kids will most likely end up speaking with the accent that is prevalent in your home...I did...when I'm excited or emotional I tend to pronounce things the way my mother does, with a Korean accent and when I'm just speaking I tend to have a neutral accent like my father does. Y'all have a good day now!

 
Old 10-10-2013, 09:15 AM
 
1,858 posts, read 3,553,207 times
Reputation: 1184
reminds me of the movie Rush Hour when Chris Tucker was teaching Jackie Chan how to say "Yall" he kept saying "Yoo All" funny
 
Old 10-10-2013, 10:05 AM
 
16,212 posts, read 10,836,439 times
Reputation: 8442
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD View Post
I'm am African-American and when I first moved here I couldn't understand a word anyone said to me either. It was like another language, and the locals would tell me I spoke too fast. You are not alone in this. It took me a while to adapt.

I've raised a daughter here and she doesn't have "that accent," perhaps because I don't have it, our family doesn't and none of her friends speak that way. If your kids are raised to not speak that way and their social circle doesn't, they should be fine.

But it does take some getting used to.
I agree with this. It took me about 2 years to understand the local dialect. It is very unique and since I am a nerd for linguistics I find it particularly fascinating and I am actually quite good in what I call my "Atlanta-speak." My mom used to get a kick out of me talking like I am from Atlanta and to this day when I visit my family they ask me to speak like I'm from Atlanta and we play a game of "decipher the phrase." Some of them are getting pretty good at it.

I went to CAU back when University Homes was still there and I volunteered at a youth program at University Homes so I frequently interacted with children and parents there. I also volunteered at John O. Chiles senior building and so I was around mostly black native Atlantans and they used to crack me up saying "you talk good!! Where you from...New Yoke?" I am from Ohio. My roommate who volunteered with me was from NYC and she would tell them I sounded nothing like a New Yorker and would get into debates with them about it since she rarely heard that but me, someone who sounds nothing like a New Yorker did and I think it really bothered her lol.

FWIW, I had a friend from London at CAU who loved being around so many black people since she said she never knew there were so many black people in the US until she moved here for school. Initially she went to a school in Miami, FL. She said their way of speaking in Miami was way worse than Atlanta and that in Atlanta they just don't enunciate all the syllables in the words but in Miami they spoke an alien language lol! I have sense met people from Miami and their way of speaking is much more difficult to comprehend and I agree with my friend, that here in Atlanta, people just usually don't enunciate all the syllables of their words. The only contradiction I can think of for this is the use of an "sk" sound instead of "st" sound. My son decided to call a "street" a "skreet" for a week or so, due to a TA in his preschool class and I nearly had a conniption and had to complain to the school and insist he call a street a street and not a skreet.

Funny, but my daughter is around the same age now that my son was then and she was shocked when one of her little friends called a strawberry a "skrawberry." She was like: Mommy, guess what? My friend ___ called a strawberry a "skrawberry" and I told her it is NOT a skrawberry it is a "st...raw...berry." LOL so I don't have to worry about her because she is a little grammar/speaking police. Her teachers say she usually teaches children the correct way to say words and so she is frequently partnered with children who either don't have good language skills or are ESOL students in pre-k. She goes to a school near downtown so it is very diverse and has children from homeless shelters and from foreign countries in her class.
 
Old 10-10-2013, 10:08 AM
 
Location: Eastwatch by the sea
1,280 posts, read 1,860,031 times
Reputation: 1649
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnsleyPark View Post
What term does your family use in place of y'all?


Twice in my life, a female has objected to being called "you guys". The first time was a long time ago. If I recall correctly, I was in gym class and called a group of young ladies, you guys. From one, I was reminded that she wasn't a guy. Recently, my six year old daughter, laughingly informed me, "I'm not a guy, I'm a girl." In my house, I make an effort to say you all.

Yes, I was a huge fan of the Electric Company. In before I'm asked.
 
Old 10-10-2013, 10:14 AM
 
16,212 posts, read 10,836,439 times
Reputation: 8442
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsvh View Post
"y'all" is linguistically superior. Basically ever other major language has a plural version of the work "you" except for English, where it can be either singular or plural. "y'all" is that fix.

BTW, if you cannot understand people in the city don't try to go to exurb/rural Georgia. Atlantans generally have a pretty international / neutral accent.
I actually love southern accents in general and patterns of speech. I don't know if the rural Georgians are all that worse than Atlantans. I think the OP is speaking of the black Atlantans and the way they speak specifically. It is a really muffled sort of speaking.

Rural Georgians usually just have a sort of drawl and I think it is easier for people to understand because it is a traditional "southern" accent.

I worked for SunTrust doing phone customer service for a while and had no issues understanding anyone from GA, AL, NC, AR, or TN (who have my FAVORITE southern accent because they have a singing sort of accent and it reminds me of Dolly Pardon and other country singers who I love).

The only issues that most of my co-workers had was people from extremely rural SC. They reminded me of Boomhauer from King of the Hill, that Fox cartoon. Luckily I could always understand Boomhauer so I didn't have any issues with the SC customers but once the quality department, who scores calls heard me on one with a guy who told me, really fast like Boomhauer that he had "just moved from Georgy back on up to South Caroliny" and they didn't know how in the H I understood anything he said so I got a 100% on that call just because I actually had a short conversation with him lol.
 
Old 10-10-2013, 10:48 AM
 
Location: sumter
12,972 posts, read 9,672,214 times
Reputation: 10432
LOL, forgive me but your post is a little funny. if you think Atlanta is bad then don't go to Charleston, sc. They have that strong Gullah/Geechees dialect going on down there. Kids can also pick up the dialect from the local area especially if they hear it at school and from their local peer groups all day. I have seen this before where the parents have the accent from where they grew up and the kids picked up the local accent because they were born and grew up in it. I never ran across that in Atlanta because everybody I meet there is always from somewhere else . A southern accent is not the worst thing your kids can have lol.
 
Old 10-10-2013, 11:40 AM
 
4,686 posts, read 6,146,402 times
Reputation: 3993
The post was funny, yet a bit embarrassing that Atlanta or alot of the south has a reputation of black folks that cant speak proper English. When I moved here in the late 80's, I was told "you be speak propa" by someone or even in middle school called mr proper sometimes. I dont sound white either, so just pronouncing your words will get you ridiculed in the south.

These are examples of what drive me crazy at times hearing people talk.

Police= Po lee
Christmas= Crim-mas
Drink= Drank
Strawberry= Skraw-berry
Library= Lie-berry
Orange= Urrnge
Store= Sto
College Park= Colly-Paw
Marta= Mawda
5 Points=5 Pernts
Memorial= Me Me Real
North= Nawf
South= Sow
East= Eee
West= Weh
Excuse me me=eh screw me
Ask you something= Axe you summin
I was like= I wah lie
And the good old: I BE, THEY BE, YOU BE, and FINNA

How the hell can people take pride in talking like this.
 
Old 10-10-2013, 11:47 AM
 
Location: Canton
143 posts, read 242,644 times
Reputation: 170
Quote:
Originally Posted by SAAN View Post
The post was funny, yet a bit embarrassing that Atlanta or alot of the south has a reputation of black folks that cant speak proper English. When I moved here in the late 80's, I was told "you be speak propa" by someone or even in middle school called mr proper sometimes. I dont sound white either, so just pronouncing your words will get you ridiculed in the south.

These are examples of what drive me crazy at times hearing people talk.

Police= Po lee
Christmas= Crim-mas
Drink= Drank
Strawberry= Skraw-berry
Library= Lie-berry
Orange= Urrnge
Store= Sto
College Park= Colly-Paw
Marta= Mawda
5 Points=5 Pernts
Memorial= Me Me Real
North= Nawf
South= Sow
East= Eee
West= Weh
Excuse me me=eh screw me
Ask you something= Axe you summin
I was like= I wah lie
And the good old: I BE, THEY BE, YOU BE, and FINNA

How the hell can people take pride in talking like this.
I need to correct you here. There is no "s" in the pronunciation of Christmas...it is simply "Crim-ma". and you've forgotten shrimp = skrimp, street = skreet, business = bid-neh...
 
Old 10-10-2013, 11:50 AM
 
Location: Savannah GA
13,709 posts, read 21,944,812 times
Reputation: 10227
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnsleyPark View Post
What term does your family use in place of y'all?
I was wondering the same thing ...
 
Old 10-10-2013, 11:52 AM
 
Location: Sweet Home...CHICAGO
3,421 posts, read 5,224,340 times
Reputation: 4355
Quote:
Originally Posted by SAAN View Post
The post was funny, yet a bit embarrassing that Atlanta or alot of the south has a reputation of black folks that cant speak proper English. When I moved here in the late 80's, I was told "you be speak propa" by someone or even in middle school called mr proper sometimes. I dont sound white either, so just pronouncing your words will get you ridiculed in the south.

These are examples of what drive me crazy at times hearing people talk.

Police= Po lee
Christmas= Crim-mas
Drink= Drank
Strawberry= Skraw-berry
Library= Lie-berry
Orange= Urrnge
Store= Sto
College Park= Colly-Paw
Marta= Mawda
5 Points=5 Pernts
Memorial= Me Me Real
North= Nawf
South= Sow
East= Eee
West= Weh
Excuse me me=eh screw me
Ask you something= Axe you summin
I was like= I wah lie
And the good old: I BE, THEY BE, YOU BE, and FINNA

How the hell can people take pride in talking like this.
The thing about it, this dialect was born out of slavery/institutionalized racism that outlawed African slaves from learning how to read or write. You can't control or have real power over someone who is literate or educated.

When you are taken from your country as livestock to work for others for free while also being forced to learn their language while at the same time being forbidden to learn to read and write it, this is what you get. We can't forget that this is where this dialect or so-called "Ebonics" came from in the South and spread throughout black America as descendants of Southern slaves left the South for "green pastures," more opportunities and better treatment.

The issue comes in where centuries later a group of people who now have access to public education and are taught to read in school but still choose to speak as if they are still forbidden to learn how to read and write.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Closed Thread


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2022 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Georgia > Atlanta
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top