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"Ghetto" in this instance most likely refers to a poverty stricken neighborhood in the US comprised of mostly blacks. Are there none in your city?
There are plenty of cities that don't have "ghettos" per se. My last city, for instance, did have a "poorer side of town," and, yes, there was a predominance of black people there, but it was yet quite diverse...that's where the less affluent whites lived, too. People on that side of town simply made less on their jobs than on the other side.
The city called in a big-city police consultant once to help them with the "crime" in that part of town. The consultant chided the officers for--given the limited population and light crime compared to larger areas--not actually knowing everyone in the neighborhood personally.
It means that you sound like a poor, uneducated black person.
It's actually more specialized than that. It's not just "poor, uneducated," it's a specialized slang vocabulary and language pattern. I'm not saying that as though it's a good thing, only that it's not a result of simply being poor and uneducated...it takes effort to learn to speak that way.
It's actually more specialized than that. It's not just "poor, uneducated," it's a specialized slang vocabulary and language pattern. I'm not saying that as though it's a good thing, only that it's not a result of simply being poor and uneducated...it takes effort to learn to speak that way.
I would even add on that you have to add additional signifiers as well, you need to combine particular clothing and hair in addition to the accent, word and sentence structure. In terms of being perceived as "ghetto."
It's actually more specialized than that. It's not just "poor, uneducated," it's a specialized slang vocabulary and language pattern. I'm not saying that as though it's a good thing, only that it's not a result of simply being poor and uneducated...it takes effort to learn to speak that way.
I don't believe it takes effort. If the majority of the people who you grow up around speak that way and you attend subpar schools in poor neighborhoods, you probably won't be very articulate.
I don't believe it takes effort. If the majority of the people who you grow up around speak that way and you attend subpar schools in poor neighborhoods, you probably won't be very articulate.
It takes effort to learn that particular speech pattern. It's not just a matter of being uneducated or inarticulate. To that extent, it's like specialized slang and speech patterns of the trendy/popular kids anywhere else--there are "nerds" in those schools who don't bother picking up the trends just as there are anywhere else.
Right now, btw, it's called "being ratchet" (degradation of "wretched")..."ghetto" is passé.
I grew up in some poor neighborhoods as a white person, and I was teased for using "big words" and talking "smart" or "weird". This sort of clannish behavior from humans is appalling. No one is allowed to be different without consequences.
I never thought the stereotype of speech patterns from black people sounded unintelligent, and same with people from the South. It is worthwhile to note that some characteristics of African American vernacular, like saying "hisself" or "theirselves" is grammatically more consistent than the standard American English. "Himself" and "themselves" do not follow grammatical rules for the reflexive pronouns but are modified to use the object - him and them - instead of the possessive - his and their, even though the possessive is used in all other reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, ourselves). Proper is a relative term often used as an arbitrary divider between socio-economic classes. To think there is a "right way" to talk is spurious.
There should be more open discussion about the prejudices against speech. I knew a girl who moved from Wyoming and purposefully dropped her accent because she was afraid of being ridiculed and thought of as less intelligent.
Screw people that ridicule others based on form over content. It sucks to need to worry about how closed-minded others are to get along in this world.
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