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I can't really answer as a black american from south; however, as a black american with west indian roots its just a way a reverting back to how I spoke to my grandmother or aunt. It don't believe its an education thing. I have family members who very educated who when they come home on holidays they go right back into it. I'm 100% sure that won't stop code switching when I graduate from college.
I work with a fair number of college educated, professional black men and women....financial and legal professionals.
For the most part I would say they come from families who were either professional, police, public servants or teachers. They do not have a rags to riches up from the ghetto story in their backgrounds. They speak in proper english usually accented by the area of the country they grew up in.
So why is it when they speak with black non-professionals (admin and secretarial staff) they will talk in that wanna-be ebonics or, as I call it, "sista-sista" pitter patter. You know what I mean...the poor conjugation of the verb To Be, the street slang, the heavy southern black style of speaking.
So what is it? They want to feel like they fit in with the staff? They dont want the staff to think they are acting too white? I have never run across the professionals speaking with each other like that..they speak the way they normally talk.
This is not a race baiting post so the usual CD "Al Sharptons" can sit back and let real answers be given instead of tossing the race card. Im sure IM not the only person to ever notice this in an office.
No I have not noticed this because staff and secretaries regardless of ethnicity in my office all use professional english on the job too.
Only people who are racially oriented will call it bating when I asked a valid question. I thank you for your response.
LMAO! Those of us that know your posts will correctly identify a thread such as this to be more in the realm of fishing for controversy than seeking knowledge, GPSMA reborn.
The Black staff that I work with do not use ebonics in everyday conversation. In addition, if blacks (regardless of educational level or profession) choose to use slang, etc. amongst themselves, whatzittoya? It's no different than other English based dialects/patois. Or Spanglish. Why should YOU care?
Because the whites, who you are dealing with, are operating within their own cultural environment. Please note that I am talking about a specific group of whites. They have no need to adjust to any one else. If you meet a Southerner, and see him/her among other southerners, outside of a strictly professional gathering, you will see a difference.
The topic of code switching among blacks, and others from outside of the WASP environment, has been well documented.
He is leading you on. He is a white ethnic. An old Italian who probably crushes grapes with his feet in his bathtub for homemade wine and breaks into Sicilian dialect with his own homies. Don't get played!
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Last edited by I_Love_LI_but; 11-09-2013 at 01:32 PM..
There were no black kids in my school, no blacks at my job, no blacks at my church, no blacks in my neighborhood...and I certainly wasnt looking for them either.
Oh, I grew up in Brooklyn....
For some reason, I don't believe you.
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