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That moment when a person says you talk "white" because you talk like you have some sense. The real question I have is, where in history did talking illiterate has always been always associated with being black and talking like you are intelligent has been associated with being white? Where did this line of thinking come from?
That moment when a person says you talk "white" because you talk like you have some sense. The real question I have is, where in history did talking illiterate has always been always associated with being black and talking like you are intelligent has been associated with being white? Where did this line of thinking come from?
Perhaps from the people making the accusations..? Be honest it's really just one particular group that's making it, am I right?
As a black person, I do notice that there's something to the idea that African-Americans often (not always) largely rejecting regional accents and forming their own vernacular. I have no idea where it comes from to be honest. Black Canadians and black Brits largely take on the regional accent of their peers, I'm not sure this is typical of blacks living anywhere else in the Western world.
I mean, when I was working in a call centre 9 years ago, I could tell when I was speaking to an African-American client. And I think they thought I was white (if the lady who called me a dumb white b**** because I couldn't help her is anything to go by). But all the black Canadians I know sound like me.
As a black person, I do notice that there's something to the idea that African-Americans often (not always) largely rejecting regional accents and forming their own vernacular. I have no idea where it comes from to be honest. Black Canadians and black Brits largely take on the regional accent of their peers, I'm not sure this is typical of blacks living anywhere else in the Western world.
I mean, when I was working in a call centre 9 years ago, I could tell when I was speaking to an African-American client. And I think they thought I was white (if the lady who called me a dumb white b**** because I couldn't help her is anything to go by). But all the black Canadians I know sound like me.
There is definitely different types of southern accents and within certain longstanding black communities in the south there is a black southern accent. It is not so pronounced but I know it when I hear it.
I think the African American way of speaking is just an accent. I'm white but I live in a very diverse area and have a lot of black friends. Even the most educated and intelligent still sound black when they talk. Its an accent.
If they were to sound completely "white" while they talked it might come off as strange, or like they were trying to sound like something they are not. I even pick up the black accent sometimes, when I am around my black friends a lot, and then people tell me I'm being a poser. But the truth is I just pick up accents easily.
I think its just ignorant people who are just looking for things to criticize or judge people about. Its a sign of racism and discrimination, which still exists. People want to divide and keep us all separate in different groups, which are not "allowed" to mingle or mix. Not much has changed since segregation, really. I think the answer is to keep fighting against ignorance and resist the brainwashing and mind control.
I am a black person who gets accused of talking white. I pretty much sound like a California valley girl. I also sound exactly like the other people who lived around me when growing up.
It is very interesting to meet someone who I have only talked to on the phone. I have received looks of surprise, though not as often anymore with social media (and I have public pictures).
I think in my parents generation there was a very clear class based delineation of black people, as college educated black people used certain phrasing their non college-educated peers did not. But it is mostly stereotyping!
For more of the academic research, some people do "code-switch." All of us do to some degree, talking one way with parents or elders and another way with friends. But it can escalate into a larger person to fit in and be accepted.
I don't "code switch" much because my native "code" is valley girl. I switch between speaking to peers and speaking to older people and speaking to children. Those are my codes.
I'm African American, I get comments about how I act "white" ALL the time.
I believe it's just ignorance and people don't really know how to describe another person's behavior in any other way. I've been asked if I'm mixed solely due to the fact that my interests aren't particular to someone of my race. I find that offensive sometimes as well. I like anime, I draw, I write fictional stories, and I want to persue a career in Art,
Living in the South, I get a lot of questions like this. I attribute my behaviors to being sheltered and only ever being around caucasian people whenever I went out. My parents moved us around a lot and there weren't many blacks. My family teases me, as a matter of fact, my nickname is "White girl." Even my friends who act similar tease me about how "white" I am.
For the most part, I've gotten used to it, and don't care as much as I used to.
When people -- white people to be specific, but black people too sometimes -- go on a rag about somebody black "sounding white" all it means 99% of the time is "Gee, you don't sound like the stereotypical poor black dude who grew up in the ghetto on welfare."
Which of course means that person -- black, white, or other -- simply doesn't know very many black people, and probably doesn't know any middle-class black people at all. If he did, he would know that accent is influenced by geography, ethnic heritage, education, upbringing, and very importantly, by socio-economic class. These variables mix in different ways among the black population here in the U.S., so all black people do not sound alike because all black people are not alike!
That should be obvious. But some folks still don't get it.
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