Why be, like, "you be" and "we be?"

"cause it be DOPE y'all" :D

"ebonics"....oh gawd I hate that word.... what are they saying? its a black thing to do to speak like an ignorant dough-head?

sheesh :D

I agree with this. Speak the kings english for gods sake.

But I think we should all be learning spanish and chinese.

"And I'm learning Chinese,"
Says Werner von Braun.

Cause it done piss da white man...lol

That be whack. Nome sane?

I get chu but da man aint gonna change da game, bro...he aint right...never been...

'cause GOD is the shiznit y'all!

Esperanto revival!

Exactly what's wrong with this forum! :(

Exactly what's wrong with this forum! :(

Aks the Mods. But bedda do it fast.

my dad only spoke chinese and spanish, i speak chinese and english and only a little spanish.. but im better than you! :p

I agree with this. Speak the kings english for gods sake.

Americans don't speak the kings english btw ;p

But I think we should all be learning spanish and chinese.

my dad only spoke chinese and spanish

Really? Where are you guys from...or your dad? I know China & Cuba have some relations and I know a bunch of Chinese people back in the day moved or lived in Cuba...what's the story?

Oh sorry...wat be da story bro...

Its so funny when I see people feed into the ignorant sterotypes pushed by the media. The entire concept of ebonics is rediculous--in many cases its nothing more than dialect. If the concept of ebonics is flawed anyway because of regional differences; ebonics is nothing more than slang--colloquialisms. Remember when 'white' words like 'awesome' and 'rad' were ballyhoed by the so called 'King's English' experts?

My dad lived in Columbia for a while

Really? Where are you guys from...or your dad? I know China & Cuba have some relations and I know a bunch of Chinese people back in the day moved or lived in Cuba...what's the story?

Oh sorry...wat be da story bro...

I see...

One of the dudes here at work is Chinese, but he has a heavy Jamaican accent. When speaks Cantonese over the phone, it's awesome.

I will say that I once listened to an ebonics station in Atlanta, and man I couldn't understand a word they were sayin', slap muh fro. sheeeeet

i was working in a video store once and this black guy comes up and starts talking to me in fluent cantonese.. although i had never met him before, it turns out my little sister and dad had been some of the people who taught him cantonese! He worked in the same restaraunt as they did.

I once listened to an ebonics station in Atlanta
Thats the most rediculous statement I've heard today--I'm sure someone else will take this dubious distinction in this thread though :rolleyes:

One of the dudes here at work is Chinese, but he has a heavy Jamaican accent. When speaks Cantonese over the phone, it's awesome.

Chinese-Jamaicans... lots of those

They are usually Hakka

i was working in a video store once and this black guy comes up and starts talking to me in fluent cantonese.. although i had never met him before, it turns out my little sister and dad had been some of the people who taught him cantonese! He worked in the same restaraunt as they did.


is your sister cute ? :D

My dad lived in Columbia for a while

Was he a druglord? :p

i was working in a video store once and this black guy comes up and starts talking to me in fluent cantonese.. although i had never met him before, it turns out my little sister and dad had been some of the people who taught him cantonese! He worked in the same restaraunt as they did.
Yeah, when I went to the blood lab, they had a couple of black guys working there. They spoke Cantonese MUCH better than me (I suck) to the Chinese ladies who were working there too. I was really surprised about how well they spoke. There was very little accent.

Yes she's got big girly bits :confused:

is your sister cute ? :D

I dunno, all he ever told me about were the sloths in the trees

Was he a druglord? :p

Was he a druglord? :p


ROFLMAO

Yes she's got big girly bits :confused:


Ummmm I love oreantal women. soooo hottt.

come to klegg little Miso. Miso ho'ney.

Ebonics is rice talk for the urban crowd.

example: that stillen sticker makes me shift mad quick yo!

Ebonics parallel: dose dubs be spinnin dog.

I think what most are thinking isn't exactly Ebonics. Ebonics is supposed to be a derivative of African languages mixed with English. Such as, apparently in most sub-Saharan languages words are not normally contructed of multiple consonants following one another. For example:

Test = Tes'
Sunday = Sun'ay

etc...

Do I follow the thought of it being taught in schools, not particularly. But within speech pathology or linguistics, it can be constructive.

Same principle as Cajun, which is a French/English concoction that developed in transplanted isolated communities mostly in Louisiana. No one is teaching that in school, though.

I don't know french, but I can understand Cajun pretty well!

It's not so much that they mixed french with english than the fact that after the Cajuns were kicked out of Nova Scotia they were cut off from the French language, any new things invented after (and there were plenty) or new animals/things they discovered, they had to invent words for, they borrowed from what was natively around.. the indians, spanish, as well as english.

I think what most are thinking isn't exactly Ebonics. Ebonics is supposed to be a derivative of African languages mixed with English. Such as, apparently in most sub-Saharan languages words are not normally contructed of multiple consonants following one another. For example:

Test = Tes'
Sunday = Sun'ay

etc...

Do I follow the thought of it being taught in schools, not particularly. But within speech pathology or linguistics, it can be constructive.

Same principle as Cajun, which is a French/English concoction that developed in transplanted isolated communities mostly in Louisiana. No one is teaching that in school, though.

I would question if it is authentic Cajun or are you going by the term that has for some time been applied to all of Louisiana. I recall you mentioning before you were from New Orleans, correct? So you have more personal experience than I.

A friend of mine's brother-in-law is Cajun. Has the French last name and is straight out of one of the backwoods Parish's in Louisiana. I can understand 50% of what he's saying.


edit: just saw your edit, Guy. I was trying to remember whether there was Spanish mixed with Cajun or not. I knew they were transplanted, but I recalled from Quebec.

They were from New brunswick/Nova scotia, forced out by the british..

You know the story of the crawfish??? THe lobsters missed thier Acadian friends so much that they followed them down the eastern seaboard.. as they travelled futher south they began to shrink from exertion.. untill they caught up with thier friends, by that time they had shrunk down to the size of crawfish!

I'm talking about Cajuns :) Many of my friends in N.O. were from the bayous.. Grandmothers only spoke cajun kind of thing.. best food too.. real home style cooking, not the stylized creole/cajun stuff in N.O.

I would question if it is authentic Cajun or are you going by the term that has for some time been applied to all of Louisiana. I recall you mentioning before you were from New Orleans, correct? So you have more personal experience than I.

A friend of mine's brother-in-law is Cajun. Has the French last name and is straight out of one of the backwoods Parish's in Louisiana. I can understand 50% of what he's saying.


edit: just saw your edit, Guy. I was trying to remember whether there was Spanish mixed with Cajun or not. I knew they were transplanted, but I recalled from Quebec.

They eat really spicy food? I've never had anything that I really thought was authentic Cajun, always wanted to try it, though.

Authentic Cajun is basically french peasant home cooking type food, except with more spices and meat gotten from the swamps. coons, turtles, etc... It's less fancy than what you find in N.O., less colorful, etc.. not really a whole lot of tomato useage

Its so funny when I see people feed into the ignorant sterotypes pushed by the media. The entire concept of ebonics is rediculous--in many cases its nothing more than dialect. If the concept of ebonics is flawed anyway because of regional differences; ebonics is nothing more than slang--colloquialisms. Remember when 'white' words like 'awesome' and 'rad' were ballyhoed by the so called 'King's English' experts?

I'm glad someone else can see the flaw with the way this topic is presented. If there were intelligent discussion about this rather than just the classic "it sucks, let's mock it" mentality then maybe a valid point could be made. If people don't like it you should leave it at you don't like it or don't agree with it if you have nothing more than mockery to contribute. As I said before about this forum the "holier than though" train of thought presents itself again. I would add something of more substance to this topic but I'm getting tired of trying to enlighten the ignorant!

BTW, this is not aimed at everyone just a few!

thats funny, in my mind ebonics symbolizes ignorance translated into a "language". It is simply nothing more than a slang version of exsisting languages. Its not like its a dilect or anything. in fact wasnt it "created" by people who were to ignorant(by that i mean uneducated) or to lazy to fully speak correct english.

So, isnt it a fallacy/oxymoron to try to have an "itellegent" conversation about something derived from ignorance and sloth.

thats funny, in my mind ebonics symbolizes ignorance translated into a "language". It is simply nothing more than a slang version of exsisting languages. Its not like its a dilect or anything. in fact wasnt it "created" by people who were to ignorant(by that i mean uneducated) or to lazy to fully speak correct english.

So, isnt it a fallacy/oxymoron to try to have an "itellegent" conversation about something derived from ignorance and sloth.

Wrong--guess what--it is dialect--because slang in every region is different. Just like the typical Boston accent is different than a Houston drawl--the same goes for 'ebonics'. The beginning of your statement "in my mind..." pretty much sums up the validity of your statement. Besides--'ebonics' has seaped into and have influenced every facet of today's popular culture. Stereotypes are no yardstick to measure anything by--if you don't like slang that's tough luck cause its not going anywhere--just like the Continental Airlines billboard that says "We fly the newest jets...BLING BLING"
"in fact wasnt it "created" by people who were to ignorant(by that i mean uneducated) or to lazy to fully speak correct english." This is another statement that could be further addressed as it is another fallacy based on a blanket stereotype.

When the Oakland school district tried to pass it into the school system as an official language, it was just to cover up the lack of education that many of the students had. Parents not taking the time to teach their children, or even taking time to make sure they went to school. Then the schools would pass the kids even when they didn't deserve to be promoted. How else can they justify it?

A little side note:

I lived in Italy for 6 years - went into a Chinese restaurant and had the Chinese waiter speak fluent Italian to me.

Talk about weird.

Definite double-take.

thats funny, in my mind ebonics symbolizes ignorance translated into a "language". It is simply nothing more than a slang version of exsisting languages. Its not like its a dilect or anything. in fact wasnt it "created" by people who were to ignorant(by that i mean uneducated) or to lazy to fully speak correct english.

So, isnt it a fallacy/oxymoron to try to have an "itellegent" conversation about something derived from ignorance and sloth.

Well let's see where to begin! You can have a respectful and intelligent discussion about pretty much anything even if your every opinion isn't full of facts. By intelligent I mean that you don't simply mock but instead say you don't agree with it or you ask why it is the way it is if you don't know! Mocking is more of a way for a child to address what they don't understand or like! I can tell you that I don't like something without it being offensive or degrading to people who are just products of their surroundings. I will honestly say that I have sat back and analyzed some of the causes of why certain groups are the way they are (not all within groups of people but some). Technically I can sit here and tear apart the use of words in this very post that you wrote (you can probably tear apart my abilty to properly put together a paragraph)! People who were "to" ignorant to fully speak correct english! The spelling you were looking for contains another o for the word "too"! Does that make you ignorant? Ignorance in the real sense would mean that you are simply unaware of it, you were not taught or introduced to a piece of information! I can argue that aspects of ebonics are a lingering effect of slavery. Other aspects could be within the inner city classrooms. Within inner city schools I have seen senile teachers and teachers who were weak of character! How could a person excel if their teachers can't remember where they are in their lesson plan or can't control a 2nd grade classroom. If you do not teach me I may not know it exists! If you weren't taught it in the proper sense how could you teach me?

BTW, are you sure that Ebonics cannot be considered a "dialect"! Courtesy of dictionary.com

A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists: Cockney is a dialect of English.

Sounds very similar to "slang". So basically I have presented possible reasons to why ebonics exists in response to what you gave me which comes off as "come on, I really want to keep being offensive but just with bigger words!". You can have an intelligent conversation about the color green if you want to so don't fit into one of the very things you used to describe ebonics, the word "sloth".

Yo, Yo dog!

Is ebonics just jive talkin?

ebonics = Ebony Phonics. Dunno who coined the term.

ya but is it descendant from jive talkin

I wasnt trying to bash anyone. I just find it hard to believe that some people(its gone as far as the school system) are talking about this thing as a language. I use slang sometimes and dont have any problem with it/people that use it/ or its beginings. Like i said I have a hard time taking it seriously and giving people educational credit for its use.

I wasnt trying to bash anyone. I just find it hard to believe that some people(its gone as far as the school system) are talking about this thing as a language. I use slang sometimes and dont have any problem with it/people that use it/ or its beginings. Like i said I have a hard time taking it seriously and giving people educational credit for its use.
When you phrase it like that--I agree--it is of no educational merit, definately not credit. A course like this would be impossible to teach as well due to the fact that it is not a universal 'language'.