How come black people use "were" and "was" incorrectly all the time?

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: tweakmm
How come white people stereotype all the time?

I'm not saying all Black people do it, I'm just saying how it came about. Plenty of white guys talk like that, (hell, I know some asian guys who do it) so it's not a racial thing at all. I'd call it more of a "street" thing actually.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
3-2-1.....

p00p!

- M4H

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: mpitts
People speak differently because of their environment.

If you were brought up in a house who said "cent" instead of "cents" or "ax" instead of "ask", then they are going to say it too.

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

Nobody is saying that it's inbred genetically

So then it should be 'bad grammar' is the answer and not because they think it's cool.

um, inbred?

huh? your vocabulary a bit limited?

 

[mpitts]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: mpitts
People speak differently because of their environment.

If you were brought up in a house who said "cent" instead of "cents" or "ax" instead of "ask", then they are going to say it too.

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

Nobody is saying that it's inbred genetically

So then it should be 'bad grammar' is the answer and not because they think it's cool.

I wasn't trying to insinuate that it was inbred. I was simply stating that people act the way that they do due to their environment.

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: Lifer

Originally posted by: Encryptic
Probably just bad grammar on their part, and it's not necessarily just black people that do this.

Very true. hispanics do it as well.

And so do the white people that listen to gangster rap music that think they're black, but they grew up in a normal white background.
so for these people, I think they do it because they think its cool to speak like black ppl.

Exactly. Not to mention, there's plenty of white trash, hicks, etc. that do this as well. It's not a racial thing, much as some of the closet Klan members on this board would like to think.

 

[mpitts]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
3-2-1.....

CONTACT!

 

[NetWareHead]

lack of education...

 

[tweakmm]

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: mpitts

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: mpitts
People speak differently because of their environment.

If you were brought up in a house who said "cent" instead of "cents" or "ax" instead of "ask", then they are going to say it too.

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

Nobody is saying that it's inbred genetically

So then it should be 'bad grammar' is the answer and not because they think it's cool.

I wasn't trying to insinuate that it was inbred. I was simply stating that people act the way that they do due to their environment.

I think most of us know that language is taught, so a bit unnecessary

 

[thebestMAX]

Didnt read the whole post but the same thing can be said about most white peoples use of "went" and "gone"!

I be gone!

 

[Amorphus]

the "they came from Africa" argument isn't quite valid these days, because the people were trained to speak proper english as slaves, and the entire culture changed.

while that point isn't all that valid itself, theres another one.

hey! these kids are educated in the american school system, and they're being taught to speak proper english! (well, except from the moron teachers and guilty liberals who call Ebonics a frickin dialect... *mutter mutter*)


what I really want to know is how this came about:

fo shizzle dizzle, you be straight trippin, foo! shut jo trap o you be capped straight! represent!


hee... that reminds me...
"In the ghetto, we don't have a 'Jack in the Box'... we got a 'J-izzo in da bee-ox'"
:wine:

 

[friedpie]

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

"Y'all" is a contraction of you all, and as far as I know is not grammatically incorrect!

Blacks also say "they" for "their." "They grandma sure can cook" for instance.

Lots of people, white and black think "conversate" is a verb. "Converse" is a verb. You converse with someone, you don't conversate with someone.

 

[Lifer]

i honestly think they know what's right and wrong and just chose to speak incorrectly because they want to be perceived as ghetto and hardcore.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Lifer
i honestly think they know what's right and wrong and just chose to speak incorrectly because they want to be perceived as ghetto and hardcore.

So have you actualy seen a black person besides on the TV?

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: friedpie

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

"Y'all" is a contraction of you all, and as far as I know is not grammatically incorrect!

Blacks also say "they" for "their." "They grandma sure can cook" for instance.

Lots of people, white and black think "conversate" is a verb. "Converse" is a verb. You converse with someone, you don't conversate with someone.

"Conversate"?!? I've never heard anyone use this before....

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: mpitts
People speak differently because of their environment.

If you were brought up in a house who said "cent" instead of "cents" or "ax" instead of "ask", then they are going to say it too.

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

Nobody is saying that it's inbred genetically

So then it should be 'bad grammar' is the answer and not because they think it's cool.

um, inbred?

huh? your vocabulary a bit limited?

I don't think he realised you were talking about West Virginia.

 

[mpitts]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: mpitts

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: mpitts
People speak differently because of their environment.

If you were brought up in a house who said "cent" instead of "cents" or "ax" instead of "ask", then they are going to say it too.

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

Nobody is saying that it's inbred genetically

So then it should be 'bad grammar' is the answer and not because they think it's cool.

I wasn't trying to insinuate that it was inbred. I was simply stating that people act the way that they do due to their environment.

I think most of us know that language is taught, so a bit unnecessary

I think that someone here is reading way too far into my post.

 

[Brutuskend]

I think people that speak that way KNOW better, but they just don't care, or they do it to be differant.

 

[mpitts]

Originally posted by: friedpie

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

"Y'all" is a contraction of you all, and as far as I know is not grammatically incorrect!

Blacks also say "they" for "their." "They grandma sure can cook" for instance.

Lots of people, white and black think "conversate" is a verb. "Converse" is a verb. You converse with someone, you don't conversate with someone.

So the phrase "You all" is not grammatically incorrect?

 

[CoolTech]

its a different dialect of english. When comparing with the mainstream so-called proper English, then it may perceived as grammatically incorrect, but it is a valid form of communication. We all know what they mean. Usually this tongue is conditioned and therefore makes it harder to undo in everyday discourse. Language is a quite dynamic facet of society contrary to what many people here may think. New words and phrases are introduced all the time and become commonplace. Does this mean they are necessarily wrong ? If we all conformed to the status quo nothing would ever change. Free your minds people.

Also, why would they do it cause they think its cool? you could argue suburban kids (white, asian, and even BLACK) kids do it because they think they're cool because they heard it in a 50cent song or something. But, if you grow up around people who use this language, you will become accustomed to it and therefore communicate effectively within the group.

The original poster is an idiot for saying "black" people. Stereotyping to say the least, one of my biggest pet peeves. This really urks me when people say things like, "Why you actin' all white?" or "Why you tryin' to act black?". Why are people from a particular continent, Asia lumped into one group and you automatically think Chinese or something? In fact, part of Russia is in Asia. Who comes up with this crap? Its not right or politically correct to do so!

Back to my original point, there are blacks who live in the suburbs who can't relate to what black rappers talk about as well as there are whites in the city who can. I suggest you read some books on racism.

 

[alkemyst]

There are two reasons: 1) one it's thought of as cool 2) they are surrounded by uneducated people at home and get a little 'dumbed down'.

It's not really only black people though, almost anyone no matter how educated that comes from the 'ghetto' or from an uneducated family they will have some pronounciation/grammar problems.

There are many educated 'white' people that say things like learnt, baught, gots, and tons of other absurd things.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: mpitts

Originally posted by: friedpie

It's like asking why people from the south say "Y'all". Environment.

"Y'all" is a contraction of you all, and as far as I know is not grammatically incorrect!

Blacks also say "they" for "their." "They grandma sure can cook" for instance.

Lots of people, white and black think "conversate" is a verb. "Converse" is a verb. You converse with someone, you don't conversate with someone.

So the phrase "You all" is not grammatically incorrect?

I don't think so. 'You all need to chill'.

 

[KC5AV]

It has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with education (not necessarily formal education). We learn speech patterns from our environment.

 

[weirdichi]

Let's see.. from what I can remember in my Linguistics classes...

They're ancestors were from Africa, and when the slave traders brought them over, they needed a language that they could communicate with them in. Creole and Pidgin formed, Creole being the language that the Africans were taught by the slave traders (limited English) and Creole being the merge of English and African tongue spoken by the offsprings.

These are all regional dialectal differences depending on where you were brought up. I do know that the uses of the "BE" verb has very interesting patterns. Black Vernacular English speakers use it for habitual purposes.

Example:
You be trippin = you are trippin right now
you tripping = you are trippin on a regular basis

(I may have gotten those two definitions mixed around, but that's correct IIRC)

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: Amorphus
the "they came from Africa" argument isn't quite valid these days, because the people were trained to speak proper english as slaves, and the entire culture changed.

I doubt they were taught proper english. Most slaves were taught enough to understand orders and no more, since any more would be a waste of time as far as slave owners were concerned. Maybe you could argue houseservants were taught proper english but the majority of slaves were not houseservants. I'm sure you've taken an American history course once; if you remember most slaves couldn't even read, much less speak proper english. Anyway, I'm sure if "streetspeak" hadn't become cool it would have died out for the most part by now, but as such it's become fairly common.

Please keep in mind I'm not saying why it's still around, just how it came to be.