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

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0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,862
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its a trait of poor ignorant people everywhere. whats the last time you've heard correct english from a redneck ;)
 

wicktron

Platinum Member
Aug 15, 2002
2,573
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Why you be hatin on the speech though, cuzz. Yall is straight trippin bout this here grammar type shizz.
EDIT: Another vote for we need a Lifer is an idiot option. Stereotyping this as a black thing should be frowned upon.
 

Xionide

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2002
8,679
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Originally posted by: Lifer
Do they really have bad grammar?
Or do they do it because they think it sounds cool and ghetto?

Example: I was just watching "Making the Band II" on MTV.
And they say something like -

"Me and my boys was just chillin'.

When the proper way to say it is -

"Me and my boys were just chillin'.

You cant take every moron you see on tv that has been prepackaged to act that way and make a generaliztaion of all black people.

-Xionide
 

KaBudokan

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
962
0
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Fredtam - I am not going to call you a racist. I think many of your claims are valid. I think, however, that you misinterpreted parts of my post. I am NOT at all for lowering standards. I laughed at the governor of Colorado this year as he celebrated the test scores that have come up in the state. I didn't believe it (having taught at the "most improved" high school, and researched to discover that the reading score scale was lowered to effectively "raise" the performance level.

Disclaimer: I usually don't talk education with armchair experts because, regardless of what they may think, as a trained professional I actually DO know more than they do about teaching. ;)

My approach to teaching writing is to give the students lots of "low-stakes" writing opportunites, where they are allowed to write without worrying about spelling, run-on sentences, proper usage, etc. HOWEVER, this is very simply a starting point, to get them comfortable with writing. (Most of these students hate writing because they have been told for years that they are "bad writers," because they have poor spelling skills or even bad handwriting.) Once the comfort level is increased, we then focus heavily on improving the writing and creaitng polished products. We focus not only on usage and grammar and spelling, but very much on content. I focus primarily on thinking skills and self-evaluation.

I focus so much on building the comfort level of students in non-threatening ways because so many of them have already given up on the system, because they have already been told time and time again that they don't fit. By the end of the year, many of my kids have decided they like writing, and whether you or anyone else believe it, that's half the battle right there.

And for those kids that would read rather Low Rider magazine during class... I am always VERY sure to tell them that they will never be able to afford their dream cars if they fail eighth grade English. :D
 

Palek

Senior member
Jun 20, 2001
937
0
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KaBudokan, thanks for an excellent post.

I am actually not a native speaker of the language, but I have been studying and speaking it for over a decade now so in a way I feel like it is my 2nd mother tongue. I've come to like English very much, I cherish it, and also want to protect it. Therefore I try to pay as much attention as possible when I write or speak so that I do not contribute to further degrading it by perpetuating common mistakes. I cringe every time I see they're/there/their mixed up, or definitely spelt as "definately".

However, I also try to avoid being too nitpicky, so I do not go around correcting minor mistakes (except when I teach), and I try to accept that language IS changing constantly. If it were unchangeable we could not express new ideas and concepts, we could not describe new discoveries. Scientists come up with new words everyday. Web, mail and chat have gained new meaning in the last couple decades, and some words have completely lost their original meaning. Wanting to keep English (or any other language) in its present form and rejecting changes is equal to rejecting reality itself. We have to go with the flow. Who should have the right to decide, if not the people who use a language everyday, which new words or expressions are valid additions to it? Naturally there are certain additions of which I would love to rid our world, but how? Should some government agency be in control of language and enforce proper use? That is about the most absurd thing I have thought of in quite a long time...

But, I really liked what KaBudokan said because I can identify with what he/she is trying to teach his/her kids. I was raised in a rural part of my country where folks speak a heavy dialect that most would label as unintelligent, which is far from the truth, but that is the reality of things. Thanks to my parents (both of them well-educated people), though, and some effort on my part, I learned to speak "properly", and although I cannot be 100% sure I think it helped me a lot with fitting in once I left my little country town. You can scream all you want that you should not be required to conform or be like sheep, but then that will not help you land a job at a respected computer firm or a bank, will it? Speaking clean English, on the other hand, will take you much further.

<EDIT>Oh, the irony! Corrected grammar. :eek:</EDIT>
 

fredtam

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
5,694
2
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Originally posted by: Xionide
You cant take every moron you see on tv that has been prepackaged to act that way and make a generaliztaion of all black people.

-Xionide

Actually you can because they are exactly what you said generalazations meaning you will find that behavior in not all but the majority.

If you see a redneck he has a nascar sticker on his truck and his wife doesn't have all of her teeth.

If you go to a tourist area the asians will have cameras.

White people really can't dance.

That Mexican you see is most likely illegal.

That black guy you see eating the chicken does have a big xxxx.
 

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
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Originally posted by: fredtam
Originally posted by: Xionide
You cant take every moron you see on tv that has been prepackaged to act that way and make a generaliztaion of all black people.

-Xionide

Actually you can because they are exactly what you said generalazations meaning you will find that behavior in not all but the majority.

If you see a redneck he has a nascar sticker on his truck and his wife doesn't have all of her teeth.

If you go to a tourist area the asians will have cameras.

White people really can't dance.

That Mexican you see is most likely illegal.
Looks like we have a winner folks....and all you senitive people just need to get over the fact that if there wasn't some truth to stereotyopes they would not exist. Now, instead of sitting around calling everyone a racist why don't you go out and make a full force effort to actually change the stereotype? I bet you won't.

That black guy you see eating the chicken does have a big xxxx.
 

fredtam

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
5,694
2
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[Disclaimer: I usually don't talk education with armchair experts because, regardless of what they may think, as a trained professional I actually DO know more than they do about teaching.

Feel Free! I am qualified to teach and in fact tutor kids in science. What you are doing is admirable since it seems you are working with students the system has failed. I hope you took no offense with my post. I guess my point is you are having to take the time to teach those kids basic reading skills when they should be trying to figure out what the hell Shakespeare is saying. This is most likely the result of teachers before you not having the desire to see them succeed and assuming that they have the desire at a young age to learn along with MTV raising them at home. Kids have to constantly be pushed to learn because they will not do it no their own. It is the same reason we generally don't punish kids for crime because they do not fully understand the result. If someone had told me what real life was like in 8'th grade and I would have had the capacity to understand it you can bet I would have been studying much harder in hopes of having a more rewarding life than I do today.
 

fredtam

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
5,694
2
76
Originally posted by: Palek
KaBudokan,But, I really liked what KaBudokan said because I can identify with what he/she is trying to teach his/her kids. I was raised in a rural part of my country where folks speak a heavy dialect that most would label as unintelligent, which is far from the truth, but that is the reality of things. Thanks to my parents (both of them well-educated people), though, and some effort on my part, I learned to speak "properly", and although I cannot be 100% sure I think it helped me a lot with fitting in once I left my little country town. You can scream all you want that you should not be required to conform or be like sheep, but then that will not help you land a job at a respected computer firm or a bank, will it? Speaking clean English, on the other hand, will take you much further.

I would understand if the general speakers of this new tongue were new to the country and the language as in your situation but they are not. Dialects and languages formed out of seperation and are kept out of pride for heritage. Even the differences in the way Americans speak in different regions of the country is due to seperation before mass media. Language barriers and mistranslations contribute to fights in the street all the way up to wars and now is not the time to create new ones to add to the problem. I am not saying everyone should speak English. I do not want to be fifty and have to learn several versions of english to be able to communicate with people in other states. I know this is reaching a bit (only due to mass media) but I hope it served the purpose of making my point.
 

Palek

Senior member
Jun 20, 2001
937
0
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fredtam, I am not quite sure where you see a difference between your opinion and mine...

<EDIT>To clarify, in the bit you quoted, I was actually saying that conformity to an official version of a language was necessary to get by in the adult world. </EDIT>
 

fredtam

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
5,694
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Not differing just adding trying to make things cohesive in case things got off on a tangent while I was slowly typing.
 

Palek

Senior member
Jun 20, 2001
937
0
0
Originally posted by: fredtam
Not differing just adding trying to make things cohesive.
Gothca! :music:
<EDIT>By which I mean, I understand you! (Trying to avoid a streetfight caused by a misunderstanding :D)</EDIT>
 

J Heartless Slick

Golden Member
Nov 11, 1999
1,330
0
0
Originally posted by: Lifer
Do they really have bad grammar?
Or do they do it because they think it sounds cool and ghetto?

Example: I was just watching "Making the Band II" on MTV.
And they say something like -

"Me and my boys was just chillin'.

When the proper way to say it is -

"Me and my boys were just chillin'.

Sarcasm on>: It is genetic. The gene for grammar, not speaking the way you do, is located on the same chromosome as the genes for dark skin, kinky hair, and love of fried chicken.> Sarcasm off
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Who fvcking cares? I don't give a damn how people speak as long as I can understand them.
 

abc

Diamond Member
Nov 26, 1999
3,116
0
0
Originally posted by: 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.


yes, i'd agree... though i would notice that more often than not, the whites or the asians that do it can turn it off or on... but the blacks that do speak that way... do not/cannot... naah mean?

 

abc

Diamond Member
Nov 26, 1999
3,116
0
0
Originally posted by: isaacmacdonald
It's perhaps a method of securing an identity within american culture. In any case, it's intentional, as opposed to much of the regional creations I've experienced. One particularly annoying locution in the New York area is "yous" (apparently the plural of the already plural you).


'yous' usually comes from spanish folk and this is because in spanish there is, 'usted' and 'ustedes' , that is, you and yous.

(if my spanish is still remembered)




 

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,371
14
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How come black people use "were" and "was" incorrectly all the time?
\
How come southern white women use the words "you all and ya'll" incorrectly all the time?
How come white men from Texas misuse the words "pop" and "coke" all the time?


need I go on?
 

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
Originally posted by: rudeguy
How come black people use "were" and "was" incorrectly all the time?
\
How come southern white women use the words "you all and ya'll" incorrectly all the time?
How come white men from Texas misuse the words "pop" and "coke" all the time?


need I go on?
Gee these are new to me and I live in Texas. And how exactly does one misuse the words "coke" and "pop"? Only Yankees call soda "pop". And ya'll happens to be in the dictionary so I guess that one is moot too.

BTW....why do Black people here in Texas call it a "credick" card and not a "credit" card?
;)
 

jpbushido99

Senior member
Nov 14, 2002
206
0
0
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.

DUDE ARE YOU EVEN READING THE POSTS, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU FROM, BECAUSE IN AMHERST MA, I DON'T KNOW ANY BLACK PEOPLE WHO SPEAK LIKE THAT. AND SINCE I AM BLACK I SHOULD KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. BY THE WAY TIME TO GET SOME SENSITIVITY TRAINING, I HOPE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY KIDS WE DON'T WANT ANYMORE IDIOTS IN THE WORLD TELLING US HOW WE SHOULD ACT ? OR STEREOTYPE US BECAUSE A SMALL MINORITY OF BLACKS MIGHT ACT LIKE THAT. I WROTE THIS IN UPPERCASE JUST IN CASE LIFER DECIDES TO READ THE POSTS.