Bill Cosby on the need to speak 'English'

[Leslie]

Seriously, people stereotype you by your language.  Stereotyping is a natural phenomenon concocted by the human brain, and is part of our survival mechanisms.  As I pointed out before, language and culture are peas in a pod.  Violent, loud and purposeful misuse of language (foul language) is a fairly accurate reflection of the culture it belongs to.  This is science and cold hard facts far as stereotyping goes.  There's nothing right or wrong about it, that's just the way it is if you have a human brain.  That's how the brain works.  If you want to get along well with people, you got to be cool.  All the time.  And smart people know this.










Les

[lazs2]

strk... where do you live?  behind some gated community?  Here is California we have mexicans to go along with our blacks.   Now, some of these mexicans are first generation U.S. and they speak both languages perfectly... we also have wanna beees who are 4 genmeration U.S. (longer than me) who have cultivated a spanish/mexican accent to assure their falure in life.

Some blacks here speak zombie and some speak proper english...  

MT is correct and it is a prenting thing.. but we have welfared the parents out of the equation.   even if they manage to have a two parent household they will be surrounded by welfare zombies.

I am surprised that no one has told Cosby that he isn't black enough anymore.

lazs

[strk]

“Go beach?” “Can!” and “Got da kine?” (kine being short for kind, meaning “thing” or any noun).  [/B]

Uh dood - you might want to check your definition of "Kine" because a phrase like "got da kine?" is much more likely to mean "can you get me a bag of some really stanky sticky kind buds?"

Hawaii's pidgin may be rampant and hard to understand but I seriously doubt the word "kind" has that different a meaning in Hawaii compared to the rest of the country.

[strk]

Originally posted by lazs2
strk... where do you live?  behind some gated community?  Here is California we have mexicans to go along with our blacks.   Now, some of these mexicans are first generation U.S. and they speak both languages perfectly... we also have wanna beees who are 4 genmeration U.S. (longer than me) who have cultivated a spanish/mexican accent to assure their falure in life.

Some blacks here speak zombie and some speak proper english...  

MT is correct and it is a prenting thing.. but we have welfared the parents out of the equation.   even if they manage to have a two parent household they will be surrounded by welfare zombies.

I am surprised that no one has told Cosby that he isn't black enough anymore.

lazs

I live just south of the reaches of the yankee suburbs of northern virginia.  We have lots of hispanics, and asians moving into the area.  I find the first generation pretty hard to understand because they either dont know very much english and/or it is very heavily accented complicated by the fact that I dont know any asian languages and very little espanol.

I know what you mean about the second generation and I have known a few, including a close friend, who speak english and their home language perfectly.

But in the hispanic areeas which usually consist of really poor migrant and agricultural factory workers (canning and such) their language problems permeate the second and third generations.  THe problems are 1) they are concerned with survival 2)alot of times the kids dont go to school or immigrated themselves and 3)there is such a large population that they can live their lives without speaking english.

[stiehl]

Originally posted by Leslie
If Nash did that in New York City, I doubt anyone would notice.

Les

Probably get propositioned for a "date".

[lazs2]

I think we may have had a little more experiance with mexicans here in California.   Where is Hispain by the way?

lazs

[stiehl]

Originally posted by lazs2
 Where is Hispain by the way?

lazs

Here(Queens) that would be everything from Woodside to Corona. Great food though:aok




And of course...the chicas:D

[lazs2]

so hispanics are from new york city?   that would explain a lot.

lazs

[eskimo2]

Originally posted by strk
Uh dood - you might want to check your definition of "Kine" because a phrase like "got da kine?" is much more likely to mean "can you get me a bag of some really stanky sticky kind buds?"

Hawaii's pidgin may be rampant and hard to understand but I seriously doubt the word "kind" has that different a meaning in Hawaii compared to the rest of the country.

Like I said, the locals that I ran into used the word "kine" as a generic substitute for any noun.  Often for dope, but more often for anything imaginable: a surfboard, car, fish, sand, rice, or anything.  Kind of how teenage girls use the word "thingy".

eskimo

[SoulzofAW3]

 @ this entire thread.  As a young black male, I find this thread ridiculous.  I respect Bill Cosby for what he has accomplished, but as far as I'm concerned he could have saved those comments that he made about the need to speak English.  Believe it or not, most blacks don't speak Ebonics.  I'll just give you guys a run down on how most black people feel about topics like things like this.

1.  We absolutely hate it when an African American celebrity gets on television to give these "Let's uplift our people" speeches about how blacks need to stop speaking in Ebonics and get off welfare, etc.  Truth be told, most of us are already doing that.  They just get in the national spotlight and make it seem as if we're all in the ghetto, which leads to topics and discussions like this among Caucasians.

2. Even the blacks that do speak slang or Ebonics are not all ignorant.  Slang is just a way for people to communicate with each other in a way that's comfortable to us.  Just because I speak slang dosen't mean that I have a gun in my jacket and I'm ready to rob someone.  Think about it, most of you guys speak slang also.  Ex,  "I just HO'd a noob over HQ".  That's slang also.  Does that mean you're a street person or ignorant?  Not at all.  It's just our way of communicating with each other when flying.  Think about that the next time you're ready to label someone because of the way that they speak.

3.  The most important thing!  Stop watching so much television and thinking that all blacks behave a certain way.  These rappers rap about females and drugs because that's how they make their money.  I don't condone it at all, but that's why they're called ENTERTAINERS.  Just because someone raps about selling drugs dosen't mean that they're going to the corner to sell drugs right after they leave the recording studio.


Carry on..........

[stiehl]

Wait, are you saying that not all of them negroes are the same???
That those scary rap guys don't represent the majority of black people??  But stereotyping is so much easier.

[SoulzofAW3]

Originally posted by stiehl
Wait, are you saying that not all of them negroes are the same???
That those scary rap guys don't represent the majority of black people??  But stereotyping is so much easier.

That's the type of isht that we find offensive.  Thanks for proving my point.

[stiehl]

But what about THAT stereotype?  That's where my almost half black genes are bound up:D

[SoulzofAW3]

Originally posted by stiehl
But what about THAT stereotype?  That's where my almost half black genes are bound up:D

 School's out and summer is in full swing

[stiehl]

Originally posted by SoulzofAW3
 School's out and summer is in full swing

BAH!! you're no fun