On any given day, I can hear a student say some of these things:
"Is you gone stop playin gurl?"
"Boy who is you talkin too?"
"What happenin foo?"
"Why is you actin green fo?"
Earlier this week, I confiscated a note from a student. I needed another student to translate it for me. I suppose it was written in English, but it was so hard to read:
"Ma gurl got ha fone cut off. Ha moma b on sum bs. Ah ain't gonna call her no mo."
I wish they knew how closely they sounded like slaves.
Zora Neale Hurston, queen of writing dialect, made it her business to capture the language of African Americans in the 20s and 30s. Here are a few passags from her short story, "The Guilded 6 Bits":
"Ah ain't, Joe, not lessen you gwine gimme whateve' it is good you got in yo' pocket. Turn it go, Joe, do Ah'll tear yo' clothes."
"Lemme git dat paper sak out yo' pocket. Ah bet it's candy kisses."
"Tain't. Move yo' hand. Woman ain't got no business in a man's clothes nohow. Go way."
Yeah. So my students sound just like this. I really do not know what else to say.
Not all your students Mrs. Day! I text using correct grammar,it might in spelled wrong such as; R U goin to the store,and how r u doin. Maybe like that, but using "is" incorrectly is a big no-no for me. I see you mentioned "The Six Gilded Bits", I highly dislike that story all because of the grammar they used. I couldn't get a good understanding of the story. It was the the worst short story I've ever read. "Youse jes' a little empty. Ah'm de one whut's hongry", as stated in "The Six Gilded Bits". When I read this I was like "What are they saying?" You also had misspelled words, too
ReplyDeleteI don't see misspelled words, and I totally said "some" students, not all.
DeleteSome students may talk in that nature but some can turn it on and off when they feel the need to. The shortened words are to make your messaging faster and shorter not to sound illiterate our like a"slave" you may presume. But i do agree some people and students do take it a little over board
ReplyDeleteToday's African-American people talk like they are slaves and that is a shame. Personally I think today's A.A. children talk worse than the A.A. children of the far past. Listening to them sometimes, I think Jane Goodall needs to study them because now they are pure primates. And that is all they talk But every race will be save by their exceptional men! I would like to see more high diction using teachers and just other black people, like Mrs. Day. And apparently they don't know they are supposed to have a double conscious.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that Michael- but honestly Lachriss, it's different to abbreviate words verses straight up altering the spellings! I couldn't even read the note! I don't follow students on twitter for that reason.
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