Re: Another racist rant from me

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:59:29 -0500, Bob Mann <Bobo@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:13:01 GMT, Sean <no.spam@xxxxxxx> wrote:

.p.jm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I think your took's too tight, eh ?

It's "toque", you hoser!
See Canadian satire zine http://www.thetoque.com/ .

Although some Africanization of English was inevitable
(words such as "banjo", "yam" and "impala"), the issue here
is grammar. By Occam's Razor, the British origin theory
seems to be more creditable than the African. See below.

Frankly, I think both are reaching a bit.
The first colonists sailed from Plymouth in the SW of England but
there is no real evidence I have ever seen that other than the sailing
crew were predominately from that area.
Although the first pilgrims are often associated with that origin,
most of the later wealthier land owners were fairly well educated and
settled further south. This is especially true of the slave owners.
They obviously had the money. The wealthiest probably had little to do
with their slaves handing that responsibility off to managers and
formen.

IMHO, the origins of "ebonics" is a general lack of education over
some large time frame and a wish to have something of their own.
Similar bastardizations of basic grammar are evident among the poor
and uneducated whites of various areas including just about all large
cities.

The word '***' has the same roots, having come from 'Negro'
to 'Negra' to 'Nigra' and finally '***', by sucessive morphing,
mainly by uneducated southern whites who weren't particularly careful
with their English.

In my mind, ebonics is little different than Cockney English, Scouse,
Joual, Cajun or any other dialect. People enjoy having something that
sets them apart, sort of a reverse pride in a lack of ambition,
regionalism and poverty. It makes being on the bottom rung a little
more palatable. This is the reason you will find some of the most
incomprehensible accents and dialects in inner cities and poorer rural
areas around the world. Isolation (forced or by choice), lack of
education and belonging to an exclusive club.

And it is a way to guarantee that you STAY on that bottom
rung. Cajun is another example of it - there is a small area in
Louisiana etc where it is spoken, and those people have chosen to
isolate themselves in their own little society.


I often shudder at some of the usage of English made by otherwise
educated people on usenet so it isn't difficult to see why people
would enjoy fucking up the language if proper grammar and usage is
seen as the domain of the wealthy, priviledged and educated. If you
don't see yourself as having a shot at that life you will try to
distance yourself from it and try to generate some pride in not being
a part of it.

And over generations, it becomes cultural, it continues to
morph, and those who grow up in it often aren't capable of discarding
those habits, which means they carry their 'group identity' with them
in every word and inflection, and every time they open their mouths
they announce that they are not part of the rest of the society.


--
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