Posted on 08/04/2005 5:06:34 AM PDT by SJackson
In Hasidic (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish communities, there is a common dialect called "Yinglish" -- a mixture of English with Hebrew & Yiddish words. Often Hebrew words are combined with English suffixes (ex: "I'm halashing for a burger; I'm dying for a burger.")
This is a sort of slang shared among the community, and it strengthens ties. It's kind of fun, actually, a sign of inclusion. Maybe other ethnic/religious communities have a similar type of English.
However.
In public, and certainly Jewish schools, standard English is taught and spoken. No one in his right mind would call "Yinglish" superior, or necessary in order to raise student scores.
I don't think he's attacking any group of people other than those elitists--of any colour--who are, in this case, pro-black.
I, too, have acquaintance with a family that constantly makes remarks about "filthy Mexicans" and soul-less whites. (They have explained to me that their definition of "soul" is not religious, so much as an "ability to feel and move to the rhythm of soul music".) This particular family has taught their children and grand children that they are superior to both whites and blacks---and definitely Hispanics and Asians--because of their mixed race heritage. FWIW, the family members all move in prominent social circles in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Pointing out that they are snobs in any culture is not racist.
Whoa! She has some very attrative qualities! Who is she?
I don't know what small percentage your screed is targeting, but it seems you'd like to coat the whole of black people with it and that is plain dumb and wrong. I've had more then a few black friends (as well as indians, iranian, chinese, korean and others) and you are about as far off the mark as it gets.
I've had and have more than a few black friends too...ones that don't drink the blame whitey/I'm forever a victim Koolaid (as well as indians, iranian, chinese, korean and others)...BUT its obvious you have never lived in a large urban area before...he is more on the mark than you think.
Parmar also claims that "research has shown that Ebonics is a legitimate systematic language."[3] Nor does Parmar doubt that the explicit lyrics and violent subject matter of rap make perfectly appropriate learning aids for young children:
great! Lets do an Experiment and Let all the Rappers move to Catalina Island off the calif. Coast. They can set up Businesses and construct an economy and compete with the Mainland and we will see how long it takes for them to all die off. My Money is on about 8 months. thats when they will have killed off all the Goats running around the Island and start to practice Canibalism.
Name one great work of literature in Ebonics.
2 week wonder on the charts doesn't count.
No doubt this woman will be appointed as Secretary of Education when Hillary Clinton becomes president.
Why come dis be such a big story? I knows dat ebonics be da betta languge........yo!
Bad Andy: "If I still lived in Brooklyn (and didn't have a job), I would take her course over the summer. It would be tremendous fun to challenge her every assertion and bigoted remark without fear of retribution. I predict that she would have a mental breakdown within 2 weeks."
I would want to ask her if ebonics is also superior to Spanish, French, German, and Russian. And if it is, does she suggest that the native speakers of those languages abandon their language and learn ebonics? After all, ebonics IS superior to these languages isn't it?
How would she structure ebonics so that ebonics taught on the East Coast would be equal to ebonics taught on the West Coast? What are the "rules" which would ensure that ambiguities can be resolved fairly? Where I am going with this question is the matter of the law. If you read any given contract it is pretty clear what is expected of the parties to that contract. If the contract is poorly written and there is a disagreement, then the matter can be litigated, and a judge or a jury can ultimately decide the case. Can ebonics be structured so that its speakers won't be cheated? Can it be put in "legally enforceable" contracts?
Ebonics would have to have rules, and those rules would have to be learned and practiced to be uniformly understood. Uh, that means the children would have to do homework. Is she positive that the children who would be taught "ebonics" as language and law would be diligent in those studies?
The logical followup question is that if the children could be diligent in studying the rules of a language, why not just stick with the language they were born with?
"Black Americans have been in this country for 400+ years. If English isn't their native language, what the heck is?"
My grandparents all came to America from Italy in the early 1900's and spoke little or no English. Initially they like most of the immigrants segregated into largley Italian neighborhoods, and were discriminated against by all the groups that got here before them. They made no demands for bilingual education, multi-language forms from govt offices, etc. They didn't see proper English as a plot to oppress them (how sick is that). They came to America to become American, and their children all spoke english as a first language and were fully integrated within a generation.
How far would they have gotten if they allowed their kids to speak English like ignorant quinea's from the old country, especially after 3 generations? Ok, I do talk with my hands alot, but that doesn't count.
> A conspiracy theorist might wonder if this is part of a plot to keep American blacks uneducated and unemployable...
Last summer I did a gig in Boston's Medical District, which is on the edge of the city's largest black neighborhood. What I saw was encouraging...many blacks who had found good jobs in the hospitals who had entered the middle class, or were on the verge of entering it, for whom ghetto life was several blocks away. And who could switch between standard English and black English as the situation warrented. The Priya Parmars of this world, who preach that overthrowing the culture of the white "oppressor" is the sole route to "empowerment," are only fooling themselves and their marxist colleagues.
No, these were black africans from central africa. One woman, if I recall correctly, was from Congo.
Just because what passes for enlish amongst the uneducated or under educated rednecks or hispanics (spanglish) hasn't been given "recognition" like Ebonics, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
It's a shame someone that cute would probably turn out to be one of the most depressing experiences of your life if you ever got her into bed.
It would be pretty funny to call her up with a fake Ebonics accent and attempt to engage her in a serious conversation about something, just to see if she walks the walk.
What has that got to do with anything. Half of Africa doesn't speak any form of English, they speak French, Arabic, Portugees, Spanish and German and a host of local languages. N.Africa in particular produced some of the greatest theological and scientific minds in history, which stopped only because of the Islamic invasions. A language has little to do with the creation of genius, the culture has everything to do with it. Language can be independent of culture, especially to those who were either colonized or absorbed into a more dominant cultural/linguistic group.
Ok, I can live with that, yes there are always idjit minorities within any group (I mean by this not ethnic minorities by political views). So just like there are haters inside the Chinese community that live in America and yet dispise everything "white" or none-Chinese about America, but again, they are the minority of the population of American Chinese.
I would love to see a dissertation written in ebonics and see if the author gets the degree.
I've spent most of my life in large urban areas and was also part of the trafficing, er bussing system. Most of the "conspiracy of whity" crowd that I've met were uneducated blacks who were loosers in life and needed someone to blame. Those who were driving to get into the middle class or were in the middle class and even the lower upper class (my family is mostly lower upper class) were predominently Christian, religious and very hard working people who had no time for that idiocy.
Quote: I've been reading some works by the Puritans of the 1600's. Our contemporary English can't hold a candle to the sheer music of their speech.
I've read some letters written by civil war soldiers. Their use of language was incredible and poetic.
Today a soldiers letter would start: Yo, whaaazzz up? It s so hot here by ba**s are dripping gallons.
Trying not to downgrade todays soldiers but just another example of our corsening society.
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