The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

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Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

afrika — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:45:33 -0000

i refer everyone to lisa green's african american english. contrary to popular stereotype, ebonics is indeed a legitimate langauge, complete with its own syntax. in other words, if one can identify a 'bad' or 'wrong' ebonics, then by inductive reasoning, we understand there's a 'correct' ebononics. later for all these 'bamas speaking their gutter gumbo of angles/frank/celtic/jutes/latin called english trying to thumb their nose at a marvelous consequence of various african cultures colliding with backward, semi-civilized barabarians (in the roman imagination) and producing the most admired (and clumsily emulated) tongue on the planet as i type.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Therese — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:40:12 -0000

Damnit to hell.

Conservatives speaking AAVE is possibly the only thing more grating than the suburban kids from the north trying to speak AAVE in my Linguistics classes while discussing AAVE way back when. The misuse of "be" was always the worst.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

grownblkwomon — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:23:57 -0000

My sentiments exactly Albatross. imo, Michael Steele and Bobby Jindal are cut from the same cloth, both on display for the same transparent reason. Albeit with different motivations.

Michael Steele survived in America long enough to have evolved into a unique creature, he's now an opportunist. Whereas Jindal seems to be a believer in the idealogical hype; more like Colin Powell before he woke up.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

albatross — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:16:53 -0000

So, you have eight years in power in the country, during which you preside over a string of disasters, ending up with the global financial system in ruins. You then lose to an amazingly talented black politican who kicks your ass royally on fundraising, makes much better use of all kinds of new media than you do, and consistently sounds like a calm, smart adult while you're sounding like surly teenagers or befuddled old men.

Which lesson do you take from this?

a. You need to get some better ideas, or better leadership, or something, so the next time you get into power, you don't wreck the country?

b. You need to get some new leadership into your party that can raise funds and use new media with something at least close to the competence of Obama and his team?

c. You need to put a black guy into a visible position of power and have him try to talk ghetto, while the rest of your party continues along its previous path?

I think this is just the cargo cult mentality. The Repubs don't have any idea how to put sensible, competent leadership together or organize a principled and intelligent opposition to the Democrats. But since a black guy won the election, they can find a black guy to put in a prominent position, and they can get an Indian guy (who looks pretty black to most of their voters) to be in a prominent position, too.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

MikeCee — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:29:36 -0000

This is a facebook group with 2 mil members in the making LOL!

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

LFC — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:54:40 -0000

As I put on the earlier thread...

I understand that the GOP will be shifting its approach over the next few years from group to group to prove how hip they are. Next up? "All your votes are belong to us."

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Plantsmantx — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:44:35 -0000

"Sho-nuff, Michele Bachman be trippin' all the live long day.."- correct, if you mean that she usually trips. Her name is "Michelle Bachmann". Mayne.

"...but she be a bad example of Crackerosity."- incorrect. Drop the "be".

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Jet — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:48:01 -0000

Yo what up? I be wantin' to say that you article was crack-a-lackin', but what it is fo sho is Cracka-bashin'. Word. Check it. These Crackas jus' tryin' to feel yo groove das' all.

Sho-nuff, Michele Bachman be trippin' all the live long day but she be a bad example of Crackerosity. She sho' is fine do. I'd be likin' to throw grudge-freakin' down on her just 'cause a her stupididity.

Ta-Nehisi, I sho wish you'd quit trippin' on folks skin color and whatnot. You da one be lookin' like a damn fool, jus as much as da res!

Assalaamu alaikum,

Cracka-ass-cracka Jet

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Turmarion — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:02:30 -0000

All I can say is that I'm from Appalachia, and I'm one of the whitest white boys I know, and even I know it's "You da man." The GOP has no hope...but we knew that already.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Guest — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:36:47 -0000

"You see, folks, this is why I read this blog every single day. It's totally educational."

I don't know, it must be a little depressing for Professor Coates to have to start his lesson plan with "Ebonics: Chapter One".

I mean, the proper use of the word "be" in this context was thoroughly covered by Kid N' Play in their movie "Class Act". And that was over 15 years ago! Now Kid N' Play themselves are cheesy enough to get mocked in a damned car insurance commercial.

So where the hell did Bachman pick up any notion of the slang "you da man" but in a incorrect version, as to end up saying "you be da man". She had to learn it from someone. This would lead one to believe that there is a whole under-current of Republicans, butchering ebonics, that we have yet to hear from.

Considering this and how Steele screwed up with both his pronouns in his "my bad" comment and his misuse of the term "bling", Mitt Romney actually appears to have more street cred that anyone in the GOP. It's a scary thought but at least he used "bling" in the right context and the Baha Men are only about a decade out of fashion.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Plantsmantx — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:44:59 -0000

"back in the day"

"old school"

You know, I looked though every definition og "old school" in the Urban Dictionary, and not one of them got it right in terms of how that phrase originated among blacks. The "old school" was the formerly segregated black school.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

notapipe — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:41:33 -0000

TNC, you don't understand, Michelle Bachman's problem isn't murdering Ebonics, it's improperly fusing it with Minnesotan. After all, she represents Lake Wobegon*. Her next sentence was,

"Aight, shure, y'all betcha."

*: Or, rather, the actual place of Garrison Keillor's childhood, which is in Anoka County.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

xochi — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:39:10 -0000

The funny thing about Michelle Bachman saying stupid crap like that is that it just makes her seem even whiter. Just what the Republican party needs! More wiggas! Ali G in 2012!

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Tyler — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:00:35 -0000

I for one, welcome Michael Steele. Look; with the Bush Administration out of office and the economy to horrifying to even acknowledge, I'm hard up for good comedy these days.

Please Ta-Nehisi, don't take this away from me! I have so little...

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

sublicon — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:22:06 -0000

When is the madness going to stop? That's what I want to know.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Stacy — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:11:32 -0000

TRoyal,

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure she was joking with that line.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Pesto — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:00:21 -0000

tWB -- I'm tempted to say that "be" in this contruction indicates a sort of frequentative aspect, though I think linguists might say that I'd be using the term imprecisely.

Pesto, you be misusing grammatical terms, dog! Fo' shizzle!

Jeff in Ohio,

Yeah, I was kinda trying to miss on the Gabby Hayes target -- sorta the way that Steele and Bachman are targeting a "hip-hop" demo that sorta only exists in their heads. But maybe I was twisting it too much to dig at how stupid the Steele crap has been.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

TRoyal — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:58:35 -0000

>"Steele's talking "hip-hop" because that exactly how America's first black president got elected!" - desidiva

I think that's absolutely and TOTALLY wrong. In fact, it helped him that he DIDN'T do that.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Jeff In Ohio — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:51:56 -0000

Pesto said:"I've been trying to think of what a Dem equivalent of this would be: maybe if the Dems had made a Gabby Hayes impersonator the head of the DNC so that they could appeal to working class Southerners and Appalachians.

"CNN anchor: We've got the new Chairman of the DNC with us now. Mr. Chairman, what is your position on the collapse of Wall Street?

DNC Chairman: Goldurn, fricken-fracken, bankers! Dang-flab 'em!""

==

hub cap said: "Um, pesto, that was awesome."

===

===

Um, not really. Gabby Hayes is definitely western hick, not eastern. West Texas, Oklahoma or Cali Dust Bowl transplant. Definitely not Southern Appalachian. And for progressive Southern Appalachians everywhere, we understand how hard it is to generalize country folk for the exercise of belittlement, but you'ens ought to try a little harder next time, because you look about as foolish from my front porch as Steele does from some other's.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

desidiva — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:29:52 -0000

"slum love" (As an Indian, I am sure I would be offended if I knew what it meant)?

Steele's talking "hip-hop" because that exactly how America's first black president got elected!

These are their ideas to be a big tent party? "Slum love" to the brown guy and "be da man" to the black guy?

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

tWB — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:00:43 -0000

Right -- in these cases "be" is really less of an actual verb and more of a continuous aspect marker for verbs. The attenuation of verbs into markers is a well-known aspect of linguistic development; most Arabic dialects have verbal prefixes that serve as aspect markers that developed in precisely this way, though the source verbs are conjectural and in some cases not known.

Quite frankly, this idea of throwing "be" into sentences in the hope that it'll sound "authentic" is like listening to a Frenchman who has decided to prefix every English word with "H" in an attempt to get the pronunciation right.

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Tony Comstock — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:56:46 -0000

Peep for the win.

Remedial deapan humor detection classes for TNC

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

Green — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:50:50 -0000

Foulness:

They did it alot, misuse "be". I think I've seen it discussed on some blog or another. Maybe not this one. I'll find you a clip link later this evening- I did a quick perusal, but I can't burn my whole day surfing youtube!

Re: Distinguished Officials for Proper Ebonics

KarenZ — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:37:47 -0000

Zinjanthropus wrote:

In Ebonics, as any linguist would tell you, "Be" is only used to describe continual action ,Eg, "You be late every day", "You be screaming too much" or "I don't hang out anymore,I be chilling at the crib"

Too many of my White coworkers get that simple rule wrong.

You see, folks, this is why I read this blog every single day. It's totally educational. Although I used to be fluent in Jive, its day is long gone, and my Ebonics is just barely elementary. It's hard for us white folks trying to be fly. ("fly." Was that right? Is there such a thing as an English/Ebonics dictionary? Anybody?)