Grammar & Slang

dont forget ebonics

 

Code switching is a very valuable skill. The kids I teach are all ESL students (Mix of Aboriginal English and local languages) and it's very impressive that even very young children know which type of speech to use with each person they talk to.

Now that I know a bit of Aboriginal English myself I find myself slipping into speaking that way with my students and the locals all the time. Sometimes I forget myself and use certain phrases or slang with people who don't know AE and I get some confused looks haha.

I also tend to match my language with that of the person I'm talking to. If they're using a lot of slang, I'll use it too. If they swear more frequently I find myself doing the same. If they're using big words I use big words too lol.

People who can code switch well are impressive in my books. Call me a nerd, but wide and varied use of language is pretty sexy. People like AS who use a lot of slang but also are very well spoken get me all hot under the collar

 

I agree Whikle, the ability to adjust your speech based upon your audience is a valuable skill, and one some people just don't possess. I worked with doctors and a lot of them talked over people's heads, not intentionally, they just couldn't bring themselves out of medical speak for the folks that don't have a medical degree. They got that deer in the headlights look a lot.

Like you, I tailor my speech to the people I'm with. I don't use a lot of slang generally, however on the extremely rare occasions I go back to visit family in the town where I was born, I find myself speaking rural-backwoods almost immediately, and I also notice my accent is more pronounced with family and friends, and almost completely absent with strangers. I think that's just a comfort level thing.

 

Articulate you say,
Alvin Greene, Democratic Nominee for United States Senate from the great state of South Carolina, reporting to duty ma'am

 

I have heard a lot women in particular use th Girrrrrl comment before. The other one for women is girlfriend. I always ask them are you gay because when I say girlfriend that is my female lover. I dislike grammar and slang for different reasons. There is ambiguity in it like in girlfriend. Why not just say friend? The other peeve is if I can't understand you! I don't care how bad of english you speak. I want to be able to understand what you are saying. That is the purpose of language. Whatever I don't understand, I chalk up to jibberish and forget what was said. The only time I have never been able to understand what someone was saying was from a southerner who slurred their words very very badly. I mean I understand patois and that is much more difficult to understand than any other American or aussie or english dictation or vernacular.

edit: Not to offend some of you but I also don't like people who make offensive comments about other people's vernacular(I don't think any of you did that!). For example, I was once in a class and had a student that made comments about a teacher using the word Y'all. I am not a big fan of incorrect english but not to a point that I would insult someone.

 

I absolutely agree. Imagine how ears would be perked if males said "boyfriend let me tell you..."!

It hurts my ears so much when I hear women using "girlfriend" with one another, I have to leave the area. Frankly, when "girlfriend" litters their conversations, I've found they're discussing nonsense in which I have no interest anyway.

As stated in your edit, there's no reason to mention it or attempt to offend their sensibilities because it's vernacular with which they're comfortable so it's me who should adjust.

 

Neither am I, for instance I do not use ain't, nor are my children allowed to, but I do use y'all quite frequently. I think y'all is just something you pick up in certain parts of the country due to repetition of hearing it over and over again. It is very common in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.

 

Haha I'm sooo guilty of using "like", "yaknowhattimean" or "you get me?"

I'm trying to stop. It's not easy though.

 

Thats the worst one for me...Everyone in London says that.

 

But that's the beauty of the code-switching. You know when or when not to use those phrases depending on the situation. Nothing wrong with that!

 

code-switching. hmm, is that aussie slang? lol

 

haha no, I'm full of Aussie slang as you like to point out, but as far as I'm aware that's the official term for that clever thing y'all know how to do It gets talked about a lot in an educational setting, especially when dealing with English as Second Language learners! Don't be hating on my fancy terminology, makes me sound smart 8)

 

Naw, I heard it used several times in my anthropology class.

 

i am glad to know some cool and bright people like yourselves.
thanks for the knowledge, cheers to you both.

 

hmm...



i hope this is nothing like ebonics. :smt095

 

Where do you FIND these pictures? :smt042

The one on the left looks like Missy Higgins.

 

p.s. I should totally get some glasses like that. I'm sure you'd approve :mrgreen:

 

why stop there... you see the pimp "stayin alive" suit she's rockin? lol
(sorry but no jokes can save that boy haircut she has) :cry:

 

A couple of pet peeves of mine...

The overuse of "I" to sound fancy and educated, but they're using it incorrectly, such as in this statement (picture "The Bachelor" or some uptighty whitey show):

"We had such an amaaazing time at the beach - I really think there is something serious developing between Kristin and I."

Gah!!! I even hear it from news casters. It's not "Kristin and I", it's "Kristin and me".

"Kristin and I went to the store to get some supplies for our amaaaaazing day at the beach."

That would be correct. Just chaps my ass when people trying to be proper actually get it wrong.

And can somebody please make a bumper sticker or something that states: '"Conversate" is NOT A WORD.'

"Different from" vs. "Different than" is another one that makes me grit my teeth - almost nobody gets it right anymore.

Lastly... I live in an urban southern city and am used to plenty of slang. I don't necessarily look like I am "down with the brown" so sometimes when I go into a downtown drugstore or somewhere, I will hear a couple of guys talking slang so hard about me (right after I walk in), and they think I can't understand them, but I can. Assuming someone can't understand what you're saying is very dangerous.

It is also annoying that because I speak relatively "properly", people think I'm uppity and come from affluence, can't possibly relate to them, etc. It takes people a while before they realize they can't pigeonhole me like that.

 

Yes communication skills and grammar are important to me. I don't like to fill in the blanks nor translate what someone is attempting to communicate because I'll end up misunderstanding something as I've used my own internal filter to figure out what the heck is going on. I'd rather the person get the message across clearly and concisely but if they cannot, then I'll do my best to understand