Why do black people always replace "there's" with "its"?

Question

I'm referring to phrases like "IT was a lot of people at the show (instead of "There were a lot of people at the show...." OR "IT's one over there (instead of "THERE'S" one over there" --

I know it seems nit-picky but I can never NOT notice it when I listen to black people speak...

I am sure the black people that do this don't even notice it...

Answer 1

It's a very strong part of the dialect. I've noticed it in most Black people I've known. Like "axed." (I axed her a question.) Who knows where they came from. Probably a combination of listening to English with an African ear, and just general usage way back when.

I believe one can be very well educated, and still use such phrases with family and friends, in other words, when speaking in the mother tongue. Education is about formal speech, not talking with loved ones, and the two are not always the same, especially when "formal" is the language of the majority and you aren't one of them.

I don't have many Black people around me any more, and the other day I heard, "I don't have to do anything but stay Black and die!" and I laughed and laughed. I haven't heard that for years, but I used to hear it all the time.

***Edit***

I grew up in Chicago over 40 years ago, but I live in California now, and I hear it here, and certainly in movies, on TV (Steve Harvey says it all the time, so does Will Smith, on reruns of Fresh Prince) and on the radio, so I'd guess that those who say they never heard it must not be in the US.

Answer 2

it is nit picky. I dont think ALL black people do that. It may be something with your area. It might be part of their heritage or even the way their brain works. We all have faults & sometimes instead of trying to fix everyone else we need to look at ourselves & say "I'm to picky I need to work on that" A persons speach doesnt make who they are. you said never NOT thats a double negative,lol. Take Care.

Answer 3

I have been black all of my life and still counting (by the grace of God) and I have yet to be aware that 45 Million black people make that mistake. nit picking is right!

Answer 4

definite, those solutions might look prejudice. yet they might additionally no longer make lots experience the two. working example friends of mine (and my husband is likewise black, by the way) who're black do no longer attempt to tell me I could be black, or think of black, or they experience that's their accountability to coach me black. Christians (some, no longer all!) try this. The "no longer undemanding-middle" fundamentalists many times attempt to transform or proselytize door to door. additionally I even have had themes with many Christians who experience I should not be allowed to legally marry my lover because of the fact we are the two men. what's it to them whom I marry? so which you spot, there are prejudices on all aspects specifically cases. working example, content textile of my answer aside, what do you think of of my credibility in with the flexibility to respond to your question because you comprehend i'm gay?

Answer 5

Do they always do that? I didn't know that. You mean black people like Colin Powell and Kofi Annan and Bill Cosby and Condoleezza Rice and people like that? You always notice it when you listen to them speak? Girl, you really must be some kind of noticer.

Answer 6

I've never heard anyone of any race, gender, etc. to use the phrase "it's one over there". Where do you live?

Answer 7

Lack of education and I see it among people that are not educated of all races.

Answer 8

anyone that does that simply has a lack of education.

anyone that asks this sort of question, in my opinion, is ignorant and, to an extent, a racist.

Answer 9

Very observant. Try teaching them. It would help therest of us

Answer 10

words