Is being a black American an excuse for speaking improper English?

Question

My last ? was about the dropping of the letter S from words by African Americans. I am also a black person and was tought to speak proper English. If English is your native language there is no reasonable excuse for speaking it badly unless you have had a limited amount of Education.
The ? was not mean't to be racist.

Answer 1

Just my two cents...if it was an accent there would be no issue, we have certain accents in the country, and some new immigrants have beautiful accents of their own...but "Ebonics" is not an accent...half the words are fine while the other half are mutilated and listening to that half-and-half is like nails on a chalk board...

Answer 2

No.....it disturbs me to think so many feel they have to choose improper English just so they don't appear too "white". Why dummy down? It doesn't make sense to me. Some of the most wonderful and memorable speaking voices are those of black people. It sounds so full and rich. I don't care if they're speaking French or any other language.....there's no need to not try and speak any language as well as possible.

I know there's changes in English depending on the part of the country you were raised......but I'm with you....speak it clearly and proudly.

Answer 3

First of all there is no such thing as an African American. You are either African or American. I don't understand all the labeling. Anyway, there is no excuse for any American to speak improper English since they are schooled in America. I guess it just goes to show that the home environment is more powerful than schooling.

Answer 4

I think that you should volunteer some of your time with young African Americans. You can possibly make a difference in their lives. Most People imitate what they hear on a daily basis. I don't think that the issue is black or white. Since you made it a black or white issue, you should do something about it. It's very sad when people complain about a problem and never have a solution.

Answer 5

Not any more we use to be excused because we werent allowed education but now we do it because its cute. Some train themselves to speak bad because it gets them in the in crowd. Some are good enough to speak both the Kings english and the Slang

Answer 6

There is no excuse for speaking poor English, or for writing it badly, unless you were born and raised in a country that speaks a different language.

Of course, there's also no reason for criticizing others for speaking poor English when you can't be bothered to spell out words such as "question", can't spell "taught", and think that "education" is a proper noun and that "meant" requires an apostrophe.

Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Answer 7

no is not an excuse, but not only african americans do that, people all over US sometimes don't speak proper English.

Answer 8

Being an American gives one the right to speak improperly if one so chooses. Trust me poor use of the language extends beyond race.

Answer 9

I live in the UK and young people (white/black*/Asian) who follow rap music often imitate African American accents. It does sound poorly educated - I agree, but if someone wants to speak a certain way because that is they way that they feel reflects them they should not be penalised for it. People soon realise that if they want to work in a good job then they have to tone it down.

*In the UK it is not offensive to say Black - we do not use anglo-african.

Answer 10

you may not want to come off as racist, but you are coming off as ignorant and unintelligent. why dont you reread your question and think about it. I am african American and yet i do not know you. so we can safely assume that you have not met every african american to generalize. have a nice day.

p.s. you sound like a redneck hick and "valley girl" language is not very proper either