Who do blacks have such a poor vocabularly?

Question

I went to a mixed school in New York and for some reason black students who had the same teachers as me and received the same education as me and lived less than a mile away grew up incapable of speaking proper english.
I cannot understand another other reason than not caring.

Common word examples explained phonetically.

All right: Eye-t
Hundred: Hunet
Business: Bid-nit
Isn't it: In-it
What are you all: whutch'all
etc..
etc..

Don't they know people will not take them seriously when they speak like this?

blah blah.. all you people probably live in kansas where there are 2 black people in your town and your only exposure to them is through the friday movies. I have alot of black friends and they agree with me that it is annoying.

Answer 1

Seamus, it has a lot to do with geography and community tolerance. When I moved to Alabama, I was amazed that I couldn't tell a person's race by listening to them speak like I could back home in Louisiana. Turns out that all the people in this little town, both black and white, put a high regard on education and require their children to use real English in public (I've even heard mama tell their children to not talk like that). However, I soon found out the people who live in the big cities of Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham used the same broken, gangsta English that blacks in the inner cities use everywhere. So, to me it shows that it is a conscious effort to act and speak intelligently.

By the way, in all honesty, the whites in my old neck of the woods didn't exactly speak the king's English either. Again, no emphasis on education and acting like you're educated.

No, it doesn't occur to a 15 yo that people laugh at them behind their backs.

Answer 2

if you really care, you can make a study into how blacks learned the English language after being brought here

there are books and linguists who trace its development and the learning of it to the present day

i suspect you are just saying how "stupid" you think we are, but okay

as with many things, many black people weren't given a formal education and this mentality has been passed on for several generations amongst the lower classes

also, when you went to school, it has become less meaningful to speak "proper" English and slang terms are th e focus

as to people not taking them seriously, most blacks today are not concerned with what others THINK of them, as we were in the past

people fail to understand that many black people, especially lower classed and younger ones, are aware of the difficulties that blacks have in the professional world and don't necessarily strive for those ideals

many of them would prefer to make a living in the creative world (athletics and entertainment) or the criminal world (if they have the generational poverty mentality

there are also more complicated reasons which would be difficult to explain to someone like you, who has prejudged the situation

honestly, other than to be judgmental or having a real concern for all of humanity, i can't see your involvement

if you truly want to help, you can tutor or mentor

if you truly want to know you can read lots of books and articles on the subject

but again, i suspect you really wish to do neither

Answer 3

Look you have to understand that people are so touchy about telling a black person anything. i really don't care. i don't know why anyone would want to talk that way or ever want to be known that way. i don't think that you need to have the best English skills in the work but you should try. it is not about sounding white or black it is about not trying to sound uneducated. knowing you have an education.

Answer 4

HAHAHAHA...I'm about 60% black and I pretty much agree with you. (Of course you will be getting a lot of bad remarks because of your generalization-but I'm sure you knew that) Anyway, a lot of blacks speak a certain way, and once they have children, their children learn to speak the same way. Honestly, it gets annoying having to hold conversations with people who speak in that manner(regardless of race). My parents always spoke to me in the PROPER way so I never ran into that problem. However, their parents spoke to them properly too. I guess it would be rather hard to change the way you normally speak. Wouldnt it be hard for you and I to speak improper? Yes, they will not usually be taken seriously, but it's up to them to learn how to speak proper English. If they don't change, then I guess it's on them. Also, some black people(or any other race that doesn't speak like the norm) consider it normal. Maybe they don't want to change! For instance, Texans speak in a VERY different way than people in the east. They understand one another-even if people on the outside do not. Got it? To each his/her own!

Answer 5

First of all, not all Black people speak that way. That's just the black people around your way. There are alot of African Americans who are very successful and who speak proper. I could ask you the same question.. Why do you white boys try to act black? It's just like that in certain areas..get over it

Answer 6

Please recognise that not everyone is the same as you. Unless they are causing you harm in any way then just let them get on with things.

And to be fair, you're generalising. It's only some people that speak like this and skin colour has nothing to do with it. Basing your opinion of a group of people based on a few of those people's actions is stupid.

More importantly though, why did you ask this in the Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transgender section?

Answer 7

All blacks do not have bad vocabulary. We use alot of slang, some of us speak in code so that others do not know what we are talking about. Most of us know when and were to use "poor vocabulary". The fact that you are trying to categorize all blacks as having poor vocabulary shows how ignorant you are.

Answer 8

No one in America speaks proper English. No one. Not even you. We speak American Standardized English and Americans crying about people speaking proper English makes about as much sense as Jenna Jamison taking someone to task for a lack of modesty. Sorry for the rant but it's a huge pet peeve of mine. American English is just a "slanged out" version of proper English and everyone seems to understand that but Americans.

That being said, did it ever occur to you that they did know how to speak proper ASE and chose to speak in the vernacular with each other? Kind of like how every news anchor in the country feels the need to say "Fiddy Cent" instead of "Fifty Cents." Kind of how when I'm texting people, I type "njoy" rather than "enjoy." It's not because I don't know how to spell the word properly, it's because it's shorter, easier and I choose not to.

Sweetblue - I call b.s. Unless you're doing a world wide hood tour, I really don't see how that could be true. I and everyone that I know say "ask" not "axe" so, apparently, you've missed my neck of woods.

Answer 9

I also went to school with a predominately black crowd. you are ignorant. I know many that were fantastic and probably are doing better than you or I. That is very small for you to say that. I live in the hood, and i say aaaiiight. all the time. I also have a degree in accounting and am an LPN. you are a real inciting seamus. bad boy, aiiight.

Answer 10

I hate to tell you this but most people these days (no race is excluded) use slang and that is what you are hearing. Since they are not worrying about talking in a business since they talk slang to one another and all of their friends know what they are saying. Everytime I hear a new slang term I am completely lost as to what they are talking about. Since you are in LGBT section with this question, I will use this as an example:
I have several gay friends and people have now taken to saying "that is so gay" and I have learned that in that since "gay" means stupid. To me that means that being homosexual (gay) is stupid and I find that highly offensive.