Ebonics = Uneducated?

Question

What is with kids today and wanted to talk like uneducated street garbage? I don't understand Ebonics at all. I'd only use Ebonics if i needed to prove to someone that i don't grasp the English language and/or i never pasted the 3rd grade.

Opinions?

Answer 1

You are so right, I can't think of anything to add. Oh, except this. I have heard people use Ebonics in the workplace, and their boss/coworkers/customers couldn't even understand what they were saying because they were mangling the language so badly. Does this make you a valuable employee, deserving of promotion of higher wages? If it were up to me, I would never hire anyone who spoke like that, unless the job didn't require them to communicate with anyone, even me.
I am with you. Ebonics is not a language; it is only proof that a person is uneducated and ignorant.

Answer 2

Actually, Ebonics is a speech pattern common amongst many urban African Americans which goes back to the grammar and speech patterns of African languages. It's unique, as are many local dialects.

I'm a hillbilly and have read that much of the accent and words common in Appalachia go back to Elizabethan England. Old words, like "plather", used by Shakespeare were/are still used by mountain people. I like to think of it as "hillbonics". ;.)

That said, using a dialect isn't at all helpful in the larger world. It's bound to hold you back. A dialect may be correct and even important in your home, but isn't the correct English required in the world at large.

Answer 3

Though I agree, ebonics is a form of language used by people of African ancestry.

Answer 4

Yes, obviously!