Do you want to learn Ebonics?

[coloradodem2005]

Check this site out.

http://www.joel.net/EBONICS/translator.asp

[Kamika]

1. heh

I actually have real ebonic dictionaries in my bookmarks

[Bucky]

2. Two truths about ebonics. Plus an opinion

When the fad about Ebonics first came into the mainstream, I immediately recognized it for what it was. Yet another attempt to lower the standards for (and educational resources dedicated to) inner city black kids. The fact is that learning and being well schooled in standardized, textbook English and being well grounded in the literature of the English language, are critical tools for long term success for all children. If you redirect resources away from students and replace them with Ebonics teaching, you're damaging them.

But there's another side to the story. The rules of English grammer are not part of some absolute truth the way that history or science or math are. Grammar is a description of the way people really communicate. The racist website you've directed us to treats standard black English and some of its associated slang as the tropes of ignorance and violence. But really all dialects, whether book-based or community based, tend to conform to standard rules. Ebonics is no different. People who speak standardized black English conform to the same types of descriptive rules that the speakers of any other language and dialect adhere to.

I think that the word "Ebonics" itself is pretty dumb, being a melding of "Ebony" and "phonics." It's bad marketing and the word sounds ridiculous. But underneath that goofiness lays a truth; that language is often used as a blunt instrument of class bias to undermine some students' confidence and that the classroom in a multicultural society is going to have kids with a mix of backgrounds. A good teacher needs to do here job and teach all of them, but they all also need to learn to appreciate where they come from as well.

[radwriter0555]

3. And to add what you've said, it's just plain racist as well....

no offense.

Just don't need all those pretty words for that kind of thing.

[Kamika]

4. chill

dawg

Dis site is all dat http://www.asksnoop.com/


ya'll wit it?


shizzle on mah nizzle I'm juz learning ebonics, be patient with me foo

[Bucky]

9. HA! Excellent! Snoop is the shits.

I'm gonna go Snoopify my blog.

[Dr Fate]

10. The Passion of da Big Baby Bush

The Passion of da Big Baby Bush

February 26, 2004 · Mel Gibson 'n tha dude's defenders has charged that anyone who objects tha dude's Jesus biopic is doing so out of a knee-jerk political agenda 'n not giving da movie itself a fair chance be evaluated on its own merits 'n faults n' shit. Wasn’t that shiznit three months or so ago when conservatives wuz going bananas over da Televizzle movie “The Reagans,” eventually crowing wit triumph when CBS caved in they pressure 'n refused izzle that shiznit? By Kevin Dawson

[Kamika]

12. word!

trippin' review

[DrWeird]

6. A bit of a disjointed post.

You say Ebonics, or African American Vernaculat English as the linguists would say, is a perfectly legitimate dialect. Just as much as the Queen's English, or Long Island Lockjaw. And linguists would agree with you.

Yet you also say that including it in the classroom would be lowering the standards.

That just doesn't make sense.

[Bucky]

8. When I write for adults I don't tend to underline my thesis sentence

Sorry for the disjointedness. I think there's value on both sides of the argument. What I wrote included this statement:

If you redirect resources away from students and replace them with Ebonics teaching, you're damaging them.

In classroom practice, the conflict a teacher faces is based on two hard facts of life:

(1) A teacher must give a student the tools to be successful in life. If we don't teach students to communicate comfortably and fluidly in a business or professional environment, we're being bad teachers. The linguists who agree that AAVE is a "legitimate," or standard, dialect don't have to worry a goddamn about preparing actual students for success in college or careers. I do.

(2) Students, parents, and most teachers come to the problem of teaching English language skills with the assumption that "African American Vernacular English" (thanks, I'd forgotten the official name that linguists use in college) is sub-standard. It isn't substandard, but it is part of a different standard. Kids who don't learn to negotiate those differences can lose opportunities; kids who don't understand that different doesn't mean "sub" can lose self-respect.

It's all a hell of a juggle for the teacher and even moreso for the student. I hope that makes my position clearer.

[kixot]

5. Site is a bit racist but...

Where else can you get something as funny as this?:


We da peeps o' da United States, in order ta form uh mo' perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide fo' da common defense, promote da general welfare, an' secure da blessings o' liberty ta ourselves an' our posterity, do ordain an' establish dis here Constitution fo' da United States o' America. slap mah fro!

[private_ryan]

11. why is it racist??????

is it inventing it or some people speak like this? if it's the first one, then I agree. If they make fun of something I do it's fair game, isn't it?

[Bucky]

14. The racism is in the tag-on lines that it adds.

Black people I know don't go around threatening to bitch slap each other all the time. The only black person to ever threaten to bitch slap me was this girl I went out with once... and looking back I think I probably deserved it.

[private_ryan]

15. so who mostly speaks or started this "language"?

I'm curious.

[kixot]

16. Oh, let's get real here.

"slap mah fro!"?

[private_ryan]

18. ok, here we go

I had no clue what It meant but here it is. Apparently is it used.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=slap+mah+fro

and here's racism:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=racist&r=67
The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

[Ellen Forradalom]

7. Oh, it's a front end to the jive filter

That text filter, an old sed program, has been around forever, as long as the Swedish Chef or Valley Girl filters.

[MAlibdem]

13. My college essay in Ebonics

Describe an interest or activity dat has been particularly meaningful ta ya.

Philosophy has always been an interest o' mine. I gots been extremely pleased wiff muh ma fuckin AP English Language an' Composition class dis here year cuz o' its philosophic focus. I wuz excited ta gots da opportunity ta posit some o' muh ma fuckin own philosophical views in uh paper addressing da queshun “What iz humankind?” fo' dis here class. The following iz da paper’s introduction:

Humankind can be neatly defined by breaking down categories such as matter, organisms, animals, mammals, an' primates ta arrive at da species Homo sapiens. This definition o' humankind iz valuable in its own realm, biology. However, da purpose o' dis here essay iz not uh biological investigation ta bettah define da species. It iz ta explore humankind as uh philosophical entity.
Humankind iz potential. Humans gots da potential fo' pimp-tight or evil, fo' knowledge or ignorance, fo' diligence or laziness. Humans iz entrusted wiff da grave responsibility o' havin' nahh absolute reason fo' existence (or at least uh knowable reason fo' existence) an' da potential ta determine they destiny in da world. If humankind can become anythin' an' potentially change da world in any way, then defining humankind as an end result iz not possible.
Because unlimited potential means unlimited results, I will refuse ta acknowledge absolutes. In da absence o' absolutes, including moral absolutes, one might suspect dat dis here paper will be devoid o' morality. In fact, da opposite iz da case. Instead o' trying ta define humankind, uh bettah process ta take towards understanding humankind may be found by asking: how can humans, without any apparent reason fo' existence, live wiff da potential fo' anythin' an' exist morally?
The fact dat process defines result mus' be acknowledged. Defining humankind as uh result iz impossible, cuz nahh process has been taken towards dis here result. But defining humankind as uh process iz possible. The only thin' dat humans gots in common, besides they biological makeup, iz potential. It iz da ability ta change an' ta adapt; it iz da process o' life. This iz da process by which all humans iz similar, but nahh two humans can be defined in da same way.

According ta John Locke an' other empiricists, da process o' life defines da individual. My views, including those expressed in muh ma fuckin paper, iz da sum o' muh ma fuckin entire experience, muh ma fuckin life’s process. I can, however, identify uh major catalyst in muh ma fuckin process. I gots spent approximately nine months o' muh ma fuckin life at Camp Becket. In dis here short tyme I prob'ly developed most significantly as uh moral thinker than at any other tyme. Becket’s idyllic setting in da Berkshires provides uh gorgeous backdrop o' purity fo' thinking an' living. One o' Becket’s major goals iz turning nigs into thoughtful men. To accomplish dis here goal, Becketites iz expected ta live up ta da camp’s eight mottos, attend uh non-religious chapel-by-the-lake service each week exploring topics from “diamond in da rough” ta “frames o' reference”, an' gots cabin chats each night on how ta approach ethical dilemmas, what it means ta value somethin', an' what role da individual plays in society an' da world.
For me, Becket has served as uh break from skoo, ta regain peace o' mind an' pursue goals wiff nahh external pressures. Each year at Becket I learned somethin' new dat has contributed ta muh ma fuckin way o' thinking philosophically, ta muh ma fuckin process: how ta live morally without organized religion, da peace o' mind dat comes wiff working hard, what brotherly love means, an' about living wiff, not against, da natural world. The camp iz devoted ta allowing campers ta draw they own conclusions an' define they own philosophies fo' living. Because o' muh ma fuckin love o' da camp an' muh ma fuckin niggas dere, I hope ta he`p continue da traditions at Becket as uh counselor in coming years. The lessons I learned dere gots improved muh ma fuckin process o' thinking an' continue ta allow me ta develop muh ma fuckin own philosophy.
be understanding dis negroid-american languag foo'


Edit: I know it's a little bit pretentious, but i'm applying to a bunch of pretentious places

[markses]

17. Uh...most linguists recognize AAVE as a legitimate language

with actual linguistic features that qualify it as a dialect.

AAVE = African American Vernacular English

Perhaps folks should read more about the work being done in linguistics and socio-linguistics before they post the "snoop-icize it" link.

http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/aave.htm

http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/aavesem/Biblio.html

http://www.arches.uga.edu/~bryan/AAVE/

[northzax]

19. but they talk funny

doesn't that mean we get to make fun of them and stuff? It's the american way!

and anyone who thinks a school is really going to teach 'ebonics' didn't bother to follow the debate very well. The idea was not to teach 'ebonics" (AAVE) but to recognize it and use it in teaching the "queen's English" as a foreign language, which it basically is. Hell, who talks like they write papers? very few people that I know, we need to be taught at a young age the difference between the vernacular and 'proper' language. THe American school system assumes this difference will be taught at home, and that is failing students.