ebonics

The word means "ebony phonics," or black talk. It is a second language for many of our African-Americans, who mostly do speak without it when necessary. Other races also have their own manner of speaking, but ebonics is the subject here.
Phonics is the main reason why many of our students of today can not spell correctly. When they don't use "spell check," the writing they do is nearly indecipherable. There are of course exceptions where some are taught better at home, or have the desire to learn on their own--having no need for the comfort of being like others.
I try to understand both what a rapper says and what he means. I want to converse.
The words "with you." are "witchew," for instance.
It is my opinion that much of this type of talk is a holdover when African-Americans weren't allowed to go to school, and only had listening as a way to learn to speak. They seldom wrote anything down, so no corrections were made. Somewhat of an inhuman thing to do to them, but they no longer have those constraints and should not perputate it.

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Slang has been around for ages
ArmyMAJretired's picture
Submitted by ArmyMAJretired on Fri, 12/15/2006 - 4:39pm.

OK for basmati. the following is taken from Wikipedia!

Slang necessarily involves deviation from standard language, and tends to be very popular among adolescents. To one degree or another, however, it is used in all sectors of society. Although slang does not necessarily involve neologisms (some slang expressions, such as quid, are very old), it often involves the creation of new linguistic forms or the creative adaptation of old ones. It can even involve the creation of a secret language (perhaps the origins of the word: secret language) understood only by those within a particular group (an antilanguage). As such, slang frequently forms a kind of sociolect aimed at excluding certain people from the conversation. Slang words tend to function initially as a means of encryption, so that the non-initiate cannot understand the conversation. The use of slang is a means of recognizing members of the same group, and to differentiate that group from society at large. In addition to this, slang can be used and created purely for humorous or expressive effect.

Historical examples of slang are the thieves' cant used by beggars and the underworld generally in previous centuries: a number of cant dictionaries were published, many based on that published by Thomas Harman.For example a 'dingbat' means a stupid person.

Another famous example, still in use, is Cockney rhyming slang in which, in the simplest case, a given word or phrase is replaced by another word or phrase that rhymes with it. Often the rhyming replacement is abbreviated further, making the expressions even more obscure. A new rhyme may then be introduced for the abbreviation and the process continues. Examples of rhyming slang are apples (and pears) for stairs and trouble (and strife) for wife. An example of truncation and replacement of rhyming slang is bottle and glass for arse (ass). This was reduced to bottle, for which the new rhyme Aristotle was found; Aristotle was then reduced to Aris for which plaster of Paris became the rhyme. This was then reduced to plaster.

Backwards slang, or Backslang, is a form of slang where words are reversed. English backward slang tends to reverse words letter by letter while French backward slang tends to reverse words by syllables. Verlan is a French slang that uses backward words, similar in its methods to the back slang. Louchebem is French butcher's slang, similar to Pig Latin. Vesre is the Río de la Plata's region version of a backwards language which reverses syllables; it is closely associated with lunfardo.

So word up dog, baby got back! I'll be in my crib, buzz me for the 411.


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