Written without racial bias, just curious.

I honestly do not intend any racial slams in this blog. I just left McDonalds. The customer in front of me was from the North, I could tell by her accent. I am from the South. The customer in front of me asked the counter employee about her order. The African American female employee responded, “I’m figin git it.” The customers from the North grinned at each other. The employee was speaking what I guess some would call ebonics which she probably speaks when she’s around here friends. I say that with no ill feelings about it. I think it’s perfectly normal and I have no doubt my teenager has a different lingo when she’s not around me. It made me wonder, if I were an African American parent, would I encourage my daughter to speak more conventional English while at work and save her lingo for when she’s around her friends? I think I would be afraid some would judge her by her street slang. Maybe it’s not anything to be concerned about while she’s a teenager. Maybe it’s not something her parents would be concerned about at any age. And I’m not just talking about the fear of being judged by whites. I’m also talking about Asian’s, European’s and even Canadians (in spite of their irritating accent.) We from the South already know that many of the aforementioned groups assume our Southern accents make us hillbillies. I guess the question in my mind is should African American’s teach their kids to carry the slang they may pick up on the street to their jobs and professional life. Some may say the same question could be asked of the whites and that would be a legitimate question. My answer is yes, I do teach my daughter not to use street slang at work or in any crowd of family or adult friends. I do not intend to offend anyone by this question. I only bring it up out of curiosity without any animosity.