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Re: Black English (Was: Ebonic Xmass)

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Thursday, January 13, 2000, 16:39
hoensch@SOFTHOME.NET wrote:

> Black English is slang. Bad english in the > same sense as "Thanks dude." or "What's up?" is.
Say what? What's "bad English" about those? They neither violate actual grammatical rules, nor social conventions. Neither is appropriate to formal written prose, but what of that?
> The quality of English, by the way, should probably be determined > by how easily the rest of the country's population can understand > you. That is: What percentage of the country is potential > audience to a leaflet written in the English people speak in > Washington?
Umm, what part of Washington? The population is 90% African American or so.
> PS: Ebony is a type of wood. Ebon is the adjective for ebony. > Why ebonIC?
It's a silly name. So is "Sioux". So is "German". -- Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@...> Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau, || http://www.reutershealth.com Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau, || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan Und trank die Milch vom Paradies. -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)