First time someone said I didn't "sound black", I was deeply offended. OK, first several times. Then I started intellectualizing:
PERSON: You don't sound black.
ME: Oh, but since I AM black, and this is how I sound, I must sound black.
That always confused them.
Now, I just don't care. The joy of being of a certain age is that stuff which used to hurt now are just funny. Anyway, I blame my father, who was no friend of what later became known as Ebonics. I talk as I talk, and, in the words of Walter Cronkite, "That's the way it is."
Your Linguistic Profile:: |
55% General American English |
35% Yankee |
5% Upper Midwestern |
0% Dixie |
0% Midwestern |
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Here's one of those statistical errors that madden. In reporting on the possible Rudy Guiliani campaign for President this weekend, ABC News' Geoff Morrell noted that Guiliani was in a "virtual dead heat" with Hillary Clinton (Clinton led 49-47), but that he "beats" Barack Obama, 47-45. Since the margin of error of the survey was plus or minus three points, that race is in a statistical dead heat as well.
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"She tried to warn us: With the publication of Shrub in early 2000, syndicated columnist Molly Ivins detailed George W. Bush’s privileged rise and disastrous reign as governor of Texas in the mid- to late ‘90s." That's a great line from the Amazon review of Ms. Ivins' follow-up book, Bushwhacked. Unfortunately, Molly Ivins died yesterday of breast cancer at the age of 62.
2 comments:
Wait a minute - you're black? Like Stephen Colbert, I don't see color.
I'm sure you caught Joe Biden speaking about Barack Obama yesterday. People got in a fit over Biden calling Obama "clean." I was more offended by the word "articulate." That's white people code for "a black person who doesn't sound black." I can't remember anyone calling a white person "articulate."
Roger, I live in an area that is about 99 percent white. You are probably the best black acquaintance/ friend I have!
And If I heard you speak, I'm sure I'd think that you sounded "American".
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