Posted by jeannie on October 03, 2002 at 10:39:29:
In Reply to: us white boys, Raul and speech posted by giveawayboy on October 03, 2002 at 08:33:33:
: I agree with what you wrote below John. Especially the JUST HAVING FUN part. I just wanted to mention some things about this. I agree w you about 'white bread'. I know in some ways when we post we might appear the biggest gringos out there. It's O.K. since I don't mind being white. I think white people rock! And far from what people say, WHITE people DO have soul. However,we've allowed ourselves to be caricatured as 'not being able to jump' for so long, or as 'not having rhythm' for so long. I think one problem is that the people who make such ignorant statements about white folk don't know alot about people in general. I think underneath we are more alike than we wish to know. I think that the key is in trying to understand others.
:
: Now I may be mostly white, but I am far from white bread. I can handle just about any dialect I've run into-- when spoken. The problem is that when typing there is no inflection which is linguistically what makes dialects understandable. I've never seen a book on dialectic grammer, so it's not like there is any convention on the spelling. Personally, I did get "fasho" for the record. But I'm as guilty as anyone for typing without checking what i type. I transpose letters all the time.
: We must never assume that those who speak or write according to proper english are unable to understand the other slang. And the reverse is true, we must never assume that accents or dialects reflect anything about intelligence. I was raised in backwoods Florida around some of the thickest black and spanish dialects around. believe me it has nothing to with race or culture.
thanks! you two just most eloquently expanded on a point i felt coming on! actually, i think my whole point really has to do with how people accept or don't accept one another by the way they write, talk, dress, etc. etc.
...which flows into another related subject i was hoping to get some input from you guys on. "cool" is a word that's been around, oh, some 50 years now and has seen it's share of misconceptions along the way. nevertheless, it's withstood the comings and goings of other slang throughout the decades. ok, here's what i think: "cool" moves on and is a mindset you either have or you don't. you really can't learn how to become "cool", however you CAN be influenced in a positive or negative way by others. although sometimes we superficially think so, it's really not about how a person writes, talks, dresses, etc. etc. etc., but rather the way they think. i've known many people in my life whose tastes in music, clothing and general interests were not mine. however, they were really cool people and we learned a lot from each other.
so, what do ya think?
: Plus I've heard you speak extremely well, you just type in dialect.
: (not mad, just having fun with this ;)