Irish Translation Forum

irish ebonics strikes again! heehee

sorry to sound dumb but what does "ebonics" mean?

Ryan21 wrote:sorry to sound dumb but what does "ebonics" mean?

I'll leave that one to someone overseas to field, as this is a social landmine around here.

it is simply a different way of speaking.

words are used differently and in different order than we are normally used to hearing.

no big deal.

Ryan21 wrote:sorry to sound dumb but what does "ebonics" mean?

I can field it, since it was at its biggest here in California.

"Ebonics" was a failed (thank God!) attempt on the part of mostly liberal white educators to make the predominate dialect of the less-educated, mostly poor, segment of African Americans into an official language (dubbed "Ebonics"), and to teach African American children in the public schools in this "language," instead of teaching them standard English. The thinking behind it was that African American children should not be taught that the way they spoke at home was "invalid" or "substandard." It failed, primarily, because the African American community was dead against it...it was one of those "politically correct" things that sound oh-so-high-minded to certain segments of society, but which, in reality, actually prevent students from acheiving. The African American community wanted their children educated in standard English because THAT was what they were going to need to get a good job or to do well in a college interview. They perceived "Ebonics"as, at best, misguided and, at worst, as an attempt to keep their children "down" by not teaching them to speak standard English.

The same thing happened with bilingual education here in California. It was decided by the powers-that-be that children from Spanish speaking homes should be educated primarily in Spanish, with English taught as a second language. The Spanish speaking community here (which is a pretty large segment of the state, when you consider that we were once part of Mexico!) was not at all happy about it...they wanted their children to be educated in English, so they could become fluent in it (and so, once again, they could ultimately get good jobs). To add to the insanity, kids were being assigned to these schools solely on the basis of their surname, whether they actually SPOKE Spanish or not! There were kids with surnames like Hernandez or Sanchez who were stuck in schools where they didn't understand the language they were being taught in, because they had not been raised speaking Spanish in the home!

Redwolf

sorry 'bout that. i haven't paid attention in history class in a long time so this sounds vaguely familiar but not really. that was a pretty damn good explanation though

Ryan21 wrote:sorry 'bout that. i haven't paid attention in history class in a long time so this sounds vaguely familiar but not really. that was a pretty damn good explanation though

It was a big deal in L.A. during the 1990s. I was in NC at the time, but I remember doing a lot of reading about what was going on...and my African American friends in Durham were really angry about it (one lady in my karate class, who was also an elementary school teacher, called it "the stupidest example of political correctness" she'd ever heard of in her life!).

California schools are still dealing with the attitude that spawned Ebonics and all-Spanish-speaking schools. In the public school my daughter was in, the teachers wouldn't correct spelling or grammar, because the powers-that-be thought children "shouldn't be traumatized by being told that their spelling or grammar is substandard." That's one reason she's in private school now, and will likely be homeschooled after sixth grade.

Redwolf

Corvus93 wrote:no big deal.

To some, it is, though for the life of me I have no idea why. I spoke out on it once, and got branded an Aryan Nation skinhead racist fascist wife-beating tree-hating warmongering redneck.... and all I said was "What's next? Making trailer-park-speak into Ivoronics?"

Needless to say, it's not a hassle I felt like dealing with

breandan_ui_ciarraide wrote:

Corvus93 wrote:no big deal.

To some, it is, though for the life of me I have no idea why. I spoke out on it once, and got branded an Aryan Nation skinhead racist fascist wife-beating tree-hating warmongering redneck.... and all I said was "What's next? Making trailer-park-speak into Ivoronics?"

Needless to say, it's not a hassle I felt like dealing with

Yikes! Where were you...Austin? Sounds like something people might say here in Santa Cruz or Berkeley.

Redwolf

Redwolf wrote: Yikes! Where were you...Austin? Sounds like something people might say here in Santa Cruz or Berkeley.

Redwolf

Washington state actually, not too different from Berkeley