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It often sounds ridiculous.
My white brother used to call other guys the 'n' word (with 'ah' at the end) and dog. He sounded like an idiot but I know it was from the people he was hanging out with. Thankfully, I don't have much to do with him.
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Originally Posted by GoAmericaGo
I doubt that. I’m very conscious of my words and beyond say high school I’ve never tried to incorporate any slang or “cool” new words into my vocabulary. In fact I recently started making a list of words/phrases I hear that are rather annoying (not nessesarily words that have anything to do with “talking black”) due to overuse. For example:
- Living my/your best life - very charming expression of gratitude
- bro - light and cute touch, when proceeding a criticism, "bro, your feet smell"
- keep it 100
- swag - stuff you get at a conference, like engraved flashlights or phone covers
- on God - what?
- lit
- fire - what?
- thirsty - what?
- basic - what?
- fam - what?
- sus
- savage - what?
They are especially annoying when 25+ yr old middle class white people use them thinking they are being hip or cute or “down” with black culture…or something. If they say them with an especially thick accent that sounds like they are someone like “Birdman” (a rapper) — that’s when things get in to the realm of unbelievable.
Speaking personally, I don’t know many white people that grew up in the 80s and 90s with parents or grandparents that “talked black”. For those I know it had to become a personal decision over some period of time. Some started in middle school or high school — I imagine to gain more acceptance by the people they decided were cool (Tupac, Biggie, etc were peaking in my young days so “gansta” was the bees knees) and who they wanted to be friends with. Typically accompanied by altering their fashion choices too.
Some of the girls grew up pure working class white with parents from the sticks and now day be talkin lik dis rite her…even in written form on Facebook. Now how you go from being a 4-12 yr old kid that had no discernible accent compared to every other white kid at school to sounding like you grew up in da hood is beyond me. We were in the same darn classes and had the same well spoken mostly white teachers too. The cognitive gymnastics at play are truly fascinating when it comes to adopting accents. Imagine living for years or the rest of your life where your brain has thoughts but also has to monitor and alter the sound of the words that come out.
That might be your experience but I doubt it's true of every white person you hear 'talking black'. My kids grew up in Memphis in the late nineties. When my son was in high school he switched to a local n'hood school that was majority black with a fairly sizable hispanic population to boot, along with a good number of mixed families. Most of the white kids spoke 'black' because that was the community. I don't think my kid made a conscious decision to start speaking black, but instead he began picking it up by hanging around his classmates and new friends. I'm not sure why it would be hard to imagine 'living for years or the rest of your life where your brain has thoughts but also has to monitor and alter the sound of the words that come out.' What do you think multilingual people do? It was much like that for my son, he had a vocabulary he used with his new friends, another he used for his family and his old friends. Maybe it is an affectation for some people, maybe they're just wannabes, or... maybe it's a part of what their community created. Don't reckon you'll ever really know unless you ask them personally.
Kids will blend in with their peers, while their parents maintain their way of talking. My cousins adjusted their accents based on where they lived, growing up with a military father, then lost the "accents" when he retired and they all returned home.
That might be your experience but I doubt it's true of every white person you hear 'talking black'. My kids grew up in Memphis in the late nineties. When my son was in high school he switched to a local n'hood school that was majority black with a fairly sizable hispanic population to boot, along with a good number of mixed families. Most of the white kids spoke 'black' because that was the community. I don't think my kid made a conscious decision to start speaking black, but instead he began picking it up by hanging around his classmates and new friends. I'm not sure why it would be hard to imagine 'living for years or the rest of your life where your brain has thoughts but also has to monitor and alter the sound of the words that come out.' What do you think multilingual people do? It was much like that for my son, he had a vocabulary he used with his new friends, another he used for his family and his old friends. Maybe it is an affectation for some people, maybe they're just wannabes, or... maybe it's a part of what their community created. Don't reckon you'll ever really know unless you ask them personally.
To change your way of speaking in high school takes a concerted effort, but I guess the desire to belong and be more accepted is strong for some young people.
Kids will blend in with their peers, while their parents maintain their way of talking. My cousins adjusted their accents based on where they lived, growing up with a military father, then lost the "accents" when he retired and they all returned home.
Is it that easy to adjust an accent? Seems like it would take a lot of brain energy to monitor who you are around and make sure every word comes out with the proper accent. We had a few kids come down from up north and we thought their accent was hilarious…those kids didn’t try to adopt a lazy southern twang though.
To change your way of speaking in high school takes a concerted effort, but I guess the desire to belong and be more accepted is strong for some young people.
No it doesn’t. I was talking mostly cockney during my teen years because I was around it all the time in London. Didn’t even think about it, then moved back north and was back to geordie in no time with bits of cockney slipping out now and again. Had nothing to do with being accepted.
If I think about my family up north I say things typically geordie, but the rest of the time in the USA I’m speaking RP with bits of Texan thrown in, bit cockney, and none of that is conscious effort. I just lived in places where I picked up terms, words or slight inflections.
I’m from a pretty mixed race city in the south — many poor blacks, Hispanics and whites. Fairly often I will see a white person — often women under 40 that pronounce their words with a very drawn out “black” accent. In school we had a few girls that would change their voice starting in middle school. When I worked in a group home on the girls unit there were always a few girls that would try to “talk black” and incorporate black hip hop culture into their identity. As a counselor I knew where they were from and lots of details about their past.
Anyways, I can’t help but cringe when I see it. As humans we can’t help but notice patterns so when you notice 95% of black in your area speak a certain way and then you hear someone that isn’t black speaking the same way you can’t help but notice.
It fascinates me. Like at what point do most of those people start practicing it? Are they simply searching for identity/coolness?
Please don’t let this topic devolve into “you’re racist”.
I knew a white family (siblings) who had grown up in an inner city with a lot of black people and they all talked this way. And they were some of the whitest people I had ever seen, lol, most with red hair, very pale skin, and freckles. My daughter was a baby and I remember one of the women telling me to buy "Erf's Best" baby food.
I think they just spoke the way they heard the people around them speak.
This was not in the south, by the way. They were from Paterson, New Jersey.
I've got a White acquittance who refers to the police as the PO-lice. He also pronounces heroin as "hair-ron" and not hair - o - in - like I do.
He grew up in NY and had a troubled past. He did time in prison. My guess is he picked up the black street dialect for the word police and heroin on the streets of NY or while doing time.
Is it that easy to adjust an accent? Seems like it would take a lot of brain energy to monitor who you are around and make sure every word comes out with the proper accent. We had a few kids come down from up north and we thought their accent was hilarious…those kids didn’t try to adopt a lazy southern twang though.
It can be for some people. I took different languages in school, my teachers said I was a natural mimic when it came to accents. Me, I couldn't really tell, I don't 'hear' myself doing it, it just happens naturally not consciously.
And like spuggy I've moved around, a lot over the last three decades. I've been all over the south and the midwest and I can tell you that generally within a year or so of settling the locals rarely notice I'm 'not from here'. I don't try to change my way of talking, but being such a 'good mimic' it just organically flows over me I guess. There's never been a concentrated effort to it, regardless of age.
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