White people that “talk black” (college, adult, father)

[Spuggy]

Originally Posted by ClaraC

Do you also wonder why Cajuns insist on talking the way they do, and people from Boston insist on talking the way they do?

Or heavens to Betsy one might quake hearing Hawaiian Pidgin
https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/t...aiian-english/

[cedew]

I had a buddy that went to Australia for a year and came back with the accent and using their slang. It didn't make any of us cringe though, probably because none of us disliked Australians.

[b29510]

why dont black folks start speaking white, maybe not white white, but business speech,


even snoop dog speak business speech at time, like blankly and shad

[Spuggy]

Originally Posted by b29510

why dont black folks start speaking white, maybe not white white, but business speech,


even snoop dog speak business speech at time, like blankly and shad

which version of white are you referring to?

[Foamposite]

Black culture is extremely influential on the youth. So it doesn't surprise me to hear if there are white people like that. I know tons of Hispanics like that.

[Foamposite]

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
- bro
- keep it 100
- swag
- on God
- lit
- fire
- thirsty
- basic
- fam
- sus
- savage

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.

I'm pretty sure "bro" was actually a stereotypical white thing that eventually became common among black people too.

[Ann Alison]

My favorite American accents are the Southern ones, from Texas to Charleston. But my favorite of all is Madea's Atlanta.

This has nothing to do with Black or White speakers, but I think it's fascinating:

I read a little in wikipedia - and there are tons of articles - about American accents. Apparently, Southerners are pronouncing the words correctly - so many words and vowels from so many origins/languages. Meanwhile, Yanks like me who think they have NO accent have, over time, flattened (for lack of a better term) all the wonderful, various vowel sounds to where there are only one or two ways to pronounce a vowel or vowel combination. It's like digitized English; it took all the flavor out of it. Sorry about that.

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by GoAmericaGo

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.

My good friend would spend the school year in MN with his mom. Then he’d spend the summer with his dad in Kentucky and would always come back with a very noticeable southern drawl. It would slowly go away during school year.

[CorporateCowboy]

Originally Posted by GoAmericaGo

White people that “talk black”

Originally Posted by GoAmericaGo

I’m from a pretty mixed race city in the south — many poor blacks, Hispanics and whites.

An impoverished area will be less educated, as a whole, regardless of race; speech patterns are relative to a person’s circumstance or surroundings i.e. the need to fit in or adapt to one’s environment, particularly when necessary. Consider two extremes - a professional standard vs. prison.

[GoAmericaGo]

Originally Posted by zentropa

What are your thoughts about black people who "talk white"? Is that equally cringey for you? Or do see black dialect and slang as somehow inferior or undesirable? Why's that?

What is “talking white”? Pronouncing and spelling words the way they are meant to be said/spelled isn’t exclusive to any one race. Most of us do at least 12-13 years of schooling where that is in part a goal of teachers.