Articulation

When I started this blog, it was supposed to be about how awesome the English language is but I have since tweaked my focus to talk more about the problems associated with language. English can be communicated verbally using many dialects as I have already mentioned. Good verbal skills does not always translate into good or even passing written skills and vice versa. I sometimes struggle with verbal communication especially if I have to change my dialect between settings throughout the day. The change is evident hours later as I stumble over my words. I seem like a stuttering mess as I try to articulate my thoughts.
Should a person worry about using proper English ( if they don't) on a daily basis just to keep in practice or speak in a dialect that feels comfortable? Should we judge someone's intelligence based on how well they speak? Is it what we say or how we say it that's important? We've been told this all our lives but is it true?

"Slap ya Mama"

While shopping in Wal-mart, I noticed this bright yellow container. In big red letters, I saw the words "Slap ya Mama". I could not believer my eyes. I haven't heard that phrase in forever. For all of you who don't understand  slang, ebonics, or country english, this is a phrase used when a food taste so good that there are no other words to describe it. The food is said to be so good it will make you want to slap your mother. I never would have thought someone whould put that on a product to sell in a store. I'm not sure who purchases this cajun seasoning but there was only one container left on the shelf. The product inside is probably good but I questioned if I would buy based on the slang name. For the remainder of my time in Wal-mart, I thought about this. I still don't have an answer. Does a product have less of an appeal when the name is not Standard English? There could be a good product in the container or it could be as good as the name. Does the name make a different?

Thinking about this made me question how I judge things based on language. I never thought of myself as a person who purchased things based on name but I guess the name does factor into it. If I were shopping for cajun seasoning at the time, I would have probably looked over the "Slap ya Mama" brand and chose another more well known brand. With this thought in mind, I have now decided to try to look past the name of a product and look more into the quality. I'm sure the quality of this seasoning is good after all there was only one left on the shelf. There were other people who thought enough to buy this product. I asked a few people what they thought about the cajun seasoning name and found their responses interesting. Some people didn't know what the phrase meant and so I explained. The other people knew what the phrase meant and said that they would buy based on the name.

Country Mouse

It has been my experience thatintelligence is associated with how well one speaks English. I have spokenEnglish since forever or at least I thought until I moved to Florida. I wasquickly informed that I was not speaking English. City people can be so cruel.I was not thinking about my speaking ability because the only thing on my mindwas having fun. I moved from a small town in East Texas to the big city ofTampa, Florida. The population is about 50% white, 40% black, 6% Hispanic, and4% other in my hometown. It does not matter who they are, almost everyone in mysmall hometown speaks the same way. It was one of the happiest, one of the mostembarrassing, and one of the biggest learning experiences of my life.

            It wasn’t until a few months laterwhen I went job hunting that I realized that I was different than the peoplewho lived in Tampa. After answering the question “Where are you from” a milliontimes, I started to think that something was different. I tried to put it outof my mind, but I kept asking myself the same question “Why do they want toknow where I’m from”? I found a job and went in for training. The girl whotrained me, Nicole, kept asking “What did you say” and I kept repeating. Now Ihad questions “Is she deaf or just trying to be funny”? And then, it happened acouple weeks later. She said, “Girl, I’m going to teach you how to speakEnglish”. I’m not sure if it was possible before but, simultaneously, I feltembarrassment and happiness overcome me. Before my transformation, I heard all kindsof backwoods jokes and comments. Afterwards, I could go out with them inpublic. Yea!!! Yeah right. I felt more confused now than ever before. Why wasit so important for me to learn to speak the way that others spoke? It’s THEaccepted language in America.

She helped me for weeks and never teasedme about my dialect anymore. At first, it was like Ellie Mae Clampett hadstepped into the building, but then… I was one of them. To complicate matters,I started learning Spanish. Not only do I have an East Texas dialect and a StandardEnglish dialect but now I have Spanish. Yea! I decided to major in English and I want to learn as much as I possibly can learn about this wonderful language.

Now as an English major, I have bettercontrol over my different dialects and use them when appropriate. There aretimes when one of them may slip out at the wrong time, but I quickly recover. Iwanted to study English as a way to help with my “deficiency” and improve uponwhat I had learned.