English, Do You Speak It?

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I blame texting.  When your kid looks at you and says IDK  not I don't know, just the fucking letters I D K can you smack the crap out of them without going to jail?

[LMNO]

IDK.




My mother's an English Major.  You can imagine her horror when I first uttered the word "lulz".

[Suu]

I said, "lol" once in front of my mom. And she went, "Really? You're REALLY too fucking lazy to even LAUGH?!"



Not that it matters of course. Most people in Rhode Island assume I'm stupid for having a Southern accent anyway, because 8 people this past week asked if I was from Alabama, and one even asked if it was true that all people from the South were racist. 

[LMNO]

I didn't really hear a southern accent when we met.


Then again, mine only shows up after a certain number of drinks, so...


Either way, some southern accents are downright sexy.

[Suu]

Also to OP: You should vent to Herbert about this. He is also Hispanic, grew up speaking English and works in retail. Of course, up here he's had a knife or two pulled on him for not speaking Spanish to people who refused to speak English, but you know...

This topic is a tricky one for me since I'm so moderate about it. I believe that people should be able to express themselves however they see fit through communication, even if it means slinging poo at each other, but at the same time, I also think that to perform business on a professional level, even a customer service question in a retail store, you need to be able to speak English fluently enough to do so. Then a lot of the slang issues go back to, in my opinion, parents not working with their children enough to appreciate the nuances of speaking intelligently, since it's rather important for things such as, you know, getting a job or the like, but hey, I'm guilty as charged at times myself.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Has Or Kill Me been turned into a bitching board?

Goddammit.

[Template]

Has Or Kill Me been turned into a bitching board?

Goddammit.

Karmic result of a deeply meaningful thread occurring in Apple Talk?
http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=22449.0

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Has Or Kill Me been turned into a bitching board?

Goddammit.

Karmic result of a deeply meaningful thread occurring in Apple Talk?
http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=22449.0

I'm thinking so.

[Dimocritus]

En español, por favor.

[Halfbaked1]

Whoops, did I accidentally log on to Fox Nation again? 

No, they are down on people who wont learn English cause they are from somewhere else.  I am talking about those people who will not learn to enunciate simple fuckin words.  It annoys me because I deal with people on the phone all day and while I speak clearly and enunciate words, they jibber jabber and mutter some incoherent gobbeldy gook that might be cool amongst their pals, but means nothing to someone trying to do a job, or in my case dispatch an emergency crew when needed.

[Jenne]

I didn't really hear a southern accent when we met.


Then again, mine only shows up after a certain number of drinks, so...


Either way, some southern accents are downright sexy.

Yours does that too?  People make fun of me when I get drinky and drawl.  And it's not like I switch it on or nothin'.

[Jenne]

I have some thoughts on prescriptivism and speech, but I have to call the Asst. Superintendent of Schools now and bitch out my principal.  L8r, sk8rs.

[Jenne]

You insufferable twits.  What the hell do you think the classes on English and grammar were for when you were growing up?  So you could read Shakespeare?  NO!  So you could fucking communicate on a basic level with other English speakers, like me, the authorities, the people you may need if it all drops in the pot and you find yourself swimming in shit with no way out but to ask someone you just got fuckin thru bitching about in some half assed monkey spooge way that is only understandable by your own little clique.  

Look, I grew up in America, I'm hispanic and I speak English with no fucking accent!  you grew up in America, are white or black and all you can do is slur some kind of garbled mess at me when you want to ask me for help or to get some kind of assistance from someone?  Give me a fucking break!  Every time you "Axe" for something, I wanna give you an axe to the cranium ya low browed fuck for brains!  Enunciate just a little, try it, it won't kill you, and in fact it may save your worthless, dubiously sentient carcass from a premature demise!  Do not ask me to learn to understand stupid when I have actually taken the time to learn how to speak properly and develop a vocabulary larger than what is required to order a pizza.

...or kill me.

You're simply NOT the target member of their speech community.  You don't recognize the covert prestige of their lexicon, and therefore you're frustrated with the lack of communicability between you.

Now, if you were part of their cohort, you'd realize that they are using perfectly acceptable linguistic registers.  You'd realize that they were only using the language that is commonly known within their microcosm, and exhibiting behaviors that coincide.  You do have a common linguistic form that you can share, but both interlocutors have to agree to use this register, and code-switch accordingly.

In other words, they're not talking to you, they're talking to others near you.  If they meant for you to respond or NOT be annoyed, they'd speak using the words you use in the way you use them.  So by going off, you're just playing into their hands...or worrying/venting about something that has nothing to do with you.

(that's my view on prescriptivsm and spoken discourse, and I'm sticking to it)

[Kai]

This is true.

Its only when they're communicating with YOU and being difficult that it becomes an issue. You don't go to Germany and bitch about the Germans speaking German to their friends do you?

[Golden Applesauce]

You insufferable twits.  What the hell do you think the classes on English and grammar were for when you were growing up?  So you could read Shakespeare?  NO!  So you could fucking communicate on a basic level with other English speakers, like me, the authorities, the people you may need if it all drops in the pot and you find yourself swimming in shit with no way out but to ask someone you just got fuckin thru bitching about in some half assed monkey spooge way that is only understandable by your own little clique.  

Look, I grew up in America, I'm hispanic and I speak English with no fucking accent!  you grew up in America, are white or black and all you can do is slur some kind of garbled mess at me when you want to ask me for help or to get some kind of assistance from someone?  Give me a fucking break!  Every time you "Axe" for something, I wanna give you an axe to the cranium ya low browed fuck for brains!  Enunciate just a little, try it, it won't kill you, and in fact it may save your worthless, dubiously sentient carcass from a premature demise!  Do not ask me to learn to understand stupid when I have actually taken the time to learn how to speak properly and develop a vocabulary larger than what is required to order a pizza.

...or kill me.

You're simply NOT the target member of their speech community.  You don't recognize the covert prestige of their lexicon, and therefore you're frustrated with the lack of communicability between you.

Now, if you were part of their cohort, you'd realize that they are using perfectly acceptable linguistic registers.  You'd realize that they were only using the language that is commonly known within their microcosm, and exhibiting behaviors that coincide.  You do have a common linguistic form that you can share, but both interlocutors have to agree to use this register, and code-switch accordingly.

In other words, they're not talking to you, they're talking to others near you.  If they meant for you to respond or NOT be annoyed, they'd speak using the words you use in the way you use them.  So by going off, you're just playing into their hands...or worrying/venting about something that has nothing to do with you.

(that's my view on prescriptivism and spoken discourse, and I'm sticking to it)

Not everyone knows enough language to switch registers/dialects that easily, though.  In an emergency situation, I'd think they'd prioritize communicability - which either indicates that the don't have enough doings outside their language bubble (which you can't complain about, OP, since you apparently don't either) or that in moments of panic they revert to their most familiar method of talking and forget that the dispatcher can't understand that dialect except with mild difficulty.