My people are just destroying the English language, bit, by bit, by bit. Yes – my people: my Black people and my Caucasian people. I’m not so sure about my Hispanic and Asian people, because half the time I have no idea what they're saying. More on them later.
My Black people - wow! Usually, I am lambasting the younger generation for the way they speak. They kinda get a pass today. I’m not talking about “Ebonics”. Ebonics have flavor - wrong - but, they have flavor. My thoughts about language, today, span every generation.
My Black people do not use “Mayflower”. They have to do it themselves, so when they move, they go out and rent a “U-Haul-It” truck. Come on, people! If they have a letter or package that needs to be somewhere quickly, they use “Partial Post”. What? I remember my childhood and playtime after school. We would come down the steps at the front of the house, and after we hit the last one at the bottom, we were standing on the “palement”. O – M – G! Directly opposite was another “palement” and in between the two was a “skreet”. By summer’s end, inevitably, a ball has gotten away from our grips and fallen into the “zooey hole”. Of course, when we got back in the house we would wash our hands in the “zinc”. Goodness gracious! What always happens when my Black people have a few extra dollars in their pockets? We order some “swimps”. Yes- I’m talking about the little curled up seafood that has the head off and the tail still attached – swimps.
Like most of America, Pennsylvania, at one point, was inhabited by the American Indians. Their tribal names are in use today all over the state as County names, City names, and street names. In Philadelphia, you will find just about every one: Dauphin, Susquehanna, Chamonix (pronounced “sha moe knee”), Wissahickon (pronounced “wis a hickken”), and Schuylkill. Schuylkill (pronounced “skoo kill”) is not (to my knowledge) a tribal name, but, I had to throw that one in because of the spelling, and because it appears everywhere. Now, take a moment to review those names and look at those weird spellings. Which one do you think my Black people have the most trouble with? Believe it or not, as difficult as those words look, most people in Philadelphia have no trouble with their pronunciation. Instead, my Black people have a big problem with “Hunting Park Avenue”!! You see, “Hunting Park” obviously refers to a place where the Indians once hunted, and is often confused with another street named “Huntingdon Street”. Invariably, my Black people will say “Huntingdon Park Avenue” - every time! There IS no “Huntingdon Park Avenue”, people! It’s “Hunting Park Avenue”!! Get it right! Across town, there is an avenue by the name of “Haverford Avenue”. Again – invariably – my Black people will say “Halford Avenue”. What the humina humina? Please tell me how “Haverford” progressed over the years to “Halford”. But, hey, that’s my Black people and their own sense of language. Gotta love ‘em.
OK. Let’s move on to my other people – my Caucasian people. Our football team is “The Eagles”, but leave it to my people, my Caucasian people, to give it their own spin – “The Iggles”! Yes, that’s their very own personal pronunciation. We have a section in the city called “Kensington”, which is a poor, Caucasian, working class neighborhood. In South Philly, we have an Italian neighborhood. My Caucasian people from both neighborhoods have the distinct and erroneous manner of saying “I bet ya”. No – I’m not talking about making a wager. That’s their way of saying that they got there first. You know what I mean - the word that really should be “beat”, as in “I beat you”. What? “Bet” is not a replacement for “beat”! But, that’s my people, my Caucasian people. Gotta love ‘em, too.
I grew up with an Asian guy and an Hispanic guy. I guess with all of this “political correctness”, I should say “Puerto Rican” guy, as he hails from the island of Puerto Rico. Both he and the Asian friend have been in this country for at least thirty years or more, by now, but for the life of me, I still can’t understand a word they’re saying. Their accents are so thick that you can cut them with a knife. They may be using proper grammar and vocabulary, for all I know. Perhaps they are cussing me out for something that I agreed to a long time ago on which I never followed through. After all, all that I’ve ever done while in the midst of conversation with either of them was nod my head, as if to say “I understand”, when I really didn’t. It keeps the conversation moving and gets it over with. I still have no clue as to what words come forth from their mouths.
Well, there you have it. That’s my people. My Black people, my Caucasian people, my Asian people, and my, er . . . my Puerto Rican people. No matter how they choose to say the words . . . you gotta love ‘em.
This is blackstarr saying “Vive La Renaissance”.
copyright © 2008 blackstarr
blackstarr52@gmail.com
Renaissance, New Renaissance, Millennium, New Millennium, have you heard, Wissahickon, Chamonix, Dauphin, Susquehanna, Schuylkill, language, U Haul, Parcel Post, my people
My Black people - wow! Usually, I am lambasting the younger generation for the way they speak. They kinda get a pass today. I’m not talking about “Ebonics”. Ebonics have flavor - wrong - but, they have flavor. My thoughts about language, today, span every generation.
My Black people do not use “Mayflower”. They have to do it themselves, so when they move, they go out and rent a “U-Haul-It” truck. Come on, people! If they have a letter or package that needs to be somewhere quickly, they use “Partial Post”. What? I remember my childhood and playtime after school. We would come down the steps at the front of the house, and after we hit the last one at the bottom, we were standing on the “palement”. O – M – G! Directly opposite was another “palement” and in between the two was a “skreet”. By summer’s end, inevitably, a ball has gotten away from our grips and fallen into the “zooey hole”. Of course, when we got back in the house we would wash our hands in the “zinc”. Goodness gracious! What always happens when my Black people have a few extra dollars in their pockets? We order some “swimps”. Yes- I’m talking about the little curled up seafood that has the head off and the tail still attached – swimps.
Like most of America, Pennsylvania, at one point, was inhabited by the American Indians. Their tribal names are in use today all over the state as County names, City names, and street names. In Philadelphia, you will find just about every one: Dauphin, Susquehanna, Chamonix (pronounced “sha moe knee”), Wissahickon (pronounced “wis a hickken”), and Schuylkill. Schuylkill (pronounced “skoo kill”) is not (to my knowledge) a tribal name, but, I had to throw that one in because of the spelling, and because it appears everywhere. Now, take a moment to review those names and look at those weird spellings. Which one do you think my Black people have the most trouble with? Believe it or not, as difficult as those words look, most people in Philadelphia have no trouble with their pronunciation. Instead, my Black people have a big problem with “Hunting Park Avenue”!! You see, “Hunting Park” obviously refers to a place where the Indians once hunted, and is often confused with another street named “Huntingdon Street”. Invariably, my Black people will say “Huntingdon Park Avenue” - every time! There IS no “Huntingdon Park Avenue”, people! It’s “Hunting Park Avenue”!! Get it right! Across town, there is an avenue by the name of “Haverford Avenue”. Again – invariably – my Black people will say “Halford Avenue”. What the humina humina? Please tell me how “Haverford” progressed over the years to “Halford”. But, hey, that’s my Black people and their own sense of language. Gotta love ‘em.
OK. Let’s move on to my other people – my Caucasian people. Our football team is “The Eagles”, but leave it to my people, my Caucasian people, to give it their own spin – “The Iggles”! Yes, that’s their very own personal pronunciation. We have a section in the city called “Kensington”, which is a poor, Caucasian, working class neighborhood. In South Philly, we have an Italian neighborhood. My Caucasian people from both neighborhoods have the distinct and erroneous manner of saying “I bet ya”. No – I’m not talking about making a wager. That’s their way of saying that they got there first. You know what I mean - the word that really should be “beat”, as in “I beat you”. What? “Bet” is not a replacement for “beat”! But, that’s my people, my Caucasian people. Gotta love ‘em, too.
I grew up with an Asian guy and an Hispanic guy. I guess with all of this “political correctness”, I should say “Puerto Rican” guy, as he hails from the island of Puerto Rico. Both he and the Asian friend have been in this country for at least thirty years or more, by now, but for the life of me, I still can’t understand a word they’re saying. Their accents are so thick that you can cut them with a knife. They may be using proper grammar and vocabulary, for all I know. Perhaps they are cussing me out for something that I agreed to a long time ago on which I never followed through. After all, all that I’ve ever done while in the midst of conversation with either of them was nod my head, as if to say “I understand”, when I really didn’t. It keeps the conversation moving and gets it over with. I still have no clue as to what words come forth from their mouths.
Well, there you have it. That’s my people. My Black people, my Caucasian people, my Asian people, and my, er . . . my Puerto Rican people. No matter how they choose to say the words . . . you gotta love ‘em.
This is blackstarr saying “Vive La Renaissance”.
copyright © 2008 blackstarr
blackstarr52@gmail.com
Renaissance, New Renaissance, Millennium, New Millennium, have you heard, Wissahickon, Chamonix, Dauphin, Susquehanna, Schuylkill, language, U Haul, Parcel Post, my people
