I recently brought some heat on to myself in the youtube comments section by saying something along the lines of "Your poor grammar and spelling leads me to conclude that you're not educated enough to say anything that matters on this subject."
Not the most mature thing to say, especially since my intention was to make him too embarrassed to continue the conversation, as using reason was not getting any positive results. But his retort left me... Well speechless.
He explained to me that he was indeed getting a college education, and the reason he spoke as if he had learned all of his conversation skills from BET was because he was from Philadelphia, and as such decided to "keep it real" by not learning to spell.
So this leads me to my question: Where does this pride in being an inept moron come from? Like those "You know you're a redneck" jokes: Why do people laugh and cheer at living in poverty and with poor hygiene instead of stoppping and reevaluating their lives, try to better themselves? Why does anybody celebrate being ignorant? Is it just a comfort thing? They're too lazy to do something about their lot in life so they make it sound like a good thing?
Is Pride in Ignorance a good thing? Or should we go back to throwing fruit at people who can't spell "that" without a D?
Of course it's not a good thing. When I see a post that is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, it makes me question whether or not I should believe anything that they have to say.
It's true. I can't take anyone seriously who isn't fluent in his/her native language. Pride in ignorance is acceptable in America because America has become so laden with "political correctness" that no one can have any flaws. That's not to say America demands perfection. What I mean is that in America, what were formerly referred to as "flaws" are now acceptable. For example, I heard on the news recently about a school that was banning the use of red ink pens when grading papers. The idea is that red is a color typically associated with negativity. The teachers were instructed to use "softer" colors like blue. This is foolish. These are the possible outcomes of that change:
1. The negative connotation of red ink will merely move to blue ink.
2. Children won't view incorrect answers as an issue, and will learn much less because of it.
I remember my dad raving one day about someone in California moving to create an "Ebonics" language class in schools.
no one is fat
no one is stupid
no one is crippled
everything is offensive
Wow. You might want to look up Noah Webster again and see what really caused our shift from the King's English to our own.
For your viewing pleasure:
Born in West Hartford, Connecticut in 1758, Noah Webster came of age during the American Revolution and was a strong advocate of the Constitutional Convention. He believed fervently in the developing cultural independence of the United States, a chief part of which was to be a distinctive American language with its own idiom, pronunciation, and style.
Exactly, it's a cultural thing.
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It is always easy to be tolerant and understanding...Until someone presents an opinion completely opposite to your own.
No. Pride in ignorance is never a good thing. It can be comical when used sarcastically on purpose. I like to pronounce jalepeno like jal-e-peno. I do it as a joke and mostly talk like that when I'm near or inside a Walmart due to the enviroment of trashy people overkill that's usually rolling around.
Back on topic. Like in world of warcraft. Someone Ninja loots an item and someone makes a post about it on your realms' forum. Not only do people not care they throw an internet stupid parade praising the person that ninja looted the item and tells the OP to stop crying.
I'm into rice burners. I have a pretty tricked out 300+ horsepower civic. I'll be honest there's not too many whities such as myself into the sport. It's mostly your minorities with a few peppered white people at the track at import events. Almost every single person in the sport is a "gangster". Every forum I post on and event I go to people talk like their Al Pacino. It's amazing how people go out of their way to type "gangster like" on the internet. If you think about it. It takes more time to type "gangsterish" than it would to type the word normally. It blows my mind how people desire to type like this.
It must be nice and alot less stressful to be a walking talking idiot sometimes though. Seems it doesn't require too much work or effort.
Perhaps the ignorance keeps them happy because they don't need to bother with anything. Some people prefer to be lazy. I know I have days like that.
As for being proud? I don't really know... people do some really stupid things and are proud of it even if it hurts them (drugs, smokes, being rude). Maybe they hate "city-folk" and are pleased to not be them.
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Quoted from My Parents(???!!!) :
Only through the failures of others can we truly succeed.
A person that swap between different mindsets with great ease is useful. An educated person that knows slang and popular culture coupled with technical language of a skill and standard English is a boon. Integrating into different groups is necessary, however I find that those that are reluctant to learn are the most prudish and simple minded folk.
An academic that refuses to learn slang is just as incontinent as the thug that refuses to learn standard English. Frankly, embracing only ebonics as a means of communication as some sort of rogue is simply immature. I understand the reluctance to be "white and educated," but a coquettish stance with academics is fuel for disaster. A modern person must consummate both tongue and culture to their job to allow for ease of communication.
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Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
A person that swap between different mindsets with great ease is useful. An educated person that knows slang and popular culture coupled with technical language of a skill and standard English is a boon. Integrating into different groups is necessary, however I find that those that are reluctant to learn are the most prudish and simple minded folk.
An academic that refuses to learn slang is just as incontinent as the thug that refuses to learn standard English. Frankly, embracing only ebonics as a means of communication as some sort of rogue is simply immature. I understand the reluctance to be "white and educated," but a coquettish stance with academics is fuel for disaster. A modern person must consummate both tongue and culture to their job to allow for ease of communication.
That makes sense. I'm not speaking as someone who frowns upon the cultural significance of ebonics or slang in general. But to suggest that slang belongs in a classroom is to suggest that it isn't slang at all, but a reputable language itself. I cuss like a sailor and talk like a surfer and write like a well-mannered, educated man. The culture of slang is vastly important, yes. Teaching slang in school would take slang off the streets and out of everyday life and classify it with education, taking it's flavor and charm away.
That makes sense. I'm not speaking as someone who frowns upon the cultural significance of ebonics or slang in general. But to suggest that slang belongs in a classroom is to suggest that it isn't slang at all, but a reputable language itself. I cuss like a sailor and talk like a surfer and write like a well-mannered, educated man. The culture of slang is vastly important, yes. Teaching slang in school would take slang off the streets and out of everyday life and classify it with education, taking it's flavor and charm away.
The question though is what portion of slang is useful to convey new ideas. For example, the usage of "whom" is dying out or has died out. Yet, it is very much still ensconced within academic circles as proper English. "Whom" is not coming back as a word.
Slang belongs in pop art and pop literature, and not in specific domains I agree. However, specific domains remain inaccessible to laymen in various fields because of the unnecessary learning step to technical language talk. Science with its vastness does not offer up a very good transitive system to be useful for everyday application.
With greater specialization in technical languages in certain occupations such as law, it bars out people that cannot understand them. With the supposed need for greater specialization in this global world, more commonality among technical languages is more and more necessary.
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Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
People would rather live in hell on Earth than live in the best living situation possible because they have bragging rights for living through terrible situations and living through poverty, famine, poor hygiene, etc. They regard living as an accomplishment, and rightly so. I don't know about you, but I would take pride in my situation as an uneducated idiot and I would flaunt all my accomplishments proudly, knowing what I had overcome to achieve them. However, instead, I am very well educated considering how old I am and I will still aim for as much as I can accomplish in life. This "pride in ignorance" gives people a context for your accomplishments to be judged within.
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Not the most mature thing to say, especially since my intention was to make him too embarrassed to continue the conversation, as using reason was not getting any positive results. But his retort left me... Well speechless.
He explained to me that he was indeed getting a college education, and the reason he spoke as if he had learned all of his conversation skills from BET was because he was from Philadelphia, and as such decided to "keep it real" by not learning to spell.
So this leads me to my question: Where does this pride in being an inept moron come from? Like those "You know you're a redneck" jokes: Why do people laugh and cheer at living in poverty and with poor hygiene instead of stoppping and reevaluating their lives, try to better themselves? Why does anybody celebrate being ignorant? Is it just a comfort thing? They're too lazy to do something about their lot in life so they make it sound like a good thing?
Is Pride in Ignorance a good thing? Or should we go back to throwing fruit at people who can't spell "that" without a D?
1. The negative connotation of red ink will merely move to blue ink.
2. Children won't view incorrect answers as an issue, and will learn much less because of it.
I remember my dad raving one day about someone in California moving to create an "Ebonics" language class in schools.
no one is fat
no one is stupid
no one is crippled
everything is offensive
and everyone is proud.
Cube list thread
Cubetutor
What "Ebonics" is doing out of american english is not so different from what american english has done out of british english.
"romeo! ay romeo, wher u at?"
"yo, ta bizzle o not ta bizzle, das wassup"
"it wuz like, da good times n' da bad times n sh*%"
"ay, u wanna kno da troof? all homies is da same"
Cube list thread
Cubetutor
Exactly, it's a cultural thing.
Back on topic. Like in world of warcraft. Someone Ninja loots an item and someone makes a post about it on your realms' forum. Not only do people not care they throw an internet stupid parade praising the person that ninja looted the item and tells the OP to stop crying.
I'm into rice burners. I have a pretty tricked out 300+ horsepower civic. I'll be honest there's not too many whities such as myself into the sport. It's mostly your minorities with a few peppered white people at the track at import events. Almost every single person in the sport is a "gangster". Every forum I post on and event I go to people talk like their Al Pacino. It's amazing how people go out of their way to type "gangster like" on the internet. If you think about it. It takes more time to type "gangsterish" than it would to type the word normally. It blows my mind how people desire to type like this.
It must be nice and alot less stressful to be a walking talking idiot sometimes though. Seems it doesn't require too much work or effort.
As for being proud? I don't really know... people do some really stupid things and are proud of it even if it hurts them (drugs, smokes, being rude). Maybe they hate "city-folk" and are pleased to not be them.
An academic that refuses to learn slang is just as incontinent as the thug that refuses to learn standard English. Frankly, embracing only ebonics as a means of communication as some sort of rogue is simply immature. I understand the reluctance to be "white and educated," but a coquettish stance with academics is fuel for disaster. A modern person must consummate both tongue and culture to their job to allow for ease of communication.
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
That makes sense. I'm not speaking as someone who frowns upon the cultural significance of ebonics or slang in general. But to suggest that slang belongs in a classroom is to suggest that it isn't slang at all, but a reputable language itself. I cuss like a sailor and talk like a surfer and write like a well-mannered, educated man. The culture of slang is vastly important, yes. Teaching slang in school would take slang off the streets and out of everyday life and classify it with education, taking it's flavor and charm away.
Cube list thread
Cubetutor
The question though is what portion of slang is useful to convey new ideas. For example, the usage of "whom" is dying out or has died out. Yet, it is very much still ensconced within academic circles as proper English. "Whom" is not coming back as a word.
Slang belongs in pop art and pop literature, and not in specific domains I agree. However, specific domains remain inaccessible to laymen in various fields because of the unnecessary learning step to technical language talk. Science with its vastness does not offer up a very good transitive system to be useful for everyday application.
With greater specialization in technical languages in certain occupations such as law, it bars out people that cannot understand them. With the supposed need for greater specialization in this global world, more commonality among technical languages is more and more necessary.
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.