How do you talk?
- Thread starter Specter Von Baren
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So, I was born in the Bronx in the 80's. South Bronx. I was born to a highly educated Black Father and Mother.
I was put into private schools, and sadly for me (as most people on the internet), I tested highly in terms of intelligence. Reading at a 12th grade level and doing Math at a 11th grade level when I was in Fourth Grade kind of thing. So I was FORBIDDEN to be anything but articulate and well spoken.
My fellow black forum members will truly understand what forbidden means in this context. And Angry Black Father and Mother will do the math in their head to see if they have time to make another one of you if you crossed the Forbidden element.
So, while everyone else was in on the lingo, I tried... and failed. I tried to absorb what I could from Rap videoes and In Living Color when it came out. And yes, the irony of living in the cultural mecca for Black Mannerisms and Culture and having to turn to TV to try to keep current was never lost on me.
I got good enough that I can fake it. I luckily grew to a tall-ish height, my voice got deeper (Black Bass, you know what I'm talking about), and from working out I got wider. So I can get by with movements and being terse. But my education and upbringing is always present in my voice. And let's not forget that I'm a geek, so my references are usually over normal people's head.
So, my voice is tinted with Black Bass, structured with my geekiness and lack of practice in my own culture, and I'm the only one out here doing Thalamus Jokes when I didn't hear what you said.
So a mess. I talk like I'm a mess.
I was put into private schools, and sadly for me (as most people on the internet), I tested highly in terms of intelligence. Reading at a 12th grade level and doing Math at a 11th grade level when I was in Fourth Grade kind of thing. So I was FORBIDDEN to be anything but articulate and well spoken.
My fellow black forum members will truly understand what forbidden means in this context. And Angry Black Father and Mother will do the math in their head to see if they have time to make another one of you if you crossed the Forbidden element.
So, while everyone else was in on the lingo, I tried... and failed. I tried to absorb what I could from Rap videoes and In Living Color when it came out. And yes, the irony of living in the cultural mecca for Black Mannerisms and Culture and having to turn to TV to try to keep current was never lost on me.
I got good enough that I can fake it. I luckily grew to a tall-ish height, my voice got deeper (Black Bass, you know what I'm talking about), and from working out I got wider. So I can get by with movements and being terse. But my education and upbringing is always present in my voice. And let's not forget that I'm a geek, so my references are usually over normal people's head.
So, my voice is tinted with Black Bass, structured with my geekiness and lack of practice in my own culture, and I'm the only one out here doing Thalamus Jokes when I didn't hear what you said.
So a mess. I talk like I'm a mess.
So if I'm to understand right, your natural way of speaking isn't "black enough" and so you have to temper the words you use and way you speak and act a lot?
You're getting there. My natural way of speaking isn't "black enough" for a lot of people, but in terms of not the "Yeah, man, yakwawhatImean? For real, bro. On God, please believe me with everything I love" type of vernacular that people typically associate black parlance to sound like. Typically imagine a more northerner, somewhat less gruff sounding Colion Noir when you read my text and that's pretty much how I talk normally.
I now, though, live in Atlanta. So I do code switch more than I did in Florida.
OH, and by the way, the term for different acceptable patterns of speech between the main parties of your life is called code switching. I'll speak some slang with the more project/lower socio-economic members of the populace and use the fact that I'm a New Yorker carry the fact that I might not be up on what terms or saying they are using. And I'll speak like this with higher socio-economic members.
- Apr 1, 2009
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I tend to speak pretty similar to how I speak online, I don't really have much of an accent but if I want I can do a good southern one. I do have a bit of slurring with certain letter combinations, mostly ch.
Also, I have to say this again to you. You should be writing. You have an amazing ability to write about your experiences in an interesting way. You need to write this stuff in a book. You're great at it.
Truth. My parents would not allow me to leave the house if they ever felt I was going to misrepresent them by acting "the fool." I and both of my sisters are well-spoken because our mother (they have a different father) wouldn't have it any other way. It ostracized me a bit growing up because in the '80s and '90s, there were more than enough popular influences that one felt they needed to be in on to fit in, but I never let that pressure affect me. It often made me the "odd duck" in my social circles, but fortunately, I didn't catch much shit for it. Wannabe bullies quickly learned that I couldn't be phased by their antics, and pretty much left me alone, and my friends accepted me for who I was. Some bullies actually became friends because they respected me for not folding under their pressure.
Having spent most of life traveling, moving from place to place with many varying communities/sub-communities and dialects to the point where I may as well count as an unofficial gypsy, there hasn't been a chance to develop any sort of anchored "identity" with speech and other factors. So kinda just slip in and out of various methods of talking and behaviour depending on the company, sometimes subconsciously. Also some past experiences in customer services sort of encouraged those tendencies further. At times I do fear it implies me having no real identity at all, but oh well, it is what it is. It has managed to get me through some pretty wild unsettling situations at least though. Tbh learning a couple years back it had the term "code switching" it almost makes it sound exciting like some undercover spy shit, but putting that phrase on my CV has yet to yield any positive results so far.
Speaking of code switching, my uncle (from Panama) used to do this often when speaking with my dad. They'd be speaking in their native Spanish, and my uncle would jump between Spanish and English from sentence to sentence if not from word to word.
Another funny anecdote, my uncle was the first of the Panamanian side of my family to move to the US, as he picked up English, he began to forget Spanish to the point it took my dad, and grandparents moving here and speaking with him in Spanish to dust off his native tongue.
I read a poem by Sylvia Plath.
I tend to swing between either sounding like a blithering idiot to sounding like a total idiot. My brain goes along faster than my vocal chords and I trip over my own speech.
As for how I sound, I have the neutral midwestern accent, which is supposed to be the least accented vocal pattern in the English-speaking world.
As for how I sound, I have the neutral midwestern accent, which is supposed to be the least accented vocal pattern in the English-speaking world.
That's you? If Spanish is your native tongue, I detect NO accent whatsoever. But then again, my Dad is from Panama, and having grown up around him, I can't hear his accent either despite everyone who meets him saying it's very noticeable.I read a poem by Sylvia Plath.
^This. Ohio native, and people here in the south (Texas) tend to regard my "accent" like lukewarm porridge, generally content to tell me I sound like a Yankee.
Thank you. I just showed that to family members, all of whom thought long ago I should have gone into writing. That has opened the can of worms again.
And if you did not, reread that "Thank you" again dripping with the wry sarcastic tone that everyone uses for ".... why did you do that?!"
But on a nonplayful note, thanks. I actually have been thinking about going back into writing. But life and all. The Excuse Universal.
Why the hell are you the midwestern/Southern me?
Did you not have a hi-top either and just contented yourself with a fade and hoodie shirts as well? Wide leg jeans? Did you hang out in So-ho as well?!
That's me, I don't have an accent when I speak English (if I'm getting finicky I don't like how I pronounced the last syllable in kamikaze, sounds more like the Spanish pronunciation of the word). Went to bilingual school aged 4 through 18. I'm also a pretty good mimic on the side. At this point I'd have to make a conscious effort to tinge my English with a Spanish accent
Given my Black/Hispanic blend of hair (course, but straight,) I've never had a choice for any other haircut than a fade; if I grew my hair out, I'd basically look like Don King. And I love hoodies to this day; if you see me anything other than a hoodie or quarter-zip, I'm in a t-shirt, either monochromatic, or something with a clever or humorous picture/phrase on it. Wide-legged jeans? Yes, please. We might actually be the same person, though I've never been to New York, so can't claim to have hung out in So-Ho.
That's actually really impressive if it's not a put-on imitation of English, and just how you speak intuitively. I really wish I was multilingual and my non-native tongue sound natural.
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No problem. Despite how I get during heated discussions, I really do prefer complimenting people. Your writing strength is in how personable you are. You have what I would call a "story teller" kind of writing style that makes a reader feel welcome, like... it sounds like I'm waxing poetic, but like people gathered around a campfire to hear a story from someone known for being good at telling stories. And yes, life is an ass.
The Fuck Syndrome sounds like what would be written by Tom Clancy if he were still alive and lost all his "Give-A-Damn"s.
I feel like my accent warps to slowly fit the situation. I'm a Malaysian, and a lot of us tend to speak English with a bit of an Asian sounding accent. I went to an International school however and kinda grew up with a British friend, so a lot of my family thinks I sound 'Western'. Though my British friend thinks I don't have an accent at all, but I think in Malaysia not having an Asian accent is the equivalent of having a Western accent.
In unfamiliar situations or with non-Malaysians, I'll typically speak in a more 'Western' way I guess. I default to this when my guard is up usually.
With my Malaysian friends and coworkers, and especially with people who mostly speak Cantonese - I'll start using more local slang and saying 'la-s' and stuff(it's kinda a regional thing to just end a sentence in -la, "You know la!! That thing!!" would be a slangy equivalent of referring to a thing). I studied in Australia for a spell, and I had a friend who would always find it pretty amusing when I let loose the random -la.
I generally prefer to speak proper and good English.
In unfamiliar situations or with non-Malaysians, I'll typically speak in a more 'Western' way I guess. I default to this when my guard is up usually.
With my Malaysian friends and coworkers, and especially with people who mostly speak Cantonese - I'll start using more local slang and saying 'la-s' and stuff(it's kinda a regional thing to just end a sentence in -la, "You know la!! That thing!!" would be a slangy equivalent of referring to a thing). I studied in Australia for a spell, and I had a friend who would always find it pretty amusing when I let loose the random -la.
I generally prefer to speak proper and good English.
Strangely I talk a lot like I comment. It's not really natural... or what used to be natural for me. More than a decade of working in radio really changed how I sound. I guess it would be easiest to explain if I...
Hi Escapists (audio hosted on google drive)
So yeah, that is how I talk. As recorded on a mic cheap enough that my company bought it for me yet just good enough for some of the work I do. It's quite a bit better through the audio processing at the studios where I work, but that recording is enough to get the point across. Next time I'll have to throw a blanket or something over me and the mic to kill the cavernous sound of my apartment.
Hi Escapists (audio hosted on google drive)
So yeah, that is how I talk. As recorded on a mic cheap enough that my company bought it for me yet just good enough for some of the work I do. It's quite a bit better through the audio processing at the studios where I work, but that recording is enough to get the point across. Next time I'll have to throw a blanket or something over me and the mic to kill the cavernous sound of my apartment.