the tree Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 Hehe..14 going on 21. He wants to drink, smoke, have sex, shoot guns, talk smack...Don't you do all of those things?
ParanoiA Posted June 21, 2007 Author Posted June 21, 2007 Don't you do all of those things? Yep. And those things don't bother me by the way, I was just profiling...
the tree Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 Fair enough. Sooner or later he will come to terms with the fact he is in fact just a miniature you. Either way, rebellion is often a good thing, for all you know he will introduce you to some facet of Mid-Western culture that you hadn't tried before and turn out to love. While you're at it, you might want to celebrate the diversity of the English language and all the incredible ways that it can change and change back but in a completely different way. I, for one, am fairly grateful for modern black culture dragging the word "vex" back into common usage.
Realitycheck Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 Oh I swear I tried to keep my disgust of this secret - buried deep down, never to rear it's head until he was like 25 or so - because I KNEW this could happen. Yes, he apparently has figured me out quite well... I would not do this. I would make your opinions clear, but in a friendly way. Kids might not want guidance from the "obsolete" parents, but at least he will know what father thinks best and file it in his mind for later consideration.
w=f[z] Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 Why not suggest instead that he act Mexican? Sooner or later that is bound to catch on and he would then be known as one of the pioneers of that genre.... ?orele que bato? w=f[z]
ParanoiA Posted June 21, 2007 Author Posted June 21, 2007 I would not do this. I would make your opinions clear, but in a friendly way. Kids might not want guidance from the "obsolete" parents, but at least he will know what father thinks best and file it in his mind for later consideration. Noted. I was kind of joking though, but kind of not. I didn't want to reveal the intensity of my aversion to it, but I'm very honest with my kids. That might be biting me too, actually.
ecoli Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 because you can get the former out of asda for £3 while a suit will set you back a bit. actually, that's not even true. Rich white kids can spend a lot of their parent's money pretending they are poor black kids. http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=233325&CategoryID=11345&LinkType=EverGreen $76 for a pair of Jeans... WTF... and this is from MACY'S.
ParanoiA Posted June 21, 2007 Author Posted June 21, 2007 Fair enough. Sooner or later he will come to terms with the fact he is in fact just a miniature you. Either way, rebellion is often a good thing, for all you know he will introduce you to some facet of Mid-Western culture that you hadn't tried before and turn out to love. While you're at it, you might want to celebrate the diversity of the English language and all the incredible ways that it can change and change back but in a completely different way. I, for one, am fairly grateful for modern black culture dragging the word "vex" back into common usage. You're absolutely right. And the kicker seems to be that while I realize my obvious hypocritical logic on this, I still can't make myself feel any different about it. It doesn't seem to matter that I know I did these same kinds of things as a teenager, I can't get my feelings to agree.
Royston Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 actually, that's not even true. Rich white kids can spend a lot of their parent's money pretending they are poor black kids. http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=233325&CategoryID=11345&LinkType=EverGreen $76 for a pair of Jeans... WTF... and this is from MACY'S. Surely they're aspiring to the media portrayal of gangster culture...which are prominent (and incredibly rich) hip hop acts. These are people that have (possibly) grown up in ghettos and have made it big...there's also a huge disparity between gangster culture in the UK and the US.
ecoli Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 You should also point out to him, that if he would talk like that in a job interview, he'd never get the job. I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with the ebonic black language, but it's not the dialect of english, the intellectual social community (or the MLA) has accepted yet. Maybe one day it will be, but for now, that's not how most people talk... and it doesn't leave a good impression. I can just imagine going into the lab 10 years from now... "Yo, dawg, was happenin'? I need sum chedder to order da nu primers, cause I gotsta run a PCR next week."
ecoli Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 Surely they're aspiring to the media portrayal of gangster culture...which are prominent (and incredibly rich) hip hop acts. These are people that have (possibly) grown up in ghettos and have made it big...there's also a huge disparity between gangster culture in the UK and the US. yeah, and those are the people that are making millions off of the 14-17 yr range that think this stuff if cool. I think there's a Louis Theroux documentary about this... edit: http://tv-links.co.uk/link.do/1/1376/1974/15091/25084 there it is... this is a really good doc, you guys should watch. edit edit: link doesn't work, see my post #39
swansont Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 Because it wouldn't be racist, but rather ignorant, at best. Also, I meant black. It came from the black culture. Black dialect is also unique to black folks, but not quite the same thing. I'm referring to both things here, the lingo and the dialect rolled into "black talk". Over the years this has morphed I guess, into the white culture. I guess I still see it as most of us did 20 years ago, approximately, when rap hit the mainstream and MTV began telling me how cool it was - it was a black thing. I certainly don't mean to say that all black people talk and act like that. But then, that's a given when using generalizations. I still would say terms like "Yo G-money" are a black thing, whereas "Dude, man..." would be a white thing. I dont think there is any such thing as "the black culture" or "the white culture," and it's distinctions (or lack thereof) like that that make this sound racist. I rarely have called anyone "dude." Does that mean I'm not white? No, more likely it means I probably didn't grow up in California, or the suburbs during the 80's. It's not a "black thing" or a "white thing"
ParanoiA Posted June 21, 2007 Author Posted June 21, 2007 Hmm..the link doesn't take me to the documentary. What's the name of it?
ecoli Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 Hmm..the link doesn't take me to the documentary. What's the name of it? weird... it doesn't directly link. go here http://tv-links.co.uk/show.do/1/1376 under volume 4, click on "gangsta rap"
Royston Posted June 22, 2007 Posted June 22, 2007 Paranoia, I think I may have a solution to your problem. Have you heard of the nauseating gangster wannabe 'Tim Westwood' ? I'll try and find some links...this guy will probably quench any aspirations your son may have towards being (no offense) a tit. EDIT: His offical homepage is http://www.timwestwood.com there should be some audio of him talking <shudders> I can't bear to look at the site for more than a few seconds (it hurts my eyes...and ears), but hopefully there should be everything you need there to cure your son's condition.
ParanoiA Posted June 22, 2007 Author Posted June 22, 2007 Paranoia, I think I may have a solution to your problem. Have you heard of the nauseating gangster wannabe 'Tim Westwood' ? I'll try and find some links...this guy will probably quench any aspirations your son may have towards being (no offense) a tit. EDIT: His offical homepage is http://www.timwestwood.com there should be some audio of him talking <shudders> I can't bear to look at the site for more than a few seconds (it hurts my eyes...and ears), but hopefully there should be everything you need there to cure your son's condition. Well this ought to be interesting. I wish I could watch this at work, but unfortunately I'll have to wait until I get home tonight. Thanks for sharing this, I'm sure this is going to be great. I appreciate it. Also, while I realize I don't have to answer to anyone here, I feel compelled to shed some of the asshole image I may have created with this thread, so.. I apologized to my son this morning and told him he should be what he wants and that I was out of line to demand him to talk a certain way, even just my house. He shrugged his shoulders and acted like it was no big deal. I guess it's just me taking things way too seriously. But I'll still share this website/video and attempt to show him, convince him, that you should be proud of who you are and you shouldn't - as YT put it - Act Falsely in an overly Pretentious manner, just to fit in.
Sisyphus Posted June 22, 2007 Posted June 22, 2007 He shrugged his shoulders and acted like it was no big deal. And he's a teenager you say?
ParanoiA Posted June 22, 2007 Author Posted June 22, 2007 And he's a teenager you say? Yes. Isn't that weird? He's kind of hard to talk to though, so I have a hard time reading him. He's almost constantly joking, talking in funny voices, saying strange things trying to be funny that really just come off as awkward and strange. It's hard to get him to just talk straight.
YT2095 Posted June 22, 2007 Posted June 22, 2007 Meh, it`s just a Phase, ignore it for the most part, it`ll be something else in 6 months! I went through them myself, it`s just the last one Stuck
swansont Posted June 22, 2007 Posted June 22, 2007 Remember back your own teen years. Two of the reasons for doing things were to either fit in with your peers or to make your parents upset. Parents don't know anything, and make rules just to annoy the kids. I don't think there's anything wrong with insisting on certain behavior in your own house. I just think the characterization of the "you sound black" was wrong. I think the kind of speech referred to sounds uneducated (I have a hard time picturing anyone who wants to "ax" me a question as being well- educated. Especially if they want to "ax" me about "nucular" physics.) But that might not be a particularly good lever with a teen.
ParanoiA Posted June 22, 2007 Author Posted June 22, 2007 I just think the characterization of the "you sound black" was wrong. I had thought about that yesterday, so when I talked to him I used the term "gangsta talk".
Pre4edgc Posted June 23, 2007 Posted June 23, 2007 You should listen to Josh Groban's song "I'm a gangster". It's hilarious. And I think after listening to that, he might stop. And when he hits his goth/emo phase (I'm a bit younger, so I know some of the new phases), you should make him listen to the song "I must be emo" by the same guy. He puts everything about the stereotypes in a very fun rap-like song! Just google "Josh Groban gangster" to find the song. Or you can download it. Both works. Also, it might make your son hate your guts, and start talking proper, but it's a win-win, right?
swansont Posted June 23, 2007 Posted June 23, 2007 I had thought about that yesterday, so when I talked to him I used the term "gangsta talk". I think that's an apt description.
FreeThinker Posted June 23, 2007 Posted June 23, 2007 I don’t think its necessarily a "black" thing. I think its more of a media thing. For example, Eminem is white but your kids could have easily caught the "black" slang of him. This imitating phenomena has always been happening. Pictures of my father dressed like a hippy back in the 70s is a good example. It was just portrayed to be cool to do that back in those days. Same can be said of "black talk" currently. I don’t doubt that it originated in African-American communities; however its current form has diverged significantly from its roots. To illustrate by example, here in Australia it is considered ‘cool’ to imitate people of the Lebanese background. Teenagers from all sorts of backgrounds (including Asians, Anglo-Saxons, Europeans…) imitate the Australian-Lebanese slang. Next time you go to Sydney and hear a white Anglo-Saxon kid saying “SHO HABIB” you will know what I mean.
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