To be perfectly honest, I couldn't care less if the American flag stood for a bit of nooky on the side every Thursday night.

You can't be tried for treason if you are not a member of the country. In which case they try you instead for terrorism and lock you up for years without really bringing charges against you.

And that's the way the 'civilised world' works.

I mangle the English language for fun sometimes...

Last night I yelled EL OH EL! when I found something funny. The people around me started laughing because they knew I spend too much time online.

I usaully yell 'w00t' or 'o noes!' depending on the situation.

And if being cornered and in deep shit, I sometimes scream, 'WTF, 1337 HaXorZ!!!'

And yet I can still speak proper English when need be.

On IM I can see where people, including myself, abbreviate words for the sheer reason they are a mediocre typist, and they want to get their little shout in before the 9 or so people in the chat room go yelling 'MOOOOOSE' and your reply to the above subject is forgotten.

thx

You have a problem with colloquialism? My suggestion is to leave the planet because that is the only way to avoid it. Ebonics is just as valid as any other dialect. It has a wide following of people who do understand it. If you can not, then that is your problem, not anyone elses. People who use ebonics are not incomprehensible to most people.

Alternatively, you can force everyone to learn lojban.

That's definitely debatable.

I like the way you do that right thurr right thurr

I bet that song must've cheesed you off. :haha:

The only reason people talk like that mj is because they want to be different and the desire to be different or to be the same is ultimatly what causes most of the worlds problems.

Throwing aside your politically biased views you really need to ask your self why should the law of this land apply to people in other lands? That is THE most pig-headed thing I have ever heard an American say and believe me you guys are bad when it comes to being Imperialistic, yet at the same time you can spout out an incredibly humanitarian view in the same post. If you ask me your a rather strange subject mj I can't pinpoint your views exactly but don't you fret I'm still going to study you :)

@ NonGayMan. I haven't heard of it samples?

Why is it called Ebonics anyways? I hear more white people talk like that than black people if anything I would say its Leblanconics or Wiessonics. In fact most black people I know hate that dialect. Mj the biggest reason I hate it is not because you sound like an idiot when you speak but because it is completely possible for an extremist group like the KKK or even some Neo Nazi group to make a dialect for white people, which would only create an even bigger gap between people than there already is. The worst part is that IF it gets that bad we might just have some kind of race wars and it won't end there because then white people would use the excuse of not understanding black people in court to get off of all the lynching charges...

I strongly disagree. If you ever met me in person, it is highly likely that I would talk in what is labeled "ebonics." This, for me, is not a conscious decision. I speak in that dialect because that is what I have grown up around. This is not because my parents speak in ebonics, they are probably two of the most eloquent speakers you will ever meet, however in the neighborhood I grew up in the use of ebonics is pervasive.

Yes, I have the ability to speak proper English, but in a natural, comfortable setting what comes out is "black" speak. This has nothing to do with the desire to be different. In fact, if I wanted to be different, I would talk the way I do on the forums in real life. You could argue that it has to do with the desire to be the same, but I disagree. The term desire implies a conscious decision. As far as I'm concerned, the accent and slang that I use is mostly a subconscious decision.

Perhaps I misunderstood your earlier post. I was under the impression that you were talking about permanent residents of the United States rather than people who are living elsewhere. KA seems to have been talking about immigrants, who do have certain rights in the United States, citizen or not.

You must not know the black folks I know. ;)

Dialects aren't usually politically motivated. They generally aren't created either, they evolve naturally. I would say that there is a white (and by white, I mean country) dialect, especially if one comes down to Texas. In my opinion, the folks who use the redneck dialect sound just as ridiculous as those who use ebonics. In fact, the English language has so many rules and is so ambiguous in places that I wonder if it is possible for anyone at all to know and speak 100% proper English. Once again, if you want to ameliorate ambiguity in the way people speak, I reccomend forcing everyone to learn Lojban.

The United States cannot force someone to learn english just to come to the US. Prove to me that they can and I'll believe you, until then you're full of shit.

It's not even something I'm going to debate with you, if you seriously think that we can force people to learn to speak english then there's no point in arguing with you.

Also, I don't believe USA has an official language.

We don't.

^_^

I've always wanted to use that one, but never have.