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#1
06-07-2005, 05:33 PM
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Talking differently to black people
At work today I had to call the Philadelphia Pension Office to get some information for a client. I found myself talking to a woman who, from the sound of her voice, was almost certainly African-American. I was repeating back the address she gave me, made a mistake, she corrected me, and instead of saying "oh, my mistake" I said "aw, my bad." I NEVER say this. I have a feeling I subconsciously was trying to sound "hip" or something, I have no idea why. Does anyone else ever find themselves unconsciously making stupid little changes to their language or behavior when talking to someone of a different race/culture?
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#2
06-07-2005, 05:36 PM
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Re: Talking differently to black people
It's your subconscious taking control of your conscious mind. When you stop thinking, that powerful computer the subconscious takes over and all the stereotypes and negative images you have stored up in your mind are released. You may disagree with stuff like black people are stupid etc... consciously but your unconscious only knows the stereotypes.
Read the book Blink by Malcom Gladwell. Stuff like this explains why the Amadou Diallo shooting happened. They saw a black man outside in a seedy neighboorhood at 2 AM and instantly thought he was a criminal.. he reached into his pocket to get his wallet and they assumed: gun. Blackjack
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#4
06-07-2005, 05:37 PM
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Re: Talking differently to black people
I'll speak broken english to fobbish people at the poker table, esp w/ the accent and all. To white people, I try to speak clear, standard english. To black people, I might throw in some slang here and there but nothing like what you hear E-40 or Notorious B.I.G. might say. To old people, I speak boring. To girls, I speak politely. To guys, I'm a cussing machine sometimes.
Depends, you know?
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#7
06-07-2005, 05:40 PM
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Re: Talking differently to black people
[ QUOTE ]
I try to curtail my use of the "n" word when talking to the blacks. [/ QUOTE ] Just add a 'Z' at the end. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] b
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#10
06-07-2005, 05:50 PM
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Re: Talking differently to black people
[ QUOTE ]
Mimicing happens all the time subconciously. [/ QUOTE ] Definitely true. When thinking about this I remembered in like 4th grade we had a Korean kid in our class that had just moved to the US. Whenever I talked to him I mimicked his accent. Possibly a bit offensive, and I obviously would never do it now, but at the time I felt like I was making him more comfortable in a new place by mimicking the way he talked.
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