Black/Urban English? Is the inability to speak correctly contributeing to unemployment?

Not only is our modern culture killing the spoken (and written) language it's taken 2000 years or more to get JUST right,social media is also killing kids ability to learn proper face-to-face social skills.
I work in a busy garage where 16 year old kids ask specifically to come and do their summer work experience because they like cars and want to work in a garage.For the last five years every single one of them has been addicted to Faceache or Twatter etc and has had no useful social skills that can be used in a retail environment.If they were given the chance to put a message on the customers Facebook wall or what ever it is how much a couple of 195/60/15s fitted to their car will cost,they'd do it without batting an eyelid.Do it the 'proper' way using their mouth and spoken language and you might just as well be speaking ancient Egyptian.
They all expect to be offered jobs at the end of this,we have yet to take on a school leaver from work experience.Last year's one didn't even make it through the first ten minutes,he just walked out without even saying a word.

M'eh. Regional stuff. In New England you can have a "Hat attaaack in your caaa." If you can understand 2 Newfies speaking to each other you are awesome. See Brad Pitt in Snatch.

originally posted by: intrepid
See Brad Pitt in Snatch.

Ya like dugs?

originally posted by: intrepid
M'eh. Regional stuff.

Not necessarily, business/formal English speaking communication skills are pretty much international these days for many employment positions.

originally posted by: grainofsand

originally posted by: intrepid
M'eh. Regional stuff.

Not necessarily, business/formal English speaking communication skills are pretty much international these days for many employment positions.

But still regional. Slang creeps into language. I've noticed that I've said "furgot" instead of "forgot". It happens.

a reply to: reldra

That is an excellent point. Being from the Northeast USA myself, I wrote a term paper in a creative writing class entitled, "Pahk the Cah in Thah Yahd". The bulk of the paper was written in that fashion to force the reader to read it in a manner that would have them hearing it as someone from Boston, MA would be speaking. The final paragraph was written in proper English a s summary of the intent and to prove I could write "properly".

I too got an "A" and a comment on its creative approach to teaching.

a reply to: intrepid

Yeah this thread is about lack of skills damaging employment prospects though, the ability to switch from chav prole to educated person through the medium of words.

It is tragic that there seems to be an increase ofpeople in the UK who are unable to switch publicly between the two.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

I received a resume last year and, under experience, the person listed, this is verbatim, 'Helping day customers wit day bags.'

This person, sadly, will never have meaningful employment.

O god. That has minimum wage for life written all over it!

Hah! I managed to get this far before you set me on fire and just had to reply.

You bigot, you. In your OP I could gather enough information to have you in court for racial discrimination as an employer. Is a Scottish or Irish or Cornish person suitable to you, because many of them have equally colloquial variance of vernacular? The English language incorporates many variants. Patois among the Jamaican people is just one example. You are too much the judge in life. You are measuring out your own narrow standards as something we should all be striving for. You are old fashioned, too. Too late, the world will not bow to your white England. Most native white English people I speak to have a terrible grasp of their native language.

I wonder what you would think of me? I have studied at university and did an English Literature degree. I have written so many poems, songs and read so much prose and poetry. I am totally versed in one of the English language's most eloquent poets. I expect verbally I am more experienced than you. Yet I scowl at your version of England and what a person should be. Indeed, I am in rebellion. I operate outside of your society very successfully and live a free life away from the fetters of your imprisoning perception. The black person who you unfairly judge on their language abilities and accent is my friend and I can see deeper the value of their being beyond the veneer of an illusion of outward propriety. Some of the most eloquent, intelligent, well presented high society individuals have committed unspeakable crimes. Intelligence, eloquence and the cut of your garment does not guarantee an individual of good character. Frequently mutton is dressed up as lamb.

The worst of it is that you are the biggest victim because you judge, dismiss and lose out on so much LIFE! I could judge you and call you names because of your dyslexia, but I would never do that. I see deeper than that. I will not ask you to be anything other than who you are. If I was black and stuttered you have told me that you would throw my application away. I would not work for an employer like you even if it meant starving.

originally posted by: intrepid
M'eh. Regional stuff. In New England you can have a "Hat attaaack in your caaa." If you can understand 2 Newfies speaking to each other you are awesome. See Brad Pitt in Snatch.

Too funny !

My cousin-in-law (and close friend/neighbour) was born and raised in Cape Breton.

He speaks perfectly fine with no accent normally, and is a white collar professional by day.

But get a few beers into the guy and his crazy accent comes out in full spectrum, making it damn near impossible to understand what the hell he's saying.

I tease him every time, it's all in good fun though.

originally posted by: MrCrow
a reply to: Vroomfondel

Sorry overuse of the dot, dot dot.

As in, finishing every sentence with multiple full stops.

I like the ellipsis. I use it as an implied leading thought or continuation not expressed. I probably use it more than I should, but...

a reply to: Vroomfondel

The ones who kill me as a proofreader are the ones who think they need to stop every sentence with an ellipses.

OR TYPE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT"S SO MUCH FUN TO PROOF A WALL OF ALL TEXT CAPS.

a reply to: crazyewok

The company I work for does pre employment screening. One of our contracted companies thought that it would be a good idea to hire directly from my states unemployment office, sounds awesome right? Well they would call us to let us know how many they had offered jobs too. Less than half would show up. Out of the the few that did show up, about 50% wouldn't pass the drug screen. Most of these candidates were African American probably 90%. Only one out of the bunch actually passed the drug screen and got hired. It's sad that these people grew up in the same city I did, but I can't understand them when they talk.

a reply to: crazyewok
Come to America. You'll find some real winners here.
By the way, I don't think it's a lack of finances that's to blame. I'm poor but am very well spoken.

a reply to: crazyewok
Believe it or not it is an actual language called black English vernacular (BEV). Some call it a dialect, but many experts know that it technically qualifies as its own language with a particular set of rules and a syntax that is consistent among all those who speak it. Its roots are from west Africa.

My mother is one of those experts who studied the topic for years, and although I am not the same intelligent mind that she is she is a fullbright scholar with a linguistics book published in the library of congress. She knows what she is talking about.

Perhaps it would be wise to require employees speak English instead of BEV.

*** BEV is not the same as Ebonics which more closely resembles a dialect (a sometimes annoying dialect). ***

a reply to: Revolution9

No one is judging a persons value as a human or denigrating their character. This is about eligibility to work in and advance in a social work environment. I've met people who could not sign their own name that can do amazing things with mechanical repair but I wouldn't want them to give a presentation, relay customer service, or write a report and I doubt you would either.

The other facet is that some people are willingly choosing to speak this way. Where as someone truly disadvantaged has known no other way. Still there is a sort of acculturation that is necessary at the professional and business level to make oneself desirable.

Ha! Back in the 50s, my mom would not allow me to read comic books or have them in the house because they used slang and improper English.

That was a middle class white Christian neighborhood.

How one speaks is choice. How one allows their kids to speak is choice.

Ah... The irony of the OP not being able to spell "contributing" in the title of this thread is sublime.

I postulate it is definitely the OP's lack of education, and possibly their skin colour that contributed to the hilarity - and I also doubt his ability to find gainful employment due to one too may "e"'s in his contribution to society.

A reply to Crazywok:

…wit day bags?

"O god. That has minimum wage for life written all over it!"

Why? Over a typo? Last night on a major Chicago feed the prole propaganda network, I saw a headline story about 'breaking issues' on a woman's truck, which plunged down a cliff a few hundred feet, left her there for three days, and took both her legs.

Breaking issues.

The stage monkey journalists at channel 7 were attempting to annunciate the car's defective braking and motion stability system.

Same channel, a little earlier or later, a story about 'ordinance' (as in ordnance) that are causing problems somewhere over some such problem. In both cases, the misspelled words were proudly highlighted on the screen in the large banner they use like red capes in a bullring.

But what I am truly waiting for is to look up and see 'MARSHALL LAW DECLARED', on screen. Then I know we're cooked.

We now have 'could of' accepted as a normal conjugation of 'could have'.

I don't care what you are trying to convey. If I see 'could of', in print, I am out of there.

Send him here. He has a shot at WLS TV.

# 525

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
Where do those drugs originate? How do they get shipped here?

The Mena Dynasty

One of the colleges I went to was backwoods. I hung out with rednecks who had thick accents. Some of them were racist. So, I spent some lunches with the basketball team to show the rednecks how easy it was to not be racist. The team could understand me easily, but I had to dissect what they said before it made any sense. However, I got the gist. I found it comforting that they weren't judging my language skills. My mother was a fanatical English teacher.

There are a lot of Mexicans in my city. Many don't understand English. I didn't pay any attention in Spanish class, but I figure out what they mean even if they're silent and pretending to understand LOL. The Mexicans have nice houses and nice trucks because they have nice jobs. They're employed, and many don't even speak English.

The unemployed around here speak good English. They're just a little crazy.

The black people here are very eloquent, almost Shakespearean.

The best way to nick it is to read, a lot, and good material where the author is at least moderately competent with English and vocabulary. The more you read, the more you will pick up. Words will start to suggest themselves as it starts to sink in.

I was just talking to my husband and the word "propensity" dropped in there. Things like that start to happen and with more frequency the better read you become.