Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 12 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 22 years, 10 months ago by
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I’ve noticed that on many talk shows where they present real people, not actors, that many of the black Americans gesticulate frequently, move their heads in a strange pattern and use the phrase ‘know what I’m sayin.” I would like to know how, and why they do it – from whom they learned it, and if it’s habit or just a manner of expression.
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Name : Ed32474, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 19, City : Esbjerg, State : NA, Country : Denmark, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,The pattern of movements and speech you’ve described are part of a subculture of blacks who use more colorful slang than their (typically older and better-educated) black counterparts. It’s used for self-expression and out of habit, depending on the person. You’ll see a lot of this on talk shows because talk show audiences are not typically populated by well-educated people, but by high school students skipping school for the day or other young, sometimes lower/working-class people. The people on stage are generally from the same socio-economic class.
‘Know what I’m sayin’ is definitely in vogue among the youth/hip-hop set in general – turn on the Korean or Chinese Top 20 videos and you’ll hear it coming out of the mouths of Asians, turn on MTV and God only knows who you’ll hear it from.
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Name : Sera28040, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 27, City : Seattle, State : WA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I find it annoying when they say, ‘You know what I’m saying?’ 20 times in a minute on these shows; in fact, I don’t know what they’re saying – to me, they haven’t said anything.
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Name : Thom24764, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Chardon, State : OH, Country : United States,African Americans may gesticulate more because we are a very expressive people. When we talk, we use our hands, the pitch of our voices varies and, a lot of the time, our emotions show up on our faces when we talk (either smiling, frowning, angry). People relate the loud talking and wise-cracking to people of a lower socioeconomic background than others, but African Americans speak with emotion.
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Name : Mike, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 19, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : college student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I hear many people use ‘know what I’m saying’ not just blacks. This is an example of a verbal pause, kinda like when people often say ‘uh,um’ or many other nonspecified and/or meaningless phrases or utterances. Some people use this phrase as verification of comprehension to the person they are speaking to so they can make a clean transition to the next conversation topic. As far a the movement goes, this is just another form of body language, that evidently the person they are speaking to is familiar with or can at least understand. Everyone gesticulates in some form or fashion it’s just more noticeable when you are viewing someone else doing it; the same could be said for your own body language.
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Name : n-Chambers, Gender : F, Age : 21, City : Columbus, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,E’d, all it takes in one episode of Jerry Spring to see that people all races of people do this when emotions run high.
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Name : KC-Tate26516, City : Jacksonville, State : FL, Country : United States,I find that the head swaying is a female jesture. I have a relative who works at the White House on the Presidents staff who said that many of the white female policians do the same when expressing themselves. As for the phrase ‘know what I’m sayin’, it’s no different than a valley girl saying the word ‘like’ over and over again or how about the TV commercial where the Southern White guy says ‘know what I mean Vern’ and this guy was suppose to be what many refer to as a hick or redneck. I can go on and on with other examples from all types of people, whites, blacks, hispanics even other countries. There’s a repeated phrase used by many Canadians in Canada, but I can’t think of it now. 🙂
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Name : Leon-White, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : African Methodist Episcopalian, Age : 50, City : Brooklyn, State : NY, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class,I think that you need to remember that it is a talk show. Although the people on these shows are supposed to be real, the producers look for certain kinds of people (i.e. lower class people) to be on the show. On these shows you also have white people who tend to be from trailers and act uneducated, but it’s not a reflection on whites as a whole. So in the same vein, the black people on these shows are not representative of most black Americans as a whole.
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Name : Jessi-J30823, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 20, City : Columbus, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : College Student, Education level : 2 Years of College,I certainly don’t think stupidity is racially biased. It bugs me when ANYONE acts and behaves like a moron. I have seen plenty of whites act the same way and speak the same way, if not worse. I think it is more of a socio-economic thing than a white black thing. It has more to do with education and the effort someone wants to put into their personal appearance and ways in which others will perceive them.
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Name : Paul, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 30, City : Dayton, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : manager, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,E’d, if you have ever watched shows about african tribes you’ll notice that they have the same strange behavior. I noticed you used the word ‘gesticulate’. Sometimes I wonder if African tribal women and African American women have a much faster gestation period than most women elsewhere because they breed like mice. I do realize that both of these words have different meanings though. DC.
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Name : Dan-Cubrich27321, City : Omaha, State : NE, Country : United States,It is the same thing when White people always say like this, or like that. Omigosh, like I was so embarrassed that he like told me he was in love with me, like can you believe that?
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Name : S., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 23, City : Birmingham, State : AL, Country : United States, Occupation : Graduate Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Do you remember Val-Speak or talking like you’re from ‘The Valley’ back in the 1980’s ? Just like any fad-lingo, this too shall pass. Caucasians say it too. Only, we say ‘like’ and ‘you know’ instead of ‘you know what I’m sayin’.’ It’s definately a cultural issue, not racial. In the deep South, a lot of us still say ‘y’all’, instead of ‘you all’ or ‘everyone’. Also, it depends on who I’m around. At work, I would NEVER say ‘y’all’ or ‘ain’t’, but at family functions, it’s perfectly acceptable and almost expected. Colloquialisms are normal, but I guess I worry too much about being perceived as an ignorant Southerner. (Which does offend me greatly.)
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Name : Rhonda, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 34, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, Occupation : Inside Sales, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Why do white girls say ‘like’ after every other word, and do that annoying hair flip thing? To me, that is even more irritating than making gestures while speaking…..
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Name : AmberW, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 23, City : Greenville, State : NC, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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