[Gopal]

One reason why African Americans are loud can be traced to their origins. It is a cultural characteristic of Africans that the people speak louder and louder and the lifestyle becomes more and more realxed the farther south you go. People in northern regions of Africa (Morocco, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia) are relatively reserved and soft-spoken (particularly Gambians and Ethiopians) and life moves at a brisk pace (we've all seen Moroccan and Egyptian markets on Nat. Geographic). However, as you go farther south (Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaire, Zimbabwe) the people speak louder and louder and life slows down dramatically. Life becomes more lakadasical because the climate is so much hotter (I'm totally serious; just look at the US). As for speaking louder, I'd postulate that it has to do with the southern parts of Africa being historically less populated than the north. Now, Africans were brought to the US as slaves and the majority of those slaves came from central and southern Africa, thus the cultural speech and lifestyle characteristics were passed on. This is the origin of the stereotype of blacks being lazy and shiftless (Stepin Fetchit -> Amos n' Andy -> Jar Jar Binks). BTW, I am not just making this up. The above reasoning is based on actual study (Black English linguisitcs course taught by an African linguist who happened to be married to an African woman) and personal interaction and discussion with people from various parts of Africa. One parting tid-bit: Gambians actually refer to their country as The Gambia.

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Name : Gopal, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Indian, Religion : Hindu, Age : 24, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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