Is 'Jive' an actual language in the states?
That chap that spoke on the witness box is very amusing.Did he make up the language or was it/is it spoken still by people?
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MovieChat Forums > Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) Discussion > Is 'Jive' an actual language in the stat...
It's kind of the "Olde English" to what we would call "Ebonics" today.
It's not an official language, more of a dialect. Black Americans were kept largely separated from white Americans for centuries, so there was a natural deviation in how language was spoken. You can look up Pidgin English for a similar phenomenon that occurred in English speaking colonies administered by the British.
Yes, that's a fine politically correct answer, but it doesn't translate to today. Most of the words or expressions sprinkled in today's street language do not come from the days of segregation. Black's aren't genetically predisposed to speaking this way, nor is from a lack of education or exposure to those that speak correctly. It's by choice. Unfortunately.
To the OP: the "jive" spoken in the Airplane movies is very funny, but waaaaaaaaaay over the top. Other than some colorful words sprinkled here or there, it's still recognizable English most black Americans speak. The joke in this movie is that the brothers street talk was so over the top that it needed to be CC'd.
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>Most of the words or expressions sprinkled in today's street language do not come from the days of segregation
No crap. It has more to do with living in separated communities (which does come from the days of segregation). A white person from the mountains of West Virginia or the bayou of Louisiana is going to speak a crazy dialect of English as well. You've never heard a Bostonian talk? Or Pittsburgese? Or someone from Brooklyn, NY? Come on dude.
No crap. It has more to do with living in separated communities (which does come from the days of segregation). A white person from the mountains of West Virginia or the bayou of Louisiana is going to speak a crazy dialect of English as well. You've never heard a Bostonian talk? Or Pittsburgese? Or someone from Brooklyn, NY? Come on dude.
Do you realize the examples you've given are all very small regional exceptions? (and I spent 2 years in Boston).
The "ebonics" you speak of is not limited to a specific geographical area of America, but is a nationwide phenomenon. And since forced segregation ended and black Americans are more diversely located than ever, the addition of street slang has not abated. In fact, I'd wager that there have been more new black based street expressions in the last 20 years than the last 80 combined, mostly as a result of hip hop.
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It's pretty abundantly clear that your only interaction with "ebonics" is what you gleaned from the media. Not all black folks use the same slang and it's just as regional as any other dialects. Regional terms do get passed around through black media and social media as well. But when you hear Ebonics in the media, it is the equivalent of General American or British Received Pronunciation. A kind of non-regional version of black dialects. Dialects that have been evolving for 400 years of living in a separate society.
Maybe you should volunteer in a black community around where you live so you can get an idea of how actual African Americans speak.
It's pretty abundantly clear that your only interaction with "ebonics" is what you gleaned from the media.......Maybe you should volunteer in a black community around where you live so you can get an idea of how actual African Americans speak.
LOL! You have no idea what foolish assumptions you've just made.
I have volunteered in a black community. I was raised in a black community. My wife is black. My kids are black. In fact, 100% of my family are black... Does the fact that I now live in a suburb that's mostly white change my "cred"?
You've made the same mistake that many if not most people do: you assume that because I don't write in "ebonics", I must be white. You may say all the politically correct things, but down deep you don't truly believe that we are as intelligent as other races or are capable of communicating at something other than a basic level.
You may not realize it, but you are a racist.
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I made some faulty assumptions about you and I apologize. Though I don't particularly care if you're black or you're white or the racial make up of your family. Just because du jure segregation has been over for 50 years doesn't mean its legacy is not still felt and experienced in black culture and the culture at large. The legacy of slavery and segregation are the reason there exists a separate 'black dialect,' call Jive or call it Ebonics, as language is constantly evolving. This legacy is also why the police target black people at a higher rate than other racial groups. That was my original point which you challenged and I rebutted.
The only somewhat racist thing I can find in our conversation is your claim that speaking in a certain way is a "choice." Like, it was the Ebonics speaker's choice to be born around people who speak in that manner? Or it was his choice to be born black and thus be shown how black people are "supposed" to act/speak/dress by the media?
Again, I'll go back to my point about the Bostonian accent and particular slang to that region (which isn't "small" as you claimed but a major metropolitan area with millions of people). Do those people also make a choice to speak that way? Or were they born into that environment and learned it from the age of 0?
Now, can someone choose to change how they speak? Certainly. In fact, I'd wager most black folks who are raised with Ebonics DO change up how they speak when interacting with white society. However, I don't think it's particularly fair to look down on them or chastise them for speaking that way at home or amongst their community.
To the OP, 'jive' is not officially a language per se, but the representation in the movie isn't far from what you would hear in the inner cities in the US. Go to south Memphis, or the Mississippi Delta and it's difficult (at least for me) to understand half of what they are saying. It's just a regional inflection, not unlike in the UK, where you can tell where someone is from by their slang and lexical choices.
shareShiiiiiit (golly)
shareIt's slang not a language.
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