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Sometimes if a person is talking in an African-American dialect, white people will think that person is being rude, even if he/she isn't being rude. Have you ever seen this happen? It might most often happen if a customer calls for service and the person answering has a black dialect.
I worked in an office with a receptionist who had the common black accent or dialect, and sometimes white customers would complain that she was being rude. But she was not a rude person. I was trying to rent an apt from a Polish landlady and the Polish landlady seemed really nice. One day she had to call me at work at the (black) receptionist answered and said "Who is calling please" and the landlady went, "Put me through or I will report you to your supervisor!!" I couldn't believe it.
I never heard anyone white say a black accent was interpreted at rude. Sometimes whites find it difficult to understand that blacks still cant conjugate the verb "to be".
Or they are just being rude. It's easy to tell the difference between speaking with a black person and speaking with a rude black person. Or a person of any color for that matter.
I personally have never interpreted an "African American dialect" as rude and I have black friends as well as have worked with black people. I guess I'm more interested in what they're saying than in how they sound. If I have any trouble understanding anything said I find it quite easy to just very nicely ask for clarification or for them to repeat it. I once worked with a woman from Scotland who had a very distinct accent but who spoke English quite well and was a very intelligent woman. Management would not let her speak with clients on the telephone because of her accent (this was back in the 80's if that matters but it shouldn't - idiocy is idiocy) and they thought nobody would be able to understand her. Turns out most of us wished we had accents too since the customers were generally rude and surly on the phone (huge insurance company). I personally just don't go to "that place" and make sweeping judgements about people - I make my own determinations and realize that others have their own agendas. There is too much else in life to get upset about most of the time anyway.
If a white person hears someone talking in a black accent, they think it's rude, even if it's not rude.
That has not been my experience. Perhaps it is more common in your city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by another_hot-day
Or they are just being rude. It's easy to tell the difference between speaking with a black person and speaking with a rude black person. Or a person of any color for that matter.
You could speak of any dialect the same way, for example you would probably struggle to understand my trans Tasman babble and the Polish lady too.
But no you have to "borrow" offence from the African American folk who are posting here and have no clue wtf you are talking about.
Or maybe they know the intention of your post all too well and are choosing to ignore it...
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