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Subject:Ebonic Plague From:Alisa Dean <Alisa -dot- Dean -at- MCI -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 23 Dec 1996 13:19:00 -0700
Dec. 20, Bryan Westbrook wrote:
>This entire decision is indicative of the welfare mentality. Its
>proponents do not want to make the effort to learn to speak properly, so
>they want to have their laziness validated. Listen to anyone on the news
>talking "ebonics" and see if you can take them as seriously as someone =
>who
>is talking proper English.
If I remember correctly, this discussion started
as a question (maybe a rhetorical question) regarding whether or not
Ebonics will be a language form that we as technical communicators
will be addressing. As such, I felt it was valid question, although
I would consider it in the same category as whether it is necessary
to write in any other non-American English language (this is showing
my undyed ethno-centricity roots). In my mind this would be dependent
on the requirements of the audience and the client. That's all. I
would let the academicians fight out whether Ebonics is valid a
language or not.
Please, guys. This is not the place to start airing personal
political/ethnic views, especially when it includes gross generalizations.
Alisa Dean
Sr. Technical Writer
alisa -dot- dean -at- mci -dot- com
