John McWhorter

That gets into my parents and what they were like. And so plenty of black family speaking the dialect fluently. Mount Airy in Philadelphia was a very integrated neighborhood. The black people in the neighborhood had become middle class from mostly being working class. So there was plenty of black English spoken in the neighborhood. Close friends of mine spoke it.

My mother grew up speaking southern black English, but switched to a kind of generalized suburban northern when she moved to Philadelphia. My father spoke Philadelphia black English, but, and this is something I really have only wrapped my head around over the past year, really thinking about it. they were not inclined to use their vernacular around their kids. They didn't speak it to us.

My mother grew up speaking southern black English, but switched to a kind of generalized suburban northern when she moved to Philadelphia. My father spoke Philadelphia black English, but, and this is something I really have only wrapped my head around over the past year, really thinking about it. they were not inclined to use their vernacular around their kids. They didn't speak it to us.

I remember thinking mom gets on the phone with her relatives and all of a sudden there's this other way she has of speaking. I was trying to wrap my head around it. Whereas to tell you the truth, most black moms would have spoken that way, at least some to their kids as well. And the truth is both of my parents tried their best. They were both brilliant people.

I remember thinking mom gets on the phone with her relatives and all of a sudden there's this other way she has of speaking. I was trying to wrap my head around it. Whereas to tell you the truth, most black moms would have spoken that way, at least some to their kids as well. And the truth is both of my parents tried their best. They were both brilliant people.

They provided a materially great existence. but they were both very closed-off people in general, and that played out in terms of dialect. Then also, my sister talks exactly like me. If I have a weird voice, there's one other person. It's my sister who's four years younger, and she sounds just like this.

They provided a materially great existence. but they were both very closed-off people in general, and that played out in terms of dialect. Then also, my sister talks exactly like me. If I have a weird voice, there's one other person. It's my sister who's four years younger, and she sounds just like this.

So it was both of us, and I find myself thinking sometimes we both do that, but also I'm not an imitator. As much as I love other languages and trying to learn them and never doing it as well as I'd like to, Holly, my sister, went to Spelman and came back with this new repertoire. All of a sudden, she could switch. She had a kind of black English. She had the cadence. Whereas I never did that.

So it was both of us, and I find myself thinking sometimes we both do that, but also I'm not an imitator. As much as I love other languages and trying to learn them and never doing it as well as I'd like to, Holly, my sister, went to Spelman and came back with this new repertoire. All of a sudden, she could switch. She had a kind of black English. She had the cadence. Whereas I never did that.

And to be honest, if I had gone to Morehouse, I don't think that would have happened. I talk the way I talk, and other people imitate me. And I think that's just neurons or something. I like the way I talk. I'm not going to talk like someone else. But that is the reason. And I wish...

And to be honest, if I had gone to Morehouse, I don't think that would have happened. I talk the way I talk, and other people imitate me. And I think that's just neurons or something. I like the way I talk. I'm not going to talk like someone else. But that is the reason. And I wish...

that I had picked it up for real because not having that natural competence means that you come off sometimes as thinking you're better than people when really it's just that that's not in your mouth and I can completely understand what it would look like from another perspective. But yeah, that's it.

that I had picked it up for real because not having that natural competence means that you come off sometimes as thinking you're better than people when really it's just that that's not in your mouth and I can completely understand what it would look like from another perspective. But yeah, that's it.

Sometimes, to be honest, I have wished that I was, and I'm not just saying this because it's you except I am, I wished that I was black Canadian because I think that's less of an issue there in terms of the place of American black English in what it is to be a black person, but that's just an idle thought.

Sometimes, to be honest, I have wished that I was, and I'm not just saying this because it's you except I am, I wished that I was black Canadian because I think that's less of an issue there in terms of the place of American black English in what it is to be a black person, but that's just an idle thought.

You're a different person.

You're a different person.

And it was just that kind of... And that kind of trash-talking thing. Just like... There are papers written about that. One, actually. Yeah, that is very common. That must have been wild. Especially to see that big a switch. Because in my case, it was like from here to here. But with Patois, first he's Margaret Thatcher, and then suddenly he's Bob Marley.

And it was just that kind of... And that kind of trash-talking thing. Just like... There are papers written about that. One, actually. Yeah, that is very common. That must have been wild. Especially to see that big a switch. Because in my case, it was like from here to here. But with Patois, first he's Margaret Thatcher, and then suddenly he's Bob Marley.

I always just assumed that people were going to do stuff wrong, and I would have been listening to what the grammar was.