Who "Really" Said It First?

 As I have been finishing up my Copy Editing classes I learned about an English dialect that I had only heard negative things about; African American English (AAE). Check THIS out for more.

When I answered the question in the video linked above, incorrectly for a white person, I realized that I had retrained myself out of not one dialect but two. The one I knew about was on purpose. Where I grew up not many people spoke that dialect, my family did, grandparents and such, but it wasn't native to the area. I don't want to name it and shame someone because I chose to retrain out of this dialect due to the way many people see it, as uneducated.

I didn't realize that one of the dialects spoken where I grew up was AAE, that's why I answered the question incorrectly for a white person. While I don't know all of the different words used or how they are used the example in the video was very familiar and then I thought of what a recent shawl design of mine was named, Math Be Mathin' and the sentence I had written in a blog post on my business website that I was introducing that shawl in. "It;s what the kids say when the numbers work out."

I now realize no, it is actually from AAE and math is just doing what it usually does and doing it correctly. If the math ain't mathin' then it's not doing it correctly or, most likely, there is a user error.

I am now embracing that part of my vocabulary as it is still ingrained in the way I think. I edit my thoughts depending on who I am speaking to before I speak. I have been doing less of that in the last few days. No one, even in my family has said anything and I feel freer when speaking. The fact that my family has said nothing makes me wonder if maybe I wasn't "editing" as well as I thought I was.

Moral for me is to be who I am and let the dialects flow. If I need to explain, I'm alright with that.

Moral for all of us, before attributing something to a particular, do a bit of research and make sure you are giving the correct group the credit.

Later y'all!

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