Lost in Translation August 31, 2007
Posted by Webmaster in Ebonics, Education, Police & Law Enforcement.comments closed
A crudely made “Ghetto Handbook” distributed by a Houston school district police officer sparked angry words Thursday from leaders in the district and the community — both because of its language and the fact that no action was taken for three months.
“This publication was completely reprehensible and HISD condemns it in the strongest possible terms,” Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said in a written statement.
But some also questioned why it took so long for district officials to learn about the booklet and begin investigating.
The officer who first handed it out in May was suspended with pay this week, pending results of an investigation by the Houston Independent School District. Officials refused to identify him but said he was ordered to go to diversity training.
The eight-page handout, which includes a few grainy photographs, purports to offer definitions that will enable the reader to speak Ebonics “as if you just came out of the hood.” Ebonics is a nonstandard variety of English spoken by some black Americans.
The definitions include such terms as “foty: a 40-ounce bottle of beer”; “aks: to ask a question”; and “hoodrat: scummy girl.”
The booklet — subtitled “Wucha dun did now?” — names six HISD officers “and the entire day shift patrol” as contributors. District spokesman Terry Abbott said, however, that a preliminary investigation has cleared those officers of involvement.
Now, c’mon media and black activists. If you want America to take Ebonics seriously as a sub-language, and not just for the lazy-mouthed ghetto trash talk that it really is, then you shouldn’t complain when someone tries to compile a translationist dictionary, so that non-Ebonics speakers can communicate with your homeboys people.
If you want to take the dictionary for a spin, The Smoking Gun has the skinny.
As an aside, you will find that the Houston Independent School District is almost 90% black and Hispanic.
