Is this offensive, or are they just over compensation-reactions?

[TxRedMan]

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also, "The way I like English to be spoken." WTF, did you invent it? They probably don't like the way you talk either.

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That's really annoying. Look at it in it's complete context, because you forgot this part:


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suppose one of my pet peeves (which isn't really)

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It was an example nt.

[NT!]

tx,

ok, i am responding by saying the person in the example is kind of a douche then.

[TxRedMan]

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tx,

ok, i am responding by saying the person in the example is kind of a douche then.

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I think something about having double standards would be more appropriate than 'douche', but I thought I needed to clarify the above.

[Dilznoofus]

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also, "The way I like English to be spoken." WTF, did you invent it? They probably don't like the way you talk either.

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I take issue with this. Tx didn't invent the English language, but there are rules to speaking it. Most/all people deviate from correct grammar and syntax to varying degrees. That does not mean there is not a correct way.

Is it your opinion, NT!, that the speech you would expect to hear from a high school English teacher should be regarded as no better than what you would hear listening to an illiterate redneck? Apologies if I'm putting words in your mouth, but you seem to be indicating that one doesn't have the right to judge others' use or misuse of the English language.

Edit: And I'm not trying to suggest that everyone must conform and begin speaking perfect English. I know I don't. But there is a point when people's speech deviates so far from "correct" that they become difficult to understand, and reveal themselves to be generally pretty dumb. I don't think that kind of speech should be regarded as no less correct than what we might define as traditionally proper speech.

Edit 2: Deleted reference to Zeebo's post.

[JussiUt]

I agree with the OP pretty much completely. There are definately built-in qualities in us humans that dispose us to racism. While I think we can learn to get rid of it (the only way is if the globe or parts of it truly become multi-cultural and that'll take a long time) it's definately something that's closely related to our nature.

Some people are too PC, there's no denying that. One of the signs of a truly multi-cultural enviroment would be that you would be allowed to make fun of everybody on the same terms. Unfortunately some people are over-sensitive because they have experienced/heard real racists use language that's kind of similar. Of course there's a difference whether you criticize person for their skin color or by their personal attributes but sometimes people have difficulties separating the difference from your words. And that's also a human attribute and a process that we have go through before racism really becomes marginalized in whatever society you live in.

[[Phill]]

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also, "The way I like English to be spoken." WTF, did you invent it? They probably don't like the way you talk either.

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I take issue with this. Tx didn't invent the English language, but there are rules to speaking it. Most/all people deviate from correct grammar and syntax to varying degrees. That does not mean there is not a correct way.

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You are American and therefor spell colour and neighbourhood incorrectly.

If you cant spell many of the more basic words correctly, then what hope do you all have for pronunciation?

Language is really dynamic, i may make jokes about how you spell stuff (and ive once had someone hear questioning my intelligence because i spelt a few words like they are correctly spelt) but language nazi'ism is really pathetic.

Speak how you want, write how you want. Whatever. The future of English is 'texting', and im dissapointed at that, but thats how language develops.

CU 2morrow lolz

Wont touch on the other stuff, yes, everyone has prejudices and sometimes these are classed as racism. Shock.

[Dilznoofus]

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You are American and therefor spell colour and neighbourhood incorrectly.

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Color and neighborhood are the correct official spellings in American English. We have dictionaries that tell us so. I know you're making a joke, but it doesn't really work IMO.

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Language is really dynamic, i may make jokes about how you spell stuff (and ive once had someone hear questioning my intelligence because i spelt a few words like they are correctly spelt) but language nazi'ism is really pathetic.

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Not sure who you think is being a language nazi. I just don't agree with the general idea that one way of speaking English is just as good as another. If that's the case, why did my teachers tell us this stuff was important? Why did they try to make us learn grammar?

To be clear, I'm not talking about accents. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair both pronounce their words very differently, but both speak the English language very well. I'm not really talking about slang so much, either. I'm talking about this kind of stuff:

"I seen your ex-girlfriend at the bar the other night."

"We was all having a good time."

"Why can't they do it theirself?"

Tons of people in my neck of the woods talk just like this, even a couple of my friends I grew up with. I dare say my speech is better than theirs, because I do not make these errors.

[TxRedMan]

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...and in my time and experience in the South I've noticed that a large portion of Black people don't speak English the way I like it to be spoken...

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The question is simply why have you noticed this about blacks when a moment's reflection would tell you that there are poor English speakers (no matter your definition) of every race, creed, class, etc.

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This is the type of narrow minded point of view I'm talking about. You infer that i'm being biased towards black people? Why? Because I used this as an example?

The point is it's increasingly difficult to point out a cultural difference that you consider to be a fault of a person from a different race or group of people without someone drawing a conclusion that you're being derogatory to them because of their ethnicity/association.

[Inthacup]

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Suppose one of my pet peeves (which isn't really) is when people dont use the english language correctly

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define correct

[wslee00]

dude ure racist to some extent - just like everyone else in this country... hell - i'm probably one of the most racist people out there... just come to terms with it and know that other people are in the same boat as you. Someone that tells you they are not racist at all is probably lying.