What's new

Ebonics translators needed by DEA to interpret drugs wiretaps

J

JackTheGrower

Ebonics translators needed by DEA to interpret drugs wiretaps

The US is seeking to hire nine people fluent in Ebonics - or African American patois - in order to interpret wiretapped conversations between suspected drug dealers, sparking controversy as many do not consider it a language. The liguists would help America's Drug Enforcement Administration decipher arrangements between criminals, documents leaked in the US claimed. Speakers of 114 "common" and "exotic" languages - including Jamaican patois, Farsi and Spanish - were sought to cover investigations in the American south-east.

Special Agent Michael Sanders said experts were needed to determine precisely what suspects were saying, which could be crucial in gaining convictions.

He said: "You can maybe get a general idea of what they're saying, but you have to understand that this has to hold up in court.

"You need someone to say I know what they mean when they say 'ballin' or 'pinching pennies'.

"It has nothing to do with racial issues. It is a type of language recognised by different linguist services."

Another DEA official said there was nothing "racial" about the hiring effort, identifying the white rapper Eminem as "one of the best speakers of Ebonics there ever was".

Ebonics, also known as African American Vernacular English, is an offshoot of American English. Characterised by pronunciation relating to speakers of Creole or West African languages, and the omission of the final consonant in words (han' instead of hand), it was defined by Robert Lee Williams, who coined the term in 1973, as English vocabulary with African linguistic structure.

Detractors claim it is a dialect - or bastardisation - at best.

The DEA's search, first reported by The Smoking Gun, has revived fierce debate over Ebonics first sparked in 1996, when a California school board suggested that "black English" was a separate language from that spoken by whites, and that African American children should have lessons in it.

The Oakland board called for public money to fund "bilingual" education in English and Ebonics.

The proposal was rejected by the Clinton administration, ridiculed by late night comedians, and sparked a fierce racially-charged national debate over whether learning, and language, could be "genetically based".

Professor H Samy Alim, an expert on black language and hip-hop culture at Stanford University, admitted he initially thought the new DEA recruitment drive was a joke but said it highlighted a serious issue.

He said: "It seems ironic that schools that are serving and educating black children have not recognised the legitimacy of this language, yet the authorities and the police are recognising that this is a language that they don't understand.

"It really tells us a lot about where we are socially in terms of recognising African American speech."

Walt Wolfram, professor of English linguistics at North Carolina State University, who has studied African American English for 40 years, said: "There is something of substance here. There are differences in terms of language and lexicon and so forth that are difficult to understand for most people, so it is an issue.

"What, of course, happens is it gets politicised and trivialised by the very term 'Ebonics.'"

The term derives from a blend of the words "ebony" and "phonics."

He recalled issues in 1970s Black Panther trials in which there was confusion in court over whether the phrase "Off the pigs" was a threat to kill police officers.

He also said Ebonics had now crossed over "geographic, racial and ethnic backgrounds" and was also spoken by Latino and white people.

Others were sceptical, wondering how a potential translator's fluency would be tested.

"I'm not aware of Ebonics training schools or tests. I don't know how they'd establish that someone speaks Ebonics," said Aloysius Hogan, a member of English First, a lobbying group promoting the use of English.

"I support the concept of pursuing drug dealers if they're using code words, but this is definitely going in the wrong direction," he said.

The Linguistic Society of America has not taken a position on whether Ebonics is a language, but has said characterisations of Ebonics as "ungrammatical or broken English" were "incorrect and demeaning".
Click to expand...

So for a long time this Ebonics was not considered a language but now that the DEA want to put people in Prison it is.
 
Kalicokitty

Kalicokitty

The cat that loves cannabis
Veteran
I want to make up my own retarded version of the English language, and have it taught in public schools.
 
memphis man

memphis man

Member
lmao this shit is funny as fuck. so now the government will say ebonics is a language and refer to eminem as a the best ebonic speaker ever. so i wonder what they would call snoop doggs fo shizzle my nizzle language. hell i think me and my crew are just gonna learn a new version of pig latin crossed up with a touch of swahila lmao
 
T

tokinafaty420

Ebonics is a dialect of the English language, just like all the rest of the variations of English you can find throughout the USA.
 
40AmpstoFreedom

40AmpstoFreedom

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Guess they don't realize it all consists of made up words that transform/are replaced in meaning daily lol...

The underground will always have its own language that those brought up with it will know and those that aren't won't. The DEA will always live reclusive and confined to their own kind because they are not accepted by the majority of citizens and brainwashing requires removal from society.

Hence the reason you see fraternity for cops lol (not a collegiate thing its a building usually where thye bank and hang out together etc...)...they all hang out with each other cuz no one else can stand them.
 
Phedrosbenny

Phedrosbenny

Trying to have a good day
Veteran
Somebody speaks with a speach impediment.People notice that other people cant understand what the hell they are talking about when they speak.People start talking like this among themselves so outsiders wont be able to understand......................................................few years later we are all required to have our childeren learn it.Welcome to America.
 
I.M. Boggled

I.M. Boggled

Certified Bloomin' Idiot
Veteran
shizzle up on dis and give it a grill :)

shizzle up on dis and give it a grill :)

Big L - Ebonics Lyrics:

Yo, pay attention
And listen real closely how I break this slang shit down

Check it, my weed smoke is my lye
A ki of coke is a pie
When I'm lifted, I'm high
With new clothes on, I'm fly
Cars is whips and sneakers is kicks
Money is chips, movies is flicks
Also, cribs is homes, jacks is pay phones
Cocaine is nose candy, cigarettes is bones
A radio is a box, a razor blade is a ox

Fat diamonds is rocks and jakes is cop
And if you got rubbed, you got stuck
You got shot, you got bucked
And if you got double-crossed, you got fucked
Your bankroll is your poke, a choke hold is a yoke
A kite is a note, a con is a okey doke
And if you got punched that mean you got snuffed
To clean is to buff, a bull scare is a strong bluff
I know you like the way I'm freakin' it
I talk with slang and I'ma never stop speakin' it

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Yo, yo
A burglary is a jook, a woof's a crook
Mobb Deep already explained the meanin' of shook
If you caught a felony, you caught a F
If you got killed, you got left
If you got the dragon, you got bad breath
If you 730, that mean you crazy
Hit me on the hip means page me
Angel dust is sherm, if you got aids, you got the germ
If a chick gave you a disease, then you got burned

Max mean to relax, guns and pistols is gats
Condoms is hats, critters is cracks
The food you eat is your grub
A victim's a mark
A sweat box is a small club, your tick is your heart
Your apartment is your pad
Your old man is your dad
The studio is the lab and heated is mad
I know you like the way I'm freakin' it
I talk with slang and I'ma never stop speakin' it

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

The iron horse is the train and champaign is bubbly
A deuce is a honey that's ugly
If your girl is fine, she's a dime
A suit is a fine, jewelry is shine
If you in love, that mean you blind
Genuine is real, a face card is a hundred dollar bill
A very hard, long stare is a grill
If you sneakin' to go see a girl, that mean you creepin'
Smilin' is cheesin', bleedin' is leakin'

Beggin' is bummin', if you nuttin' you comin'
Takin' orders is sunnin', an ounce of coke is a onion
A hotel's a telly, a cell phone's a celly
Jealous is jelly, your food box is your belly
To guerrilla mean to use physical force
You took a L, you took a loss
To show off mean floss
I know you like the way I'm freakin' it
I talk with slang and I'ma never stop speakin' it

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Yeah, yeah
One love to my big brother, Big Lee
Holdin' it down
Yeah, Flamboyant for life
Yeah yeah, Flamboyant for life

Ebonics Lyrics
song performed by Big L in the album The Big Picture

IMB :)
 
smoke1sun

smoke1sun

What Goes Around Comes Around. But Am I Comming Or
Veteran
I.M. Boggled said:
Big L - Ebonics Lyrics:

Yo, pay attention
And listen real closely how I break this slang shit down

Check it, my weed smoke is my lye
A ki of coke is a pie
When I'm lifted, I'm high
With new clothes on, I'm fly
Cars is whips and sneakers is kicks
Money is chips, movies is flicks
Also, cribs is homes, jacks is pay phones
Cocaine is nose candy, cigarettes is bones
A radio is a box, a razor blade is a ox

Fat diamonds is rocks and jakes is cop
And if you got rubbed, you got stuck
You got shot, you got bucked
And if you got double-crossed, you got fucked
Your bankroll is your poke, a choke hold is a yoke
A kite is a note, a con is a okey doke
And if you got punched that mean you got snuffed
To clean is to buff, a bull scare is a strong bluff
I know you like the way I'm freakin' it
I talk with slang and I'ma never stop speakin' it

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Yo, yo
A burglary is a jook, a woof's a crook
Mobb Deep already explained the meanin' of shook
If you caught a felony, you caught a F
If you got killed, you got left
If you got the dragon, you got bad breath
If you 730, that mean you crazy
Hit me on the hip means page me
Angel dust is sherm, if you got aids, you got the germ
If a chick gave you a disease, then you got burned

Max mean to relax, guns and pistols is gats
Condoms is hats, critters is cracks
The food you eat is your grub
A victim's a mark
A sweat box is a small club, your tick is your heart
Your apartment is your pad
Your old man is your dad
The studio is the lab and heated is mad
I know you like the way I'm freakin' it
I talk with slang and I'ma never stop speakin' it

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

The iron horse is the train and champaign is bubbly
A deuce is a honey that's ugly
If your girl is fine, she's a dime
A suit is a fine, jewelry is shine
If you in love, that mean you blind
Genuine is real, a face card is a hundred dollar bill
A very hard, long stare is a grill
If you sneakin' to go see a girl, that mean you creepin'
Smilin' is cheesin', bleedin' is leakin'

Beggin' is bummin', if you nuttin' you comin'
Takin' orders is sunnin', an ounce of coke is a onion
A hotel's a telly, a cell phone's a celly
Jealous is jelly, your food box is your belly
To guerrilla mean to use physical force
You took a L, you took a loss
To show off mean floss
I know you like the way I'm freakin' it
I talk with slang and I'ma never stop speakin' it

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Speak with criminal slang
That's just the way that I talk, yo
Vocabulary spills, I'm ill

Yeah, yeah
One love to my big brother, Big Lee
Holdin' it down
Yeah, Flamboyant for life
Yeah yeah, Flamboyant for life

Ebonics Lyrics
song performed by Big L in the album The Big Picture

IMB :)
Click to expand...

Pandora radio loves this song on the lox station.

That "ebonics" has made alot of rap cats some serious cash.
Suburbia kids cant get enough.
 
Maj.Cottonmouth

Maj.Cottonmouth

We are Farmers
Veteran
Phedrosbenny said:
Didnt ebonics begin with fat alberts friend that allways had the winter hat on..........
Click to expand...

I'ba think'ba you'ba talkin' about'ba mushmuth'ba

picture.php
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top