Daddy?

“That’s some skittle-cake!” I shouted in a room full of relatives, grandparents to the newly born girl sitting with her mother in the corner of the room. According to my mother, my teammate was making too many gestures as she gave the clues. “We should get those points!” I argued. I was always very competitive when it came to playing Taboo, but no one was worried about the score at that moment. They wanted to know what I’d even meant by shouting ‘skittle-cake’.

“Skittle-cake? Is that some new word ya’ll using?” My aunt asked. I would’ve said yes, but honestly, no one I knew used the word besides me. Which was a good thing. That word was the first way I discovered how to separate myself from crowds and trends.

            When I think of the people who speak the “better” English, those are the people who use it in a clear and educated way. When you’re educated in the English language, it gives you a bigger canvas to express yourself. You can’t play a Jimi Hendrix song on guitar if you only know three notes. However, becoming an English Linguistics major isn’t the only way a person can become better equipped to express themselves through language. As a teenager, I’m beginning to form my own self- image. Part of that is trying to be different than everyone else in every way possible. One of the ways I’ve found effective in doing so is with the way I speak. “I like dem shoes! They tough daddy!”. The usual response I get after I say something like this is, “ ‘Daddy’? What Thomas?”. While some may use loud clothing or wild hairstyles to stand out, I use language to express who I am to the world.

            In, If Black English Isn’t A Language Tell Me, What Is?, James Baldwin states, “Language incontestably reveals the speaker.” Different patterns and dialects can automatically be pinned to certain people. With your eyes closed, you could tell your listening to Obama speak just by the deep, calming tone he speaks in. With accents we can tell where a person is from. If actors are using words like jive and right on, you know you’re watching an American 70’s movie. Before even using any words to describe ourselves, people can tell something about us from whatever uniqueness you have to your diction.  The less unique, the less we stand out.

            . Slang is something that we all use, which sort of accompanies regional accents. We, here in Philadelphia, have our own set of words and phrases that we also use. However, one thing that I value is being unique. I was never one to follow trends or become too involved in pop-culture. One thing that makes me distinct is the language I use. I’ve transformed what some may call a Philadelphian accent into my own distinguishable speech. I may use the word daddy to represent something I think is cool or nice, or just use it as the suffix to a word due to my goofy nature.

            “It’s nip-daddy! I should’ve wore my coat this morning”. My friend stare at me, puzzled by the jibberish I’d just spoken.

“Nip-daddy? What, Thomas?” asked Ashley. Once the confusion passed, a burst of laughter erupted from everyone who’d heard me say it, the reaction I was hoping for. That’s the kind of laughter I like. Not the kind that’s ridiculing and harsh, but the kind that gives you a sense of belonging in your community.

“I guess we can add that to the bank with scrumptious” replied my friend Pierce. Scrumptious, as the average English speaker knows it, means to taste delicious. For me, the meaning is slightly different. I’ve transformed it into a phrase used to describe something attractive, from people to inanimate objects. Though this word currently exist in the English language, I’ve compromised it’s formality to create my own slang.

            Although English is something we all speak, it is spoken in different ways for each person. For me, I use my language to define my uniqueness. I bend and twist words into unorthodox patterns. With my clothes, music, and food choices I’d be an outcast. With language I’ve become a trend on my own.