The way I speak has nothing to do with who I am

Kilah Kemp           

Philadelphia, home to some of the rich and Famous and the young and struggling. It is like a mixing pot for Pennsylvania. 

Pittsburgh, known as the Steel city a place where everything has and is in its place. A quaint and quiet city not much of a moving city compared to Philadelphia. 

Although they are in the same state, the differences between them place them on opposite sides of the world.

The place where they meet is me.  I was born and for a short period of my life I was raised in Pittsburgh. But ever since I can remember I was here in Philadelphia  and grew accustom to it ;I have had a Philadelphia soul. I haven't forgotten my Pittsburgh roots and those roots show in me for the most part like they way I act, but Philly… Philly is my home and it shows all  in my speech. 

               "Hey boo"

               "Hey girly"

               " You are still coming downtown with me right?" 

               "Yeah, didn't I already say that?"

               "Alright, you didn't have to get smart" 

               " Haha, I was just playing"

You can also see my family roots when we're talking with each other.

               "You finna go to the store?"

               " Yeah I am you want something?"

               " I want a bag of chips and go' on and get some of den cookies that I like please"

               " Sure, will do daddy"

               " Oh and can you make sure that you go get den there uh cooking oils and my orange juice."

               "Anything else you would like daddy?"

               "Breafas sausages" 

               " Daddy can you please put the K back in Breakfast?  Truly dad that is all I ask."

               " Okay snobby Breakfast Sausages"

               "Thank you daddy I will be right back"

             My father, born and raised in Pittsburgh, had never been outside the 412 and he was proud of it. He always had this unique way of speaking. I was always a fan of grammar and the proper way of speaking, and I think that comes out when I write and I speak. My father's side took well to "modern day slang" and I didn't. I think that always separated my Brotherly Love and my Steel city. I think that the way that one side of my family speaks is entirely different from the other. 

My mother who was born and raised in North Philadelphia and was sharp as a tack made something out of herself even though she doesn't think so, she is the strongest and most proper woman I have ever had the pleasure to meet. She is the sole reason why I carry out grammar as strongly as I so. She makes it almost impossible for you not to speak proper English. I feel as though without my mother I would not correct everyone's speech every time I hear it. 

                 In the short essay “If Black English isn’t a language then what is it?” by James Baldwin he said  “People evolve a language in order to describe and control their circumstances”   I think that in a way that is where slang originates from and although I do love my grammar I do sometimes partake in speaking slang with my fellow peers. Taking control of an environment not only means that you are knowing where you are but where you come from. I think in the African American society “slang” or “Ebonics” is a way that we express ourselves with one another. It is a way for us to be and feel comfortable. The slaves found a way to cope with not being able to speak their own language and not fully learning the language of so called “pure white people” slang is that escape route. “Slang” is something  we can call ours. It doesn’t define African American but it does help control their circumstances.

            In the short essay “ Hunger of Memory” by Richard Ramerez he talked about how by a chance of geographical luck he was a Hispanic boy of working class wound in a Catholic school full of Senators children and he didn’t know English very well which was kind of a Burdon on him because nobody else knew what he was talking about. He said “What they understood was that I had to speak a public language” English is this language that is spoken everywhere and it is kind of  a language that us universal. When people in other countries think of  English they think of America “The Land of Opportunity” when English isn’t even the official language of America.  There is no public language every single person on the planet is different and sometimes the only way some of us can connect is through our language and that and it is commonly assumed that English is spoken everywhere since it is a dominate language. I am different from him but we both share a common factor and that is we both speak English. There is so much diversity that there really couldn’t be a public language.