After watching a number of these videos on YouTube. I’m feeling The Need to do one in my natural speaking voice. Why? because There were some girls from N.O. who did it and to me. one of them sounds like My sister. The Other doesn’t but she sounds similar to voices I female hear on average here in N.O.
My First thought after watching these videos is the realization that many females from here seem to talk in a nasally tone of voice. Secondly, that many of us who have some higher level of education tend to enunciate more and pronounce certain words in their full capacity, rather than cutting them off., yet we talk slower when doing do. I know this because I do it when I’m reading or on the phone with others.
The Problem (which is not really a problem) is that Females tend to think their talking “Properly” which there’s no such thing is proper English in America. There’s Standard English which is taught in schools, yet That just about takes away from The Local Lexicons, Not so much the Accents though because the folks who teach us these words also have an accent.
Our Local Terminology has changed over time and many words have stopped being used or are now over used due to the Globalization of Universal Slang and their meanings. Our own Lexicon and Accents normally where we’re from and our level of education.. when N.O is concerned, It’s about What part of the city you’re from and who you grew up around.
A good Example of that would be this. On a college campus you’re commonly surrounded by people from different places to the point where there are a slew of folks who develop a similar accent based which is intertwined with their general circle. We all pic up on how others pronounce words and begin to talk as our peers do. Folks tend to assume that your accent becomes that of a person from that City, but it doesn’t because many times folks in those cities don’t sound like the folks on college campuses.
If lived with a bunch of Texan’s I'd Pic up their tone of voice and a few of their words after being around them for an extended period of time. Yet at the same time They would have also adapted to mine. that’s just how it works… I honestly believe that the accents change do to how the air is in those cities, because I don’t sound much different than I did when I left. the only thing I adapted from Houston was How THEY pronounce things, vs. the Vocabulary I had to drop in order to not be misunderstood.
There are things that I say now that I’ve been accustom to since Houston simply because I was forced to drop certain words and enunciate more so that i could be understood in a professional sense. otherwise I remained at my normal tone of voice. I didn’t change it to fit in with anyone and people loved it, Even the folks from Microsoft said that I was being “Real” rather than putting on for the camera.
I want to do the video simply because I know that I sound like any other Male from the 7th ward of New Orleans. Even after picking up a global terminally, I still sound like the average young black male. That’s not a Good thing because i don’t like how I sound anyway. But over all I want to do it because I think it’ll be funny. I know folks will get on me because I actually sound like an OLD SCHOOL New Orleanian at some point.
What’s crazy is that there’s a lot of hood slang terms. and common local customs that I refused to pick up on, that I’ve heard my whole life. Even things that have been heard in music video’s and things. Some things remained the same. others were either corrected till the point I’ve forgotten how it sounds or is used in our own lexicon/. But over all, I still sound like that of a person from the 7th ward, So I got to do it.
Over All. I’m all for the educated black man and speaking standard English. yet The Standard Education contributes to the lost customs and vocabulary.
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