THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 25 lines
I seldom agree with the government, but on Ebonics I agree 100 percent. I'm glad the government won't legalize illiteracy. There is nothing wrong with the way we communicate among family and friends, but when you're in the work force, it's a different matter.
When I was growing up, we would tell each to ``cool it, man'' or ``far out.'' When my son was growing up it was ``chill out'' or just plain ``chill'' and ``I be chillin.'' It was slang then, and it's slang now. How you communicated with your friends was completely different from how you communicated with adults. My parents may have had a hard time understanding me, but we cared enough to learn the proper way to speak. As we grew older, we dropped the slang.
Why offer our children excuses? We're setting them up for failure. Offer them encouragement. Who knows how far they will go?
Until next time, dig ya later. Cool it, man. Chill. . . .
LEE WRIGHT
Portsmouth, Jan. 7, 1997