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February 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
10:00:00 AM EST
Feeling Frustrated
Hearing the inner whirlings of my mind...
One of my best memories of high school was when I had a paper returned by my well-respected English Lit. Teacher with this written on it: “A well written and lucid paper.”
She may have said that I had written in an “articulate” manner. Both convey the notion that I was able to get my point across in a way that would be understood by the reader.
As an Atheist who debates with Christians on a regular basis, I struggle to always be articulate. Working in these situations with words bearing subtle connotations, and with language barriers at times, I feel that I often succeed to articulate my ideas. Sometimes not, and then I find myself seeking to work harder to make myself understood.
Articulate is apparently, according to those who know, an insult of the highest magnitude when used to refer to Black people. It is, so they say, implying that the Black person speaking in an articulate manner is actually speaking “White” and that the further insult is that it implies that inarticulate Blacks are inferior, that is, not “White.”
Can my mind be blown any further!?
Well….yes, it can. Apparently according to at least one Black member of journalism considered to be articulate, the “A-word” is a worse insult than the “N-word.”
Who knew?
While being articulate to me does not imply speaking “White” I suppose that it can mean speaking with proper grammatical style and not making much use of slang or street speak or filling your talk with idiomatic terms that would be lost on those from different locales. However, if groups for whom those styles are common are speaking to each other in a way that the group understands, and such that their ideas are also understood, they would be considered to be articulate. I certainly have heard high society types of considerable intelligence and education speak very inarticulately. And while I have not understood much of some speaking Ebonics, I have no doubt that those speakers and listeners have no problem with articulation.
Being articulate does not mean you are educated or intelligent or rich or in politics or even journalism, it means making a clear point to whomever is listening to you. Do your readers or listeners understand what you mean for them to understand? Perhaps it goes further than that: is your point understood by most people? When people of different backgrounds who speak a common language,such as English, understand a person then I would say that person is very articulate.
Is that an insult?
There are occasions when I find it necessary to limit my use of words with multiple syllables and to avoid compound sentences just to make myself clearly understood. The listener may be challenged by circumstances, which limit concentration, or the listener may be unaware of the meanings of some of my words, and confused by linking too much information in one utterance. In these cases, unless I change my style, I am not being articulate. Neither is articulation achieved when an accent is so heavy that it limits understanding between speaker and listener, and that is unfortunate, but can be a real problem when reaching across multi-cultural boundaries. Hopefully the written word will be able to suffice in very important cases such as this, but it doesn’t help in day-to-day association. Unless one party makes a great attempt to be articulate, our meaning is lost to each other.
When the citizens of one country fail to communicate with understanding, the lack forms a great divide in our unity. I find it saddening that the term “articulate” is considered by many or our Black co-citizens to be an insult to their entire race and culture. While I understand why it is “believed” so, I do not understand why it is.
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10:00:00 AM EST
Feeling Frustrated
Hearing the inner whirlings of my mind...
Articulate, Is It An Insult?
She may have said that I had written in an “articulate” manner. Both convey the notion that I was able to get my point across in a way that would be understood by the reader.
As an Atheist who debates with Christians on a regular basis, I struggle to always be articulate. Working in these situations with words bearing subtle connotations, and with language barriers at times, I feel that I often succeed to articulate my ideas. Sometimes not, and then I find myself seeking to work harder to make myself understood.
Articulate is apparently, according to those who know, an insult of the highest magnitude when used to refer to Black people. It is, so they say, implying that the Black person speaking in an articulate manner is actually speaking “White” and that the further insult is that it implies that inarticulate Blacks are inferior, that is, not “White.”
Can my mind be blown any further!?
Well….yes, it can. Apparently according to at least one Black member of journalism considered to be articulate, the “A-word” is a worse insult than the “N-word.”
Who knew?
While being articulate to me does not imply speaking “White” I suppose that it can mean speaking with proper grammatical style and not making much use of slang or street speak or filling your talk with idiomatic terms that would be lost on those from different locales. However, if groups for whom those styles are common are speaking to each other in a way that the group understands, and such that their ideas are also understood, they would be considered to be articulate. I certainly have heard high society types of considerable intelligence and education speak very inarticulately. And while I have not understood much of some speaking Ebonics, I have no doubt that those speakers and listeners have no problem with articulation.
Being articulate does not mean you are educated or intelligent or rich or in politics or even journalism, it means making a clear point to whomever is listening to you. Do your readers or listeners understand what you mean for them to understand? Perhaps it goes further than that: is your point understood by most people? When people of different backgrounds who speak a common language,such as English, understand a person then I would say that person is very articulate.
Is that an insult?
There are occasions when I find it necessary to limit my use of words with multiple syllables and to avoid compound sentences just to make myself clearly understood. The listener may be challenged by circumstances, which limit concentration, or the listener may be unaware of the meanings of some of my words, and confused by linking too much information in one utterance. In these cases, unless I change my style, I am not being articulate. Neither is articulation achieved when an accent is so heavy that it limits understanding between speaker and listener, and that is unfortunate, but can be a real problem when reaching across multi-cultural boundaries. Hopefully the written word will be able to suffice in very important cases such as this, but it doesn’t help in day-to-day association. Unless one party makes a great attempt to be articulate, our meaning is lost to each other.
When the citizens of one country fail to communicate with understanding, the lack forms a great divide in our unity. I find it saddening that the term “articulate” is considered by many or our Black co-citizens to be an insult to their entire race and culture. While I understand why it is “believed” so, I do not understand why it is.
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This entry has 11 comments: (Add your own)
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Hello Oddone. Thanks for stopping by. I am currently having trouble adding new blog entries...maybe it is the high wind. Course working with an iMac and dial-up doesn't help.
I visited your blog. You are having a rough time of it, aren't you? Here's hoping for better days ahead.
Hugs,
Jeanne -
Just letting you know I'm here, love your writing and need more. :)
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"The term Articulate is derogatory toward black people, or should be to anybody for that matter, because it suggests that the person using the term expected the other person to NOT be articulate."
I re-read your first post, and I see that this is the problem. As in..."when did you stop beating your wife?"..correct?
But, I am referring to the controversy and the comments made by a prominant Black journalist to Larry Elder, a "Republitarian" radio host.
But the term "articulate" is NOT insulting to most people, so why should it be so to Blacks? And my Black English teacher said my paper was "lucid and well-written" so I should have been insulted if she had said I articulated my thoughts very well in the paper????
How absurd that would have been! It does NOT imply that the person uttering the comment thinks that the speaker "shouldn't" be articulate. Unless the speaker is extremely lacking in self-confidence and is looking for an excuse to be insulted.
Suppose I said that your wife was really nicely dressed, or that she had lovely hair, or a darling nose? Am I insulting her because I am white and she is black and I just wouldn't expect a black woman to be nicely dressed with lovely hair and a darling nose? Good grief!
Must Whites forever walk on egg shells to keep from unsuspectingly insulting Blacks? That was a question asked in a manner by Larry Elder and others concerning this "articulate" incident.
BTW, why is Barack Obama considered a Black man anyway? Isn't his mother a White woman? -
I am sorry your wife was insulted by a stupid racist...and stupid is the key word here, I think. So, you aren't a racist because you are married to a Black woman, but I might be a racist because I just have Black friends and had them when schools in our area first integrated, risking social isolation in my white church/school/neighborhood? Interesting.
Anyway...trying to remember the rest of my post...
I doubt you are actually interested in understanding my thoughts, anyway. You came with a chip on your shoulder and read into my blog that which is not there. I failed to get my point across, and I guess I won't be able to.
But tell me this, if I were praising your wife by saying she is an articulate speaker (suppose she was speaking at a school function) why would that be an insult?
The black journalist says it is ONLY because her skin is black that it is an insult. But I did not say she is articulate for a black person, or that she is articulate for a woman....I said she is an articulate speaker.
It is the black journalist who said that it is an insult because it means that Blacks can speak "White" ....not I. I disagreed with his assumption that to be articulate means to speak "White."
And...I am not hurt by your saying I am articulate for an atheist....but I am hurt by the years of judgment from my community about me and my family, of course I am, have been. So once again I failed to make my thoughts clear to you...I was inarticulate.
11/25/07 4:55 PM