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Tavis Ravenel

Trash Talk Nothing More Than African

American English

You aint good enough to be on the same level as me! GOOD? Ha, boy Im great!

You versus me, man this wont be a challenge Im at the level you wish you were at!

Trash talking, how simple is it. African American English how simple is it. Some would

say trash talking is a classless trait used to belittle another individual, but with the same

tongue a person would say Black English is nothing more than a combination of broken

English creating one big language of incorrectness! In reality trash talk is the purest form

of language because it comes from within. But if langue is something that is natural and

comes from within, what does that make Black English? Literacy used to be a word I

believed could only be applied in a classroom, but after taking a deep look at the term and

its definition, I have determined that my entire life I have been showing examples of

literacy. Authors such as James Paul Gee and Deborah Brandt expand on points we have

paid very little detail to because our entire life we have used them without ever having to

study them.

In a sit down interview Mike Vinckier spoke with a black college athlete. The first

point made was how he feels just right when he is in competition with others. When he is

trash talking them the feeling is more of a natural one, he smiled as he said without trash

talk the game is just not the same. As the interview went on the athlete expressed how he
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felt trash talk is his true self. Not only is he able to state exactly what he saw during the

course of the game but he is also able to be himself and not be scolded for it. We all have

instances where we have been in competition and used words as a competitive edge to

gain the upper hand. The language used sometimes is vulgar and at other times it can be

loud and expressive to drive a point home. The interview then took a weird turn, after

touching the subject of what it was like being a black athlete at a university where

majority of the students were white. He brought up what it was like trying to get people

of other races to understand him when he spoke. He hit on a lot of great points, the way

he spoke often made people view him as stupid and supported the claim of a dumb

jock. What he did spend a great bit of time explaining was that what he grew up with

was not what the people around him were not accustomed to, he was used to slang and

terms that were not completely pronounced. A lot of the terms ending in ing he

pronounces in and he uses habitual be a lot.

In everyday life trash talk is used, from places such as the classroom to on the job,

and even in places as sacred as church. Trash talking is everywhere and it is something

that is worldly accepted as well as frowned upon. As a child, pointing out that someone is

bad at something is fine, and saying they suck at home is okay but why is it bad when this

is taken into a place like school? While growing up one of the first languages a person

learns to speak is trash talk. As a person gets older and begin to grow trash talking soon

becomes something you can get better at with time and learning. Gee made a valid point

of distinguishing the differences between acquisition and learning. Much of what we

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come by in life, after our initial enculturation, involves a mixture of acquisition and

learning (Gee 54). There needed to be a balance in order for the two to be effective. In

the younger stages of life trash talk is learned, but as growing and maturation takes place

acquiring good trash talking skills starts to come in. Just like any other language trash

talk is one that takes practice, practice often takes place at home, in school, and in most

cases in sports. In, What is Literacy Gee brought up the detail of discourse. Discourse

is the socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking and of

acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or

social network (Gee 51). Without learning trash talk the foundation of general language

is lessened because trash talk is a vital part of society.

Gee made it clear the social network is an identity kit. The use of trash talk is your

true identity, at no other time in your life can one be as harsh as you would like and feel

no regrets. In a piece entitled, When the First Voice You Hear is Not Your Own by

Jacqueline Jones Royster, the point was made that often the things we say are not pure

because it is often altered to fit the place we are in. As part of the discourses we identify

this causes these complications. Primary discourses are usually implied with the areas

that impact one the most, family and culture being the top two. Places like school and

recreation centers are just as important, because these are places where the trash talk

learned from home and culture are built upon. What if you were to disregard your

location and just spoke the first thing that came to mind in the voice it is thought in?
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From what Gee made clear comes a major part of African American English,

identity. The identity of Black English is made up of a lot of different things. A lot of

times the English we as African Americans used are made up of the things we identify

with. A lot of our English is influenced by people of our Black Community, those being

rappers, preachers, and comedians. As talked about in Spoken Soul preachers do a great

job of putting strain on a lavish delivery. The delivery is used to reach and teach, from

these teachings come the impact. The impact comes out in the voice of the people. The

impact can be felt through the words and English. The English then starts to become

different from what the rest of the world has to offer. The English then starts to contain

the voice heard in the message. The voice of the message is not what those out of the

black community are often able to understand. From this we see the identity built of those

who are grounded in the church and dont have a problem being open about their love of

church. Not every takes this angle, a great number of African Americans go the route of

using music as an identity. The rap artist is much more than just artist of music. They are

often the voice of their fans, the fans then start to identify their personal life with the art

that is painted in the music. The music is the start of a language and the foundation of an

identity. The identity is exactly what comes of the people who are influential of the

African American Community. Royster made a great point in, When The First Voice You

Hear Is Not Your Own. The point made is that often before we speak the first voice we

hear is actually not ours, it is the things that make up our identity.
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For centuries trash talk has been used as a competitive advantage but it has also

been used as a form of teaching. When things are tough often a boost is needed, one turns

to trash talk. In most of the Black English used words and sayings are crafted for one

goal, to empower one another. Great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and President

Barack Obama use Black English to get a positive message across. Most importantly in

doing show they used Black English to teach and educate people of other races and

backgrounds. As the athlete stated when his coach says the stage may be too big for him

to handle he often took that as a challenge. This response to the challenge was often

raising his level of play, in the process he learned new techniques and proved to himself

that his will to succeed was on a level he never knew he possessed. It was through the

trash talk the lesson was learned. But what made the lesson so easy to grasp was the way

it was taught. Black English was used, something that hit close to home. Black English

and trash talk went hand in hand to get the point across.

Being a former high level football player I can say trash talk played a major role

on and off the field. A big learning tool for me was trash talk, my teachers challenged me

to do well on test by trash talking me. Although it would never be anything like calling

me dumb it was often things such as saying I wasnt dedicated enough to get an A. The

same methods were used by my coaches to get the best performances out of me for

games. My coaches would use vulgar language to trash talk me, often these things were

rude but they impacted me. These things made me greater at football than I ever believed

I could be. I used trash talk on the field to get inside of the heads of opponents. Trash
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talking others made me feel like a kid again, because many of the things I said were

things I said as a kid. Trash talk was always pure. Another great thing about being an

African American is that most of what I speak is translated to great trash talk. I am able to

understand what is being taught to me on and off the field but what helped me learn at an

accelerated rate was when the material was explained to me in slang terms or even by

someone who was using black tactics in teaching me. Black tactics being raising of

the voice, hand motions, and most importantly slang terminology. But wait, isnt trash

talk what most people want us to stay away from? And isnt Black English what people

have been trying to get us to change for centuries.

When thinking about trash talk and Black English it is imperative to realize how

many sponsors it has. Almost every major company we come in contact with is a sponsor

of trash talk. And at the same time almost every sponsor has a way to appeal to the black

community. They do it in a variety of ways, we see black athletes given a larger platform

and as of lately we have been seeing people of different races using broken English and

slang to get a point across. On national television ing is now left hanging and even

slang terms are being exposed to the public. An example would be the different types of

fast food restaurants across the country, although most have similar foods on the menus

they all say they have the best food, which makes them better than the rest of their

competition. By saying they are better than all the others is a form of trash talk, and we

support the claims because we eat at these places and often have a favorite place. The

sponsorship is what is important, the media is full of trash talk if you look closely. Social
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media sites such as Twitter say they are better than Facebook because they are faster and

connect more people around the world in an easier way. A crucial part of social media is

the language. Social media is none other than a place where Standard English is not the

norm, the norm is Black English. Social media language would not be tolerated in public

but on the web it is what is expected. Users find it more tangible to use slang, to use the

habitual be, to quote rap lyrics, and even in some cases to flat out curse. If that is not

enough we see children from a young age starting to develop great trash talk skills from

being in locations where trash talk is at an all-time high. These locations being sporting

events, NFL games and NBA games, children are being exposed to the harsh reality that

the purest form of language is trash talk, but from trash talk grew the language of Black

English.

For a long time, trash talk has been a part of our culture. As a result, trash talk has

become such a vital tool used. But what we have started to do is forget about the creation

of a language that is much like trash talk. Black English has forever been a model of trash

talk, people dont want trash talk to be seen a something pure and within. To make sure it

never has the change to it has become something frowned upon and tried to be blemished.

The problem comes here; the language we know as African American English is

composed of all of the elements needed to make a great trash talker. A great trash talker

has to be able to get a point across, they have to be able to understand what is going on,

they have to be able to use slang terms and understand them. In other words, everything it

embodies to be a great trash talker is everything that embodies African American English.
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Trash talk is being put everywhere and is being supported but it is only being supported

when it is used in a way that provides a profit for someone or some company. But at the

same time trash talk is being exposed and drawing negative connotations, surprisingly the

same the language components that make up trash talk are the same for Black English. It

all makes sense now, because trash talk is exposed and viewed as bad it is only right to do

the same for the only other thing that benefits from trash talk. From trash the great

language of African American English was created, these two languages go hand in hand.

Man sharpens man iron sharpens iron and trash talk empowers and influences African

American English.

Works Cited
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Bell, Le'Veon. "Sports Literacy 3." Interview by Mike Vinckier. N.p., 2011. Web. 1 Feb.

2016.

Brandt, Deborah. Sponsors of Literacy. College Composition and Communication. 49.2

(1998). 165-85 print.

Royster, Jacqueline Jones. "When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own." College

Composition and Communication. Ed. Victor Villanueva. Vol. 47. National Council of

Teachers of English, 1996. 29-40. Print

Gee, Paul James. "What Is Literacy?" Negotiating Academic Literacies: Teaching and

Learning Across Languages and Cultures. Ed. Vivian Zamel. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, 1998. 51-59. Print.