A Word on Code-Switching

If you really want to get down and dirty on code-switching, you could check out the wikipedia entry. If, however, you aren't that into linguistics, read on.

Code-switching is moving back and forth between two languages or dialects (to grossly oversimplify). For example, some poor white and Black people converse in the common vernacular of their culture while with other members of it, and then switch to formal English when in school or professional settings (this is pretty much the kind of code-switching I'm referring to here). It's an important skill because it's crucial to full acceptance in both.

I learned about code-switching when I was studying psychology years ago, and it has informed my thinking and teaching about grammar ever since. What I once would have dismissed as ignorance, I now hesitate to make assumptions about. It's always possible that the people I hear using slangy class-marking vernacular are capable of exchanging it for "proper" English when necessary--and beyond this, it's possible that their use of colloquial language actually is a sign of intelligence rather than a proof against it.

We send cues with our speech to our listeners. We can make them feel accepted, judged, belittled, or safe, for example. Being able to code-switch can be vital when we need to fit in and be accepted, when we want to make and keep friends, and when we want to be taken seriously in our academic or professional pursuits. That's why I don't want to change the way you talk all of the time--I just want to help you with the rules when it matters.

I don't correct my friends' everyday speech or facebook posts or emails (unless I'm feeling ornery or insulted, LOL), so sometimes they are positively blown away when they invite me to edit a writing and I shred it end to end (insert Cheshire cat grin here, lots of sharp teeth). I don't care if you use who and whom correctly, if you pepper your posts with comma splices, or if you ever capitalize (hah! i don't) in common conversation.

However, if you really want to know what my grammarazzi-brain sees... pardon me while I sharpen my claws on this local newspaper. I'll be right with you.