dialect: how dare you!

The date is Oct. 10th and the year is 2023 and the location is No Where, USA. Di Alect is now 35 years old. He has lived all of his life trying to figure out his place in life. From a young age, Di Alect has found it hard to communicate with others. Every time he feels like he has it figured out, someone tells him he is wrong. As he was with his parents for most of his youth, he learned to communicate with them in his own way.

Every morning, his Mom would wake him up for breakfast. “Get up. It’s time for food.” He would proceed to get up and eat. His Dad was always at the table before him and would greet him the same way each morning: “Your ass couldn’t beat me to the table if I paid you to.” That was the morning ritual. Mom always spoke in a “matter of fact” kind of way and Dad always brought the tough love.

It came time for Di Alect to go to school where he would combine his mother’s and father’s way of speaking and form his way of communicating. He was in class when the bell rang for lunch. Di Alect looked at the boy next to him and said, “It’s time for food. I bet you can’t beat my ass to the table if I paid you.” His teacher was shocked at what she heard and called him to her desk. He was in trouble and he knew it but he didn’t understand why.

The teacher informed him, “That kind of language is not acceptable.” He looked at her, puzzled. This was the way he spoke at home, and his parents never yelled at him, so who was this lady to do so? After that incident he changed the way he spoke at school and he continued to speak at home in the same way he always did.

Di Alect came to make plenty of friends at school, but it seemed that every one of his friends had a different way of speaking. Which way was correct? Why did so many people have different ways of saying the same thing? That would be a question he would ask himself throughout his life. Di Alect was now 20 and ready to enter the work force. He was equipped with all manners of speaking and communicating and was ready for life.

He entered the office building where he was greeted by the person who would be interviewing him. He offered Di Alect a seat and asked if he wanted water or coffee, and he responded, “NAH, nothing for me.”

The interviewer shot him a look and continued. “Why do you want to work here?” was the next question. “Cuz I feel that I can do good in dis environment.” The interviewer said to Di Alect you have a great education and good references, but the manner in which you speak will never get you anywhere.

The interview was concluded and again Di Alect was confused; if I’m qualified, why does it matter how I speak?!

That was the new question. If people always understood what he was saying, why did it matter how he said it? If anyone was offered a million dollars but it would be in pennies and not paper money they would still take it. In the end it was still a million dollars. It didn’t matter how it came.

Why does the “proper” way of speaking lead to success and the wrong way to demise? Unfortunately for Di Alect, now 35, the question still remains. Language is forever evolving and there will never be a “correct” way of speaking. Expression is always going to be unique to the person and success will always come to the one who pursues it. Never let anyone say that the way you express yourself is wrong. Just say, 

“How Dare you!” 

“Words Matter!”