Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Switch

       In the article "How code switching explains the world" by Gene Demby there is a video that gives another perspective on president Obama. The article shows how people switch the way the talk depending on the people they are talking to. The video shows that even president Obama doesn't have only one way of speaking. 
       The video takes place in a small town restaurant, and President Obama is seen talking to the other customers and the cashiers. At one point he says to the cashier "Nah we straight." People don't usually expect that to come out of someone like the presidents mouth, just because it isn't seen as professional. I think it really shows how human everybody really is. No matter how much you try to hide behind fancy clothes and big words, you can't be perfect. "When you're attuned to the phenomenon of code-switching, you start to see it everywhere, and you begin to see the way race, ethnicity and culture plays out all over the place." I love that quote because it shows how you can be part of so many different cultures all at the same time.
      I can think of some examples right away of when I code switch. I am involved in a lot of international clubs and that means that I spend a lot of time with people who have very different accents from me. When I hang out with my Japanese friends from the Japanese SA I find myself starting to talk like them. They don't have the best English and they tend to be missing words in their sentences like Yoda. For example, they might say "we go to store" which I know isn't correct, but I start talking like that after a while too. I think it's so cool that I can switch so easily when I'm with different friends. 
      In regards to the topic of ASL and Black ASL, the video of president Obama is very similar. When he said "nah we straight" I was a little confused. Me being a white american boy brought up in the suburbs of Rochester, I'm not exactly rehearsed very well in slang or street smarts. My room mate is black and I still don't completely understand some of the things he says to me. Like ASL and Black ASL, we can understand each other, but it's just not as clear and it took a little while to start talking the same. 
      It makes me wonder if the same code switch happens around the world. America is known as the melting pot, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. I believe that the more rehearsed you are with other cultures, the more aware you become. 
-Brandon Reilly


1 comment:

  1. I like the argument the way that you explain code switching in this blog post. I also see myself code switching at times when I'm talking to certain people. I like that at the end of your post, you pose an interesting question as to what causes this thing called code switching.

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