Bronwyn Harris, Author

First of all, if you search Google images for "ebonics," this is the only thing that comes up that is not totally offensive. I don't recommend doing the search. The ebonics (more correctly called African American Vernacular English or AAVE) debate started when I was in college, and wasn't talked about in those terms when I was teaching, but was definitely discussed, usually in derogatory terms. "Why can't they use proper English?" "I'm so tired of hearing "axe" instead of "ask"! "It's not "bafroom," it's "bathroom""! Usually there was some eye rolling and muttering about how uneducated people were, and even sometimes the expression "those people" which I hate. I'm not going to explain how AAVE evolved but if you're interested, check out John Rickford's work, which is fascinating and very informative. Even a quick search on Wikipedia can acquaint you ...