Jerome's Jive

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skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Same over-the-top patois. I've come to think that it's an indication that these characters are bound by vaudevillian stereotyped imagery of what is 'negro' (outdated word used intentionally). Jerome perhaps does it ironically, but Susannah as Odetta came from an upper income family, with no actual examples of blackness other than those of her class. When her personality split, she unconsciously relied on a stereotype to distinguish 'Detta' from 'Odetta'.
 

AchtungBaby

Well-Known Member
Dec 5, 2011
3,856
15,540
Is Jerome supposed to remind me of Sussanah Dean was a thought that popped through my head today when I was listening to the audiobook.
Jerome certainly didn't remind me of Susannah. She's actually funny, and the reason for why she (or, rather, one 'side' of her) talks the way she does is thoroughly explained and makes sense.... The reason Jerome does it is never really spelled out to the reader.
 

Aloysius Nell

Well-Known Member
Apr 1, 2014
309
1,009
51
None of which explains why actual black people that I know choose to do this. I work pretty closely with a very intelligent guy, and when we are talking 1-on-1, he uses an average English vernacular. When he is talking to strangers, he edges into street talk. And when he posts on Facebook (his friends list is largely his extended family) he is nearly unintelligible, because he leaves out possessives, doesn't conjugate verbs, and other little weirdnesses. People are strange.

Every time I see one of those memes that start, "People be like, ..." I die on the inside a little bit.
 

not_nadine

Comfortably Roont
Nov 19, 2011
29,655
139,785
Behind you
None of which explains why actual black people that I know choose to do this. I work pretty closely with a very intelligent guy, and when we are talking 1-on-1, he uses an average English vernacular. When he is talking to strangers, he edges into street talk. And when he posts on Facebook (his friends list is largely his extended family) he is nearly unintelligible, because he leaves out possessives, doesn't conjugate verbs, and other little weirdnesses. People are strange.

Every time I see one of those memes that start, "People be like, ..." I die on the inside a little bit.

That's interesting, why don't you ask him? I'd like to know why.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
None of which explains why actual black people that I know choose to do this. I work pretty closely with a very intelligent guy, and when we are talking 1-on-1, he uses an average English vernacular. When he is talking to strangers, he edges into street talk. And when he posts on Facebook (his friends list is largely his extended family) he is nearly unintelligible, because he leaves out possessives, doesn't conjugate verbs, and other little weirdnesses. People are strange.

Every time I see one of those memes that start, "People be like, ..." I die on the inside a little bit.
I find the same thing happens with some of the Scottish people who were friends of my hubby when we were over there - I read their posts and they post exactly how they speak.

He will read the posts over my shoulder sometimes and he gets a big kick out of them - there is a Glasgow slang that is hard to understand. He told me that when they show Scottish movies in England they actually include subtitles!
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
Jerome certainly didn't remind me of Susannah. She's actually funny, and the reason for why she (or, rather, one 'side' of her) talks the way she does is thoroughly explained and makes sense.... The reason Jerome does it is never really spelled out to the reader.
If I remember correctly, King describes Jerome as of at least above-average intelligence (regardless of any racial implication) and so at his age doesn't fit in with society in general, and especially as a black person; therefore, he expresses his feelings of isolation, pretending to blame it on society's preconceived notions, via so-called jive talk, as a joke which he knows Hughes understands as self-perjorative but cathartic. I safely assume the reader is expected to understand that Jerome never talks this way to anyone but Hughes.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
None of which explains why actual black people that I know choose to do this. I work pretty closely with a very intelligent guy, and when we are talking 1-on-1, he uses an average English vernacular. When he is talking to strangers, he edges into street talk. And when he posts on Facebook (his friends list is largely his extended family) he is nearly unintelligible, because he leaves out possessives, doesn't conjugate verbs, and other little weirdnesses. People are strange.

Every time I see one of those memes that start, "People be like, ..." I die on the inside a little bit.
...I have a very good friend from my radio days that is black, and it is an ongoing joke between us-everytime we meet, that we do a VERY stereotyped "street" routine....people just edge away from us, because they think we're certifiable...little do they know......it's just cool-because it's our way of laughing at the long held "class structure".....
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
...I have a very good friend from my radio days that is black, and it is an ongoing joke between us-everytime we meet, that we do a VERY stereotyped "street" routine....people just edge away from us, because they think we're certifiable...little do they know......it's just cool-because it's our way of laughing at the long held "class structure".....
It would seem to me to be a way for more interracial bonding. I think I'd find it very hilarious to have a black friend who could imitate white talk (however that must sound, come to think of it).
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
None of which explains why actual black people that I know choose to do this. I work pretty closely with a very intelligent guy, and when we are talking 1-on-1, he uses an average English vernacular. When he is talking to strangers, he edges into street talk. And when he posts on Facebook (his friends list is largely his extended family) he is nearly unintelligible, because he leaves out possessives, doesn't conjugate verbs, and other little weirdnesses. People are strange.

Every time I see one of those memes that start, "People be like, ..." I die on the inside a little bit.
Why you be like that? ;;D