# Why do people talk in dialect but post on the Web in pure English? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100 "2015-10-01T01:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4

**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/61 "2015-10-02T20:42:11Z")

> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I don’t understand why that’s funny, **RickJay**. There is a standard American English (both spelling and pronunciation) and there is standard British English. > > A standard “American English” accent is similar to the one used by anchors on the national news, and has no overt locale or class-based accent. I’m dying here. You have an accent. Every English speaker in the world does. The way you speak may be used by many other people but it remains an accent, and it doesn’t perfectly match the way English is written any more than British English, Canadian English, Indian English, or Jamaican English do. You say words differently from English speakers with different accents, sometimes by using slightly different vowel sounds, sometimes by using somewhat different emphasis on a consonant here or there, and sometimes by saying words in a way that obviously does not match their spelling. Spoken English doesn’t match written English anyway, since the written version is partially symbolic. That’s what makes cochrane’s claim “I speak the way I write” especially hilarious. Do people say punctuation marks out loud? How do you pronounce “snow” or “roof”? ---

**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/62 "2015-10-02T20:44:48Z")

> [@RickJay](#): > > Ha ha ha… oh wait, you’re serious? The people who think they don’t have a dialect or accent (or bias) always are. ---

**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/63 "2015-10-04T09:55:02Z")

When I post here or in most other communities I’m involved in, I do the Editor/Author’s version of [code switching](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching). I just did it now by ending that sentence with a preposition–something that grates (even though it’s a silly and unnecessary rule, but damn it, that’s how I think). Here on the SDMB I’m perfectly happy writing “I’m gonna” or “I dunno” or “I wanna.” I’ll use “ain’t,” depending on context. Hell, I’ll slang it up as necessary, y’know? \<– Like that there. \<–And there. Plus, I’ll drop g’s or curse like a mofo if I fuckin’ feel like it. With clients or in professional/industry communities? It’s “I’m going” or “I don’t know” or “I want to,” etc. I’ll echo the comment about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or (shudder) the vile hive of scum and villainy that is Youtube comment pages. If you’re friends with a variety of people, you’ll see a variety of dialects on social media. Example: most of my black friends (primarily the younger folks under 35) code switch all the time: they’ll use AAVE and way more conversational slang when posting or commenting on each other’s posts vs. when they comment/reply to me or other Whitey McWhitersons we know. 🙂 (Which makes me feel a bit left out/distanced–or worse, worried that they feel they need to front with me. But it’s not up to them to change how comfortable they feel. It is what it is.) Same with teens in my family or among my fans. (Um, FB fans of my author page, that is; I’m hardly anyone famous.) The slang they use among their crowd is nothing like the way they talk to the adults. TL;DR version: yep, people do use dialect when they write online. 😃 ---

**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/64 "2015-10-04T10:14:55Z")

> [@Colibri](#): > > Brooklynese, “hillbilly,” and African American Vermacular English are non-prestige dialects of American English. If you speak in these dialects, people will think you’re stupid no matter how smart you actually are. Learning to speak standard English if you grew up using one of these dialects will be an advantage. Yip. It’s why I do not pronounce “pin” and “pen” the same way. In school I was taught that I this was incorrect (mostly to make it easier to learn phonics), and it stuck. I also do not add an R-sound to wash. What’s interesting is that my parents picked up on that one, too. I only hear “worsh” when they are tired. There ought to be a term for how much more different AAVE is from such shallow dialects as “hillbilly,” though. The latter still uses mostly standard grammar. ---

**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/65 "2015-10-04T10:24:12Z")

As for the OP’s question, the main reason is that the most prominent dialectical variation just doesn’t have a written form. The way we speak changes a lot more than how we write. As far as I’m concerned, I am writing the same way I would talk to you guys–except I’m a lot more long winded due to the less active nature of the communication, and use writing-only conveniences such as footnotes. But if you heard me speak, you could easily hear that my dialect is different from most of the people on this board. I live in a place where is a cluster of different accents. I can go fifty miles and hear a different accent. ---

**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/66 "2015-10-04T16:18:50Z")

> [@Octarine](#): > > 15 7h47 3v3n r34l l337 5p34k? j3s, l337 5p34k 1s7 v33|`y l337. ---

**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/67 "2015-10-04T16:30:28Z")

> [@choie](#): > > When I post here or in most other communities I’m involved in, I do the Editor/Author’s version of [code switching](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching). I just did it now by ending that sentence with a preposition… A preposition is not an appropriate thing to end a sentence with. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction. One should never generalize. Avoid cliches like the plague. No sentence fragments. If a mixed metaphor sprouts up, it should be derailed. Don’t use no double negatives. The passive voice should not be used. Puns are for children, not groan readers. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. Don’t write run on sentences you have to punctuate them. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. Profanity sucks. A careful writer must not shift your point of view. Foreign words and expressions are not apropos - they are verboten. Adverbs always follow verbs. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. When dangling, watch your participles. ---

**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/68 "2015-10-04T18:21:39Z")

Y U no engrish!? ---

**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/69 "2015-10-05T02:06:25Z")

> [@BigT](#): > > There ought to be a term for how much more different AAVE is from such shallow dialects as “hillbilly,” though. The latter still uses mostly standard grammar. What is a “shallow dialect”? ---

**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/70 "2015-10-05T03:31:41Z")

> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Everyone should embrace “y’all”. The loss of a distinction between singular and plural second-person pronouns is a bug in standard English. “Y’all” is the fix. I employ it without shame. I use “y’all” or sometimes “you all” a lot on this board. I think “youse” would be better (being one word rather than a mash-up to two words), but it’s got such a low-class connotation to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100.md?page=3)