Bernie, at Planck’s Constant, points to a Harvard study showing that people with Ebonic names like Tabiqwa, or Bershawn are much less likely to be hired than those with standard English names. Fortunately, Bernie quotes from the key parts of the study because Harvard seems to have taken down the link.
No surprise either way, of course. Harvard’s nothing if not PC and who wants an employee whose name you can’t pronounce, much less spell? If you are a business person who is, nevertheless, tempted to hire someone with an Ebonic name because, as fate would have it. they are otherwise outstanding, you should at least avoid names with double meanings.
Such as my all-time personal favorite: Latrina.
Or Pajamas (pronounced paj-a-mas), both of which are real names of real (well, semi-real) people. The second one came from a single (what else?) semi-illiterate mom in Mississippi who reputedly went name shopping in a Sears catalog. I’m not sure where Latrina came from, other than ignorance.
Bernie thinks Trayvon got his young black ass blown up because his Ghetto Fabulous moniker gave him a bad attitude that proved suicidal. Could be. Who’d want to be called Trayvon, even on a good day? Although it’s certainly better than sharing the name of a toilet.
UPDATE: Wonder how much of this (black teen unemployment hits 41 percent) is caused by that? They sure got a deal in Wormtongue, didn’t they?
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 