Do people still speak Jive?

Favorite Answer

Jive continues to evolve today and survives in what we now call Ebonics. It's an English variation that originates primarily from the Black Culture. If you want to hear the latest version you sometimes have to endure a little "yo yo, fo'sho beeatcth" stuff, but it's interesting to see how quickly it evolves and how readily the suburban white youth adopt it into their vernacular. I think Rap and R&B music is currently the biggest cause of this. I'm not too good at it, but it sounds a little like this now:

In California (Oakland) dey wuz fittin nuh teach it in duh school.

Iffin yuh like tuh read den here's some books fuh yuh...

Dillard, J. L. (1972). Black English: Its History and Usage in the United States. Random House. ISBN 0-394-71872-0.
Mufwene, Salikoko et al. (1998). African-American English: Structure, history and use. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-11732-1.
Rickford, John (December 1997). Suite for Ebony and Phonics. Discover magazine Vol. 18 No. 12.
Rickford, John (1999). African American Vernacular English. Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-21245-0.
Rickford, John and Rickford, Russell (2000). Spoken Soul: The
Story of Black English John Wiley. ISBN 0-471-39957-4.



p.s. Wow!
The spell checker only picked out "fo'sho beeatcth" and accepted the rest of my jive....Show more

Jive has taken a few turns and seems to change with each generation of homies. Jive that was spoken in the movie "Airplane" is more classic traditional jive, while today it is more ghetto/gangsta jive....Show more

Yeah the speak it. Its just called Ebonics now. Ya Dig ya feel me Ha ha ha. Jive will always be as long as we have teenager we will have jive. Peace!...Show more

Yes haha there are. My friend totally speaks in Jive! LOL

He's a riot because everyone thinks he's sooo old school but I love it!

Word....Show more

Did people ever speak Jive? I have a feeling it was just in movies....Show more