People were saying we didn't have a language, and we had to be able to speak to the people on the peninsula or on the mainland, but we did a great job of code-switching.
I worked for the telephone company, so I had to change. I had to be very proper, and I had to say words and pronounce them correctly. But at the end of my term, working there after 40 years, I found that if I was my authentic self and used my authentic language, I sold a lot more because people were interested.
“What is that language?" "What are you saying?" "Say that again. It's beautiful."
And so with that kind of empowerment, I was like, I got to do this all the time. I found too, it gave permission to other people who were Gullah Geechee to say, "oh yeah, I hear ya."
Because a lot of times, again, some people have moved north, so they had to speak like Northerners, but when they call me to get service, and I say, “Where are you from?” “I'm from New York.”
I said, "Oh, okay. What's your last name?" "Well, actually, my family is the Browns in Charleston." I said, "Girl, you lyin’!"