Understanding them is the first thing

Via Fred at headssup: the blog: apparently some papers can't find anything more newsworthy than an old story about the DEA hiring "Ebonics translators".

You know - that decision is a no-brainer. I don't care whether you call it "street slang", a "dialect", or a "language" (though "Ebonics" is a bad name for it and I wish it had never been invented), the fact remains that if you can't understand the dealers you can't arrest and prosecute them.

One would think Law and Order types would appreciate that.

Unless of course, the very fact that you can't understand them is all the proof you need that they indeed ought to be locked up.