The food on American University’s campus is not exactly known for its presentation or taste. Even the most unsophisticated palate will eventually tire of the bland and often monotonous Subway, Megabytes and Terrace Dining Room options. That being said, one of the few culinary pleasures that most can agree on is Bene’s chicken tenders. Crispy, hot, generously portioned, and delicious when drenched in whatever sauce one prefers, there is little to criticize. However, the innocence of a crispy tender has been violated by a peculiar and disturbing trend on campus that has implications for the campus culture as a whole. AU students, in all of our white, liberal glory, call the chicken tenders, “tendahs.”
The first time I heard the term was while talking with a group of alabaster skinned individuals during the class of 2018’s Welcome Week. It was followed by an explanation that an endeared member of AU’s staff referred to them as tendahs, and then there was laughter. The incident left a bad taste in my mouth, but nervousness with my new environment coupled with the inability to phrase what exactly bothered me, lead me to silence. I regret that silence, and here’s why:
American English has incredible lingual variance. The Deep South does not speak the same English as the Midwest, nor does it even speak the same English as the Southwest. Some dialects aren’t regional at all, but belong to specific demographics. While these dialects are subject to teasing and stereotyping, none is under assault more than African American Vernacular English (AAVE). AAVE is a dialect of English created and spoken by African Americans. It is not slang, it is not incorrect Standard English, and it is certainly not something to mock.
However, because a few decades of de jure equality does not erase hundreds of years and slavery and several decades of segregation, AAVE is often criticized by nonblack populations for sounding ignorant. Despite this, non-AAVE speakers seem to have no problem appropriating terms from the language in order to make jokes or sound edgy. But by taking words completely out of context of their structure, grammar and syntax, non-AAVE speakers come across as both ignorant and foolish. Like every dialect, there is a cultural context to AAVE and removing it from that context is insulting.
Which brings us back to chicken tenders. Mockingly calling them “tendahs” is not only in poor taste, but it’s blatantly racist. When AU students perpetrate this bastardization of AAVE, they are creating a hostile environment for other students. So please do the AU community a favor, and eat your chicken tenders with condiments, not ignorance.