Shibboleth: Honey Bunches OF Oats
by L. Arthalia Cravin

I wonder how many people have paid close attention to the Honey Bunches of Oats commercial that has been airing on television for some time now. I might be the only person in the world who has noticed the subtle way in which the black lady says “Have you tried Honey Bunches of Oats?” When or if you see the commercial, she is the first to appear and is wearing a white covering on her hair. Now, pay close attention to how she says “Honey Bunches of Oats” and how the rest of the people say “Honey Bunches of Oats.”

Have you ever heard the term “shibboleth?” If you haven’t, turn to the Old Testament book of Judges. Judges is the seventh book in the Old Testament and appears after the book of Joshua. Now go to the 12th chapter and the 6th verse, which reads: “ Then said they unto him, Say now SHIBBOLETH: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.”

What does “Shibboleth” and the Book of Judges have to do with “Honey Bunches of Oats?” A lot. Webster’s dictionary defines a “shibboleth” as “a password, phrase, custom, or usage that reliably distinguishes the members of one group or class from another.” If you will now re-read Judges 12:6 you will see that the person who could how pronounce the “SH” sound in the word “shibboleth” was killed on the spot. Wonder why? If you will read the rest of the story in Judges you will see that the Gileadites and the Ephramites were at war with each other. The Gileadites left over Jordan, and it just so happened that a group of Ephramites who had escaped wanted to go along as well. When they were confronted about their identity, the Gileadites asked if they were Ephramites, to which they responded “No, we are not.” They were then required to pronounce the word, “shibboleth.” As each one failed to pronounce the “sh” sound he was killed.

Now back to Honey Bunches of Oats. The black lady who first says, “Have you had your Honey Bunches of Oats, “does not clearly articulate the word “of.” Instead she says “uh” and it comes out, “Have you had your Honey Bunches uh Oats?” Every white person in the commercial clearly enunciates the word “of” with a clear “f” fricative sound at the end. Wonder why? Why would only one person in that commercial be required to mispronounce the word “of?” I wonder if she gets the same amount for appearing in the commercial.

It has long been believed, as an element of black stereotyping, that African Americans do not clearly enunciate spoken words. When I was growing up I routinely heard the term “lazy tongue” to describe the failure (of African Americans especially) to articulate or enunciate their words. My high school English teacher, Mrs. Ruth Esther Manning Jones, would not tolerate a lazy tongue. Every day she told her students to “spit out those “ts.” She wanted her student to say “that” and not “dat,” “those” and not “dos,” “it” and not “id.” She constantly reminded us to “speak up and to speak clearly. When we read George Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion, she told us that we could also benefit from saying, “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains,” and “How now brown cow,” in order to round out the nasal, “Texas twang.” I am eternally grateful for Miss Jones’ advice as I have found that good articulation is crucial to any type of professional advancement. I still regularly study articulation and try each day or so to repeat tongue twisters such as “yellow leather,” and “Aunt Ada ate an apple,” and especially, “The tooter who tooted the flute tried to tutor two tooters to toot, said the two to the tutor is it harder to toot or to tutor two tooters to toot.” Now try that. (Henry Kissinger who routinely said “dat” and “dos” could have benefited from a few tongue twisters—but that didn’t stop his career advancement. But Henry Kissinger was not African American.) In the world of work, African Americans have suffered immensely because of their actual or perceived inability to enunciate and speak clearly.

As for “Honey Bunches OF Oats, “ I am going to send this column to Kraft Foods, Inc, that owns Post cereal, as a reminder to them that having the black lady say “uh oats, “ instead of “of oats,” is wrong-headed and does nothing except perpetuate poor articulation. Why was the black lady the only one required to speak “ghetto?” Why was she singled out to fail the “shibboleth” test? I already know why. It is subtle racism—that was not so subtle to me. I am personally offended. I am also offended when the majority of black people who appear on television are given a prepared script that requires them to use slang, profanity, poor grammar or speak with a lazy tongue. Watch and listen to how one of the black women speaks on the CW show called “The Game.” She is scripted to talk loud, foul and ghetto. Yet, some of the most eloquent speakers to ever walk this planet have been African Americans. Frederick Douglas was an orator without par, as were thousands of other black men and women, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had a command of the English language and the art of oration unmatched by any Anglo. It is too bad that some black children think that proper enunciation and good grammar is “acting white.” They need to learn their own history of how their ancestors, who were denied the right to read and write, became some of the most skilled orators of all times. I say shame on Kraft Foods—re-do the commercial and have the woman say “Honey Bunches OF Oats.” I also say shame on African Americans who persist in speaking loud, wrong, foul, and ghetto.

Cc:
Irene B. Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO, Kraft Foods, Inc
Marc Firestone, Executive Vice President, Kraft Foods, Inc.

© Copyright 2007 - L. Arthalia Cravin. All rights Reserved. No part of this commentary may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.