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I know this is a pretty new forum, so stop and slap me if this particular topic has already been done to death elsewhere.
What I'm curious to know is, what dumb things have you seen done with dialect or slang as it relates to people of color?
As a more specific corollary: I'm aiming to pull a competent fantasy story out of something based on the American West, and I've always felt like it wouldn't be right to have these four or five vastly different cultures and peoples all sound alike. What well-intentioned but ultimately stupid things do I need to not do when crafting differences in their speech? (I already got a pretty good handle on "don't go nuts rendering accents phonetically; it will make at least half your readership want to hurl the book across the room." But anything else you can add to my understanding would be greatly appreciated.)
What I'm curious to know is, what dumb things have you seen done with dialect or slang as it relates to people of color?
As a more specific corollary: I'm aiming to pull a competent fantasy story out of something based on the American West, and I've always felt like it wouldn't be right to have these four or five vastly different cultures and peoples all sound alike. What well-intentioned but ultimately stupid things do I need to not do when crafting differences in their speech? (I already got a pretty good handle on "don't go nuts rendering accents phonetically; it will make at least half your readership want to hurl the book across the room." But anything else you can add to my understanding would be greatly appreciated.)