In alt.usage.english and alt.english.usage , the comment is
occasionally made that a particular usage is "due to laziness." In
every case that I can remember, the usage in question was correct for
the dialect of the person speaking it, and to ascribe it to laziness
was an absurdity. I recently came across a discussion of the question
of "laziness" in a discussion of African American Vernacular English
(also known as "AAVE," "Black English," or "Ebonics"), and thought it
would be worthwhile to post it here:

From
http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/papers/SuiteForEbonyAndPhonics.html

[quote]

One reason people might regard Ebonics as "lazy English" is its
tendency to omit word-final consonants, especially if they come after
another consonant, as in "tes(t)" and "han(d)." But if one were just
being lazy or cussed or both, why not also leave out the final
consonant in a word like "pant"? This is NOT permitted in Ebonics, and
the reason (building on your newly acquired knowledge about voicing)
is that Ebonics does not allow the deletion of the second consonant in
a word-final sequence unless both consonants are either voiceless, as
with "st," or voiced, as with "nd." In the case of "pant," the final
"t" is voiceless, but the preceding "n" is voiced. Not only is Ebonics
systematic in following this rule, but even its exceptions to the
rule--negative forms like "ain'," and "don'"--are non-random. In
short, Ebonics is no more lazy English than Italian is lazy Latin. To
see the (expected) regularity in both we need to see each in its own
terms, appreciating the complex rules that native speakers follow
effortlessly and unconsciously in their daily lives.

[end quote]

The quote "In short, Ebonics is no more lazy English than Italian is
lazy Latin." is particularly apt, and it reminded me of the situation
in French between the prestige dialect, Parisian French, and the
dialect spoken in the South of France. In Parisian French, many of the
e's which were pronounced in the past no longer are, but there are
dialects in which they continue to be pronounced. I am personally
acquainted with one person who speaks that way. Although not French,
he lived in the South of France as a boy and learned to speak French
with the accent of the people of that region. It obviously silly to
say that the Parisian French speakers are being "lazy." Of course they
are not, they are simply pronouncing the language as they were taught
to pronounce it.

--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA