Who is this "Jack" Character?

This topic was brought up today in the locker room before our practice. I thought to myself "who is jack anyway?". What I mean by this is sayings like "this person knows Jack shit". Also, there is a "high jack" you can use by high jacking a plane, is what comes to my mind. We have an exercise of the"jumping jack" and maybe you have a neighbor names Jack. What is just so great about this "jack" piece that we decided to use it vulgarly. While researching a bit on this topic, I think I am about the only one who thinks that this is worth researching because I did not really find anything. :/ . Is it just that Jack is that common in an English name that then has been added to words or phrases ever since? It really makes you wonder. Is it the ease of articulation when you do say something is "jack shit"? I guess we will not really know. I found it extremely interesting!

Slang and Profanity

While coming across my reading chapter 6, I would definitely say that it made me think of things that I guess I have not really thought about before. Starting with the topic of the vocabulary word slang, which is an informal word or expression that has not gained complete acceptability and is used by a particular group. When I think of slang, I think of me and my friends using "sweet" for something that is just awesome that happened. We also use that when being sarcastic. It is crazy that indeed there are words that are around today that have been used hundreds and hundreds of years ago. When it comes to slang I also think of the word "rubbish", which my grandparents always use when, in my vocab term, is "silverware" , fork, knife, etc. It is crazy that many words that we do use today are referred to as a "slang" type of word. Also, while reading this chapter I came across jargon, a specialized vocabulary term associated with a trade, sport, ect. I totally thought of my sport here at Bemidji State, soccer. We use so many jargons that are associated with the game that I thought of. "juggle, nut-meg, cut, scissors", are all examples are my jargons in my life. The final section I ended with today in chapter 6, was the use of taboo words, or forbidden word or expression interpreted as insulting, vulgar, or rude. Substitutes for taboo words really caught my attention. It is so true that we substitute shoot for shit or heck for hell. Heck, I say them a lot in my daily conversations. I will definitely remember that next time I am using those words and remind myself that those words that I am using are taboo words! This chapter really has me thinking about what exactly is profanity and why we use it. It is definitely interesting because in a daily conversation of people around campus, just by listening I heard the word "fuck" a lot. I feel like that word today is definitely being tossed around a bit lackadaisical. In NBC's 2003 broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, the lead singer of the U2 band quoted "fucking brilliant" on air. I feel as though others would argue that this is not really in fleeting context because it is used as an adjective here, which is what the press said. Overall, I feel as though profanity today in being misused and from when I was a kid, it was almost awe when you hear profanity around. Today, it is extremely laid back and It is getting out of control.

The Battle of Who or Whom

Coming from old Norse and old German, whom has been quite the controversy on when to use it. This is actually quite interesting because I recently took the MTLE, (MN Teaching Licensure Exam) and that was one of my test questions on the test. A sentence was given with the word who and it was asked if I should replace it with "whom". I began wondering and I honestly do not even remember what we were taught about it. I go on what sounds better but I do know that I cannot do that! There is actually a grammar rule on this. While reading our text, I came across a language alive section and the debate of who or whom was actually the hot topic of discussion. Are you most likely to say "whom did you talk to" or "who did you talk to" ? I am going to be straight up and say that I would prefer (from daily conversation) to go with "who" in this case. Of course, if this were on a homework assignment, I would probably use whom because it is more precise and accurate of how it sounds. We do not ever use whom in conversations, however. Beginning in England, by using who for subjects and whom for objects, has been around since the seventeenth century. This is definitely interesting because the use of whom has definitely been declining for centuries. It definitely is interesting to me that the use of whom is declining, but using me and him is not. I believe a lot of this has to do with the media. What we see and use on a daily basis has influenced our input of how we speak. It is crazy. Never do we hear news reporters talking about "a man whom.." , it would definitely just sound weird. This makes me wonder that when we have kids, maybe the news reporters of their generation will start to sound uneducated...

Slips of the Tounge and Soda or Pop

While reviewing over some material I noticed that coming across the Slips of the Tounge part of chapter 4 made me think "i tend to do that" . It is crazy because we do definitely talk very fast, us Americans, and we tend to say things that slip! Instead of black boxes, I said black bloxes. It is quite common. I cannot think of any others off the top of my head but I do notice that now when I say that type of slip, I just remind myself "oh slip of the tounge!" It is funny when you hear others say it as well. On to another note I got into an argument (a funny one, not serious) when it comes to the word pop or soda. Up north, I noticed, it is most definitely pop but of course my aunt down south definitely says soda. It is quite fascinating because even in restaurants up here it will say refreshments or pop. Down south it is soda. While researching, I was pointed to a site which showed a map demonstrating that down south you also here "coke" while out east it is soda! Very interesting. I feel like it definitely has a lot to do with your upbringing of the battle of soda or pop. My parents had always taught me pop while my aunts parents did as well. When she moved down south she said that she got ridiculed for saying pop so she began using soda. Your upbringing and the environment in which you speak also demonstrates the proper use of soda or pop.

Children and English

As I was coming across a child in the grocery store today, I heard her look at her mom and say "Mom wa wa". The mom then handed her the bottle of water. A light bulb went on in my head because I knew exactly the stage of speaking that this child was in. The early multi-word stage. Learning from my English class, it was interesting being able to distinguish what was actually going through this child's brain when it comes to speaking the English language. Also, when it comes to the child using the word "wa wa" instead of "water", we can distinguish reduplication is playing a role in the child's language. Many children go through this, when they repeat the beginning of the word or double in the syllable. As a job I do in the summer as a Nanny, I realize that many kids who are going through this are in the multi word stage. I feel that the specific child I saw at the store was kind of being given by the parent in the wrong way. Without correcting the child, saying "please" was extremely crazy to me. Of course I am aware of many families being different but manners was emphasized a lot by my family. I would not say that children are also ruining the English Language, but because of our generation with the advancement of technological devices, it has been crazy, expecially with kids and their cell phones how they spell U or R and do not spell it out and it probably carries into the class room. As for now, it will be interesting to see when I have kids later in life, how their friends talk or what kind of technology they are using.

R Deletion and so forth

While pondering about the assignments we received in class last week, my roommate and I came across how fascinating it is that when we talk, the "R" does tend to delete in certain areas of speech. It is crazy because we live in a society where our speech is very fast-paced. When we come across other languages when we flip through, say, a Spanish channel, we tend to think that they talk very fast. In all actuality though, we talk very very fast compared to them. Back to the topic of the R deletion, we say a sentence with words that include "library, February, particularly, veterinary. When we come across these words, many say that Febuary without that R in the middle of it. It is crazy because as a child I was taught that the R is silent in that month. On to another note, I feel that as I read more into chapter 5, I am starting to understand things more and more. There is a lot of information regarding the issues in chapter 5 but I am starting to grasp it. When we come across things such as Infixes, I noticed that my friends and I tend to use these quite a lot. Abso "freaking" lutely. It works when it comes to two syllables before the infix, so a 3 syllable word. I really like chapter five so far and I feel like I will tend to grasp it a lot better than normal.

Morphemes and Syllables

As I began reading chapter five, I began to confuse myself with morphemes and syllables. I began to understand it more and more as I kept reading but I can definitely see anyone confusing these two terms easily. A morpheme , simply put to me is a distinctive feature in a language that means something, which is different than a syllable. I look at the word pancake, pan and cake are both recognizable meanings and have two syllables. The word transmission can have a distinctable morpheme being trans. Everyday as I come to class I literally do learn something new each day. I am almost in awe that I have never heard of these terms before in high school. It is crazy . I read a lot of poetry and plays which made sense but never have I heard of these terms. I kind of get anxious about all of this material because in all honestly, I feel like it is a lot to know but as I go more and more each day it is starting to click a little better. I really like it. While discussing assimilation,  it also started to click and realize that "hey, I do assimilation on a daily basis!" Just crazy. The word hamburger, I say hambager. The r is being assimilated. It rolls off of our tounge a lot easier because it is combined with a nasal, which I think has a lot to do with it. Little kids do a great job of assimilation. Since I nanny in the summer, it makes me think of the little boy Jack that I watch. He says "bobble" instead of "bottle" a pretty good example of assimilation. Overall, this is starting to click a lot easier than day 1 and I feel like I am learning a lot when it comes to the english language.