Sarah...or,uh, Lisa?

My sister called me the other day and we were just discussing things, such as how her baby is due Wednesday (I'm so excited) and names they were thinking of. I had discussed this with my sister many times, and she told me that they had finally decided on a name. She, however, didn't want me to tell anyone what they had decided because everyone wanted to offer their opinions on it, and she was tired of hearing someone say they didn't like the name. I like the name (they chose Bishop Samuel) because it's different, but I guess some of our family members have had strong oppositions to it. It makes me think of how much names really define someone. If I had been called anything but Lisa, would I be a different person? If my mom had named me something like Sarah, does that mean I would act more like a Sarah? I know every language has different words for things, and they're all the same (a rose by any other name would smell as sweet), but what about names for people? When names ever come up in discussion, people always say, "You look like a blank". How can you look like a name? I've actually heard Sarah for myself many times, and I just wonder, what is it about me that looks like a "Sarah"?? Is a Sarah a defining quality? How can you act like a name is my big question. If anyone has any views on this, feel free to respond!

In high school, I had a small group of friends that would hang out all the time. There were around 5 or 6 of us, and every Friday we would go to someone's house and play video games or watch movies. I was usually the only girl there (I had to put up with a lot) and a lot of the time, I was "left out" of jokes. I'm not sure if they just weren't as comfortable with me as they were with each other, or if they thought they'd insult me with their dirty jokes and boy talk. One of the things they did was assign each other nicknames. One kid was "Maverick" and another was "Boomer". I think these names are from movies, but I really have no idea. Oh well, maybe that's why I was left out of jokes (haha). One kid was "Skater" for obvious reasons, and another was Bleach. It got to the point where we hung out for so long and called each other those nicknames, that I almost forgot their actual names. My sister would ask about Josh (Bleach), and I would just look at her and say "Who?" I would even hear Boomer's girlfriend call him Boomer. I, however, was never assigned a nickname. I was always just "Lisa." I wasn't too upset because I was just worried that they would assign me a nickname that secretly made fun of me or because I had done something stupid. My mom calls me "LiLi" but I'm not really too sure I want other people to call me that...

Clark Kent job

There's this website that I go to a lot called Urban Dictionary. It's a pretty funny website because it has huge listings of slang words and the different meanings for them. I go on a lot to find new words that I think are funny and I try to use them in everyday life. I even suscribe to their Word of the Day. Today's word is "Clark Kent job". It means your day job, or a job that helps pay the bills but it's not what you really want to do. I thought it was a pretty funny way to describe something. They also have examples of how to use the words in context. A "crazer" is a crazy driver who cuts everyone off, a "Buffy" is a blonde Valley girl, and they actually had a definition for "high school." It was defined as a failed experiment in preparing young people for the adult world. I'm sure there are many out there who agree with that one :-)

dinkin' flicka

I was, yet again, watching The Office the other night (I'm addicted) and I watched one of my favorite episodes. If you know anything about the show, you know Steve Carrell's character is not very bright and often makes racial comments (mostly unintentionally). So he consults with one of his ethnic coworkers, Darryl, who teaches him slang words "from da hood." Darryl really makes these words up, but Michael doesn't know this. He learns "goin' mach 5", "fleecin' it out", and my favorite "dinkin' flicka." Dinkin' flicka really has no meaning to it, but it's become a very popular word among me and my friends who also watch the show. We take it to mean "that's life", so whenever someone has a problem, we just respond with dinkin' flicka. It just goes to show how much of an influence tv can have on a person, because the made-up word is now a strong part of our casual vocabulary. It makes me wonder what other words became popular because of tv shows or movies. Maybe some, and I'm guessing a lot, of the words we use frequently today really became popular that way. Dinkin' flicka, everybody.

Like, totally, for sure

I've been thinking a lot about gender stereotypes and how we assume each gender will speak. I know I personally have different views on what I think girls and guys say. I notice guys say "dude" and "man" more, and from what I've seen, they also swear more. I also think most people think that girls say "oh my god" , "like" "totally" and things like that more. I know I don't say it, and a lot of my friends don't, but it's definitely a stereoptype. I don't like that stereotype, because I get teased by a lot of my guy friends who think all girls talk like that. I can't get excited about anything without them saying "Like, Oh my God!". Since I get so offended when they use phrases like that, I guess I shouldn't assume guys use certain phrases either. I never realized that gender stereotyping came into every day life so much, but it really is a significant part of our language. So, to all the guys out there, if you don't assume I speak (and therefore, think) like a character off of Clueless, I won't make any stereotyped judgements either.

Pahk the cah

This past weekend I went with my boyfriend to visit his family in Boston. Most of his family is located in the many cities around Boston, and the way they talk shows it all. I know most people know and make fun of Boston accents, but if you can hear them in the full, it's really pretty amazing. Dropping "r's" becomes so much more complex. When we were all sitting eating together, the language flew so fast I had trouble keeping up. Words blend, there are no r's but instead there are strange vowel sounds that replace the r. There was also so much laughing that it sounded, to me anyway, like a lot of nonsense. But they can understand each other just fine! I guess no matter how long I live in New England, I will never fully be able to comprehend how exactly true Bostonians speak. I know I could never try to imitate it. It was almost a different language in itself. My boyfriend doesn't have a particularly strong accent, and neither does his parents, but put them together with the whole family and I can't understand any of them. I should invest in a translator...but do they make them for Boston accents?

He and She

I found out on Friday that the assignment to not use gender related words was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I lasted most of the morning, trying very carefully not to use he, she, or similar words. I woke up at 7 and I made it to about 10 that morning. I was proud of myself because Fridays are discussion days in my political science class, and it was hard trying to participate and not use any of those words. Right before class ended, sadly, a "he" slipped out. I guess that goes to show how much we rely on gender based words in every day language. It's so much easier just to refer to everyone by a pronoun. I know I do it a lot, because that was always my downfall on any kind of paper..my teacher would always tell me to use names and proper nouns. I guess it makes things clearer when you're reading a paper, but in everyday conversation, I've never really had a problem figuring out who people were referring to when they used he or she.

JFK??

I've seen this cartoon called Clone High and it's actually pretty funny. It's a cartoon along the lines of something like Family Guy or South Park (definitely not kid-oriented) but I'm surprised with how many historical things are mentioned during the show. It's about a group of high schoolers that are all clones of famous people. The main characters include Abe Lincoln, Ghandi, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and JFK. There are also a few recurring characters like Ghengis Khan and van Gogh. I like how they portray the people as they would be as teens. One of the funnier parts of the show is how JFK is portrayed. He is given this rediculous Boston accent, and it's mentioned several times. He yells everything, and there has to be several "er's" and "ums" in the sentence. One of his famous lines is when he is teaching Ghandi to speak like him. He says "Foha supPAH, I er, want uhm, a PAHTAY PLATTAH!"He tells Ghandi to "throw some er's and uh's in there" to make it "Foha..supPAH, er, I, uh, want...a...PAHTAY PLATTAH!" It's pretty funny (it's supposed to be "For supper, I want a party platter) If you want to see the clip, go to youtube and search Clone High Makeover. It should come up with a clip. Just to be warned, the show's a little inappropriate, so beware. I'll, er uhm..see you LATAH!

Hey, Babe

My older sister is about to have a baby, and it got me thinking about baby talk. Everyone googoos and gagas over babies (admit it), and I've heard different things about whether you are supposed to or not. I've heard the argument that it does not help children develop and you should speak to infants in regular speech so they develop normally. But I've also heard that it actually does help even if the words are meaningless. Some researchers say that it develops a personal intimacy, and baby talk is more likely to catch the baby's attention. It is supposed to help the baby, since it babbles and you babble back, the baby receives important verbal feedback. I found this article online about baby talk since I was interested, and it really surprised me by saying that babies need it to form verbal connections, even if the words aren't really words. I was also surprised to learn that "baby talk" has several different names. It is also called "motherese" or "parentese" and is called Child-Directed Speech by child development professionals. So next time you see a baby, pull out your "parentese" skills-you're helping form that child's verbal skills!

dema dovo do?

I just got through taking this crazy test last Thursday for ROTC...probably the strangest and silliest test I have ever had to take. It's called the DLAB, which stands for Defense Language Aptitude Battery. It's supposed to measure your ability to learn a foreign language. If you score pretty high, there's a good chance that you'll be recruited to go into foreign languages. I was expecting something like the verbal or grammatical parts of the SAT, but boy, was I wrong. The entire test is in a made up language! You have to do things like connect how certain words are related and how they are formed, stuff like that. I'm not allowed to give any specific examples, but it was pretty much a language test in gibberish. I was trying not to laugh during the test because it sounded so funny, and there was a part where you had to memorize 5 or so "grammatical rules" of the made up language then rearrange the sentences to fit them..in like thirty seconds. Needless to say, that probably wasn't the highest score of my test. I'm not really sure how that measures your ability, but who knows...

Body language

I came across this article from Fox News on body language. The body language "expert" was being interviewed on how she analyzed Hillary Clinton's body language at various times. I found this interesting not because of any personal political views, but because I'd like to know if the body actually gives away more emotion than words. I think anyone can just spew random words, but how will we know if that's how the person really feels? I think it's important, especially now as we're preparing for presidential elections. The body language expert claimed Hillary Clinton was not being truthful about many of the things she spoke of. She also called Sen. Clinton's laugh artificial, even "evil." While I have no way of knowing Sen. Clinton's true thoughts, it'd be interesting to see if body language can be proven to give away emotion. I'm sure it'd be useful in every day life as well. Maybe you can actually figure someone out just by the way they're sitting or moving their faces. Maybe, if this technique is proven to be accurate, more crimes would be solved and conflicts overcome. I know many experts try to analyze body language today, but it does not seem to be worth much in court or things like that.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200709250011

no-pucckuu?

Today I was thinking about how different foreign languages are from English. I'm majoring in Russian, and we're learning basic words and phrases, and we've started to make simple sentences. It's pretty tough and a lot different than anything I have ever learned. I had just gotten used to Spanish after taking it for four years in high school! I had learned where to put the subject in the sentence and how to use adjectives to describe it. So now when I compose sentences in Russian, I want to put them in the same order we learned in Spanish. But Russian doesn't have a specific order, you can use adjectives anywhere around the subject-before or after, it doesn't matter. Also, they don't have the verb "to be" which I'm still trying to figure out. You say things like "She teacher." I guess it must make sense to Russians. It makes English, with all its grammar rules, seem crazy. You can tell what tense the verb is in just by looking at the ending of the subject...the word changes with past tense and such. It's hard to understand, but in a way makes more sense then a lot of English grammar.

My dad has hairy legs

My mom is the lead teacher at Barrington Child Care Center, and she often comes home with funny stories about what her kids say to her during the day. She told me that they think she has a funny accent (my mom's from the South) and always want her to talk. She said they tell her that she "talks funny". I'm not sure how preschool age children are able to tell the differences between accents, but I'm guessing since their parents sound different, they think my mom sounds funny. I never thought little kids would ever pick up on things like that. The daycare also has many children with disabilities. This one little girl in my mom's class has never spoken a complete sentence (she's around four or five years old) and can only speak in broken words. Then one day my mom put a movie on for the kids since it was raining out. It was a boring movie about building things and my mom said even she was bored. Then out of nowhere, the little girl yells out, "My dad has hairy legs!" My mom had no idea where this came from, since it had nothing to do with anything anyone was saying. It's amazing to hear what comes out of kids mouths. My mom is very proud and brags about how the girl spoke her first sentence in her class, even if it was about her dad's hairy legs.

tench-HUT

I'm in AFROTC here at UNH and last week we were learning how to march and drill. It's not that hard to follow the commands, but it's pretty tough to try to call them. In the military being able to give drill commands is very important. In Rotc we're eventually going to be graded on how we do it. Calling commands relies a lot on how you say the words. For example, to call everyone to Attention, you say the words tench-HUT, making the last part louder. Every command is broken up like this, and there are certain words you use a lower voice for and others that you use a higher voice. I was never sure why we did this, so I looked up the importance of voice inflection in drill commands. I found this website that explained everything, and it basically said that the loudness and certain way the words are said tell the marchers how to perform the drill movements. If the commander is quiet and does not give the commands correctly, the movements would be sloppy. So whenever you hear someone giving military commands, you know the inflection and "snap" of their voices show confidence and leadership, and is needed to have correct marching movements.

http://www.drillpad.net/DPcommandvoice.htm

Smarty Pants

I've always wondered if the way people speak really reflect their level of intelligence. I'm sure having a large vocabulary shows that you are fairly intelligent, and I know that some people have such bad grammar that you automatically assume they aren't very smart. But I don't think this is right in every situation. Just because you are smart, I don't think you have to talk to everyone using every vocabulary word you have ever learned. I know of a few people who do this and it really drives me crazy. Using big words doesn't impress me very much and I don't really think it shows how smart the person is. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, but I don't speak to others like I'm reading out of a dictionary. I mean, is that really neccessary? Do people really feel smarter if they use words that aren't commonly used? Why do these people speak like they're writing a paper or something? I fully understand the need to be articulate at times in order not to sound like you're "stupid" but I don't think using "fluffy" words make you sound any smarter and a lot of the time, sounds condescending or like you really have no idea what's going on.


A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things. -Herman Melville

Dawgg

Sometimes I wonder if my dog knows what I'm saying when I talk to him. I mean if he's able to sit when I tell him to, who knows if he just recognizes the sound and is eager for a treat or if he really knows what to do. It's probably just the inflection of my voice because I can talk to him and tell him how ugly and dumb he is, but if I sound nice, he gets excited anyway. So I wonder what dogs are really thinking when you talk to them. Just because you don't have a language to communicate, doesn't mean you don't have thoughts, right? I can tell him to go get his ball and he runs and gets it, so maybe he's thinking, "Ooo I get to play!" He really does have some "human" like emotions though. If our other dog does something wrong (she likes chewing things up) he will run and hide until someone finds out. He will sit and cry forever because I think he knows she did something wrong and he doesn't want to get in trouble. He knows something's wrong and it's not anything like a word someone has taught him, so it must be his own thought, right? So my thought is, what are dogs really thinking? Will we ever know?

Google'd out.

You know how its really common to say you googled anything online. Anything you don't know, just google it. I don't even think about saying it anymore, it's just one of those things, it's natural. My parents are the kind of people who aren't really up to date with technology. My mom just figured out how to use the computer. So she's been finding all these people she knows and chatting online (she's on more than I am, I swear) and the other day I asked her a question, she didn't know and then she looked at me very slyly and said she would google it. She was so proud of herself for finally being able to use the phrase, and now she uses it all the time like she invented it. It's kind of sad. I almost don't even want to say it anymore because she uses it so often. Now, I use Wikipedia a lot. In the words of Michael Scott, "Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information." My parents, of course, had no idea what wikipedia is, or what we meant when we said we were going to "wikipedia it". Then the other day, I was talking to my mom when she looked at me and said...."I Wikipedia-d it."

I'm a rebel

I was thinking today about southern accents. I'm from Texas, but in the past couple of years I noticed I don't have much of an accent anymore. However, people still comment occasionally on the words I use. So I found this quiz online, called "Are you a Yankee or a rebel?" It was really cool because it really had more to do with the vocabulary used in different areas of the country, mostly dealing with the southern and New England areas. I like seeing how they had a question asking what I call soda. In Texas, everything, and I mean everything, is called Coke. If you're at a resaurant, you'll order a coke, and thats when the waiter will ask you what kind and you reply with diet coke or rootbeer or whatever. And I still get laughed at sometimes for calling "crayfish" crawdads. I'm probably also the only person with an "ant." I took the quiz and ended up with 100% Dixie, so now I know even though I don't have a strong Texan accent any more, I still use a lot of the words I learned there.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html

Ok, so I'm sitting in my room, trying to study when this outburst occurs...I go out in the hallway to see who was making so much noise and I realize it's just two girls in their room. I honestly can't understand why, they're not arguing, just talking. WHY they have to yell so loud when they are five feet apart is what I don't understand. So I keep listening, and notice that one girl would say something and the other would yell "OH MY GOD, no f*ing way, things like that. What I'm wondering is if the volume of their voice really gets the message across any clearer. Obviously they're not deaf. I would understand a little better if it was just something they did every once in a while as a show of emotion, but it's ALL THE TIME. Every word has to be said at an unnatural level. I almost wonder if it's a control thing, whichever girl can talk the loudest obviously has the better subject to talk about.