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...