Good Bye Class

This class has pretty much become my favorite of the semester and blogging was not as bad as it first sounded! During my freshman year of college I started a Livejournal and a number of my friends had one as well. I even had a couple friends who did not have LJ, but they would check regularly if I posted or not and would comment accordingly. After about a year or so I lost momentum to keep it up and my friends started posting less frequently. I moved away and it just died all together. It makes me wonder how professional bloggers keep up their momentum to keep posting professional blogs when a number of people I know, myself included, cannot even keep up a personal blog/journal.

This blog project has made me develop some new found respect for professional bloggers and has opened my eyes to the entire blogging world that is out there. Our group had some slow starts, but the project was still enjoyable. As we discussed in class, it was not too big of a deal if our topics were not the same because we developed a blogging bond through reading posts and leaving comments. We had something to contribute to each other, especially when we could relate to the blog the other person posted.

I wish I could have found some blogs that reflected a few of my own rants and raves. People and their stupidity with language just bugs me (on a college level-- their there they’re, your you’re, affect effect, “could of” …and it goes on). Though if I had done a blog about it, then it just would not have been professional or nice in the slightest. I think it would have been appropriate on a LJ level though. So I guess I caught myself doing some self-censoring, which on some levels is okay, but you have to learn when it is appropriate and when it is not.

I think we have all gained some insight after working on this project for only a few weeks. I enjoyed reading what other people had to say and had a few laughs too. The whole “mcjob” thing still makes me laugh…silly McDonalds. Well this is the end of the semester, so….thanks for the miniature blogging community guys :)

Translation Issues

So there was a blog posted earlier today on the Language Log titled Racist Park. This post briefly talked about the attempted Chinese to English translations for various signs and billboards around Beijing and how the Chinese are trying to fix some of the more embarrassing signs to get ready for the Olympics. Geoffrey Pullum thought the funniest English translation was Racist Park. This was the first attempt at an English name and will undoubtedly be changed if it has not been already. What is this name representing?

The park dedicated to the theme of providing education about China's rich array of ethnic minority populations

This post reminded me of my roommate and her molt paste situation. It really makes me wonder where they come up with these translations. Is it just Chinese to English that causes these great problems and issues? Of course loose translations often provide amusement to thousands. As far as my roommate—sometimes she understands what I am saying, but some of the time she has no clue, even when I use the same words I have heard her use before that I figured she was familiar with. We definitely have our fair share of communication issues in terms of translation. A couple weeks ago she told me she heard from someone else about a store that had good clothes and that it was at the mall. She could not remember the exact name and made a stab at it. T. M T. T M. T M Mikes. What? I called my other roommate out to see if she could think of a clothing store that started with a T at the mall that someone would tell her about. No luck. We ran into one of the other Chinese students at Target later that day and found out the name- T M Mikes. It baffled me. So I discussed it with a friend of mine a few days later and she came up with T.J. Maxx. Bingo. That has to be it. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. I have yet to bring it up to my roommate, but I am positive that is the store she wanted. She is getting much better at English now though and translation issues have decreased somewhat.

I know I will soon be on the other end of all this and cannot help but wonder how many eggs will be on my face by the time I leave Spain.

You've got some egg on your face

Naked Translations posted To have an egg on one’s face. How gross and gooey! This post discussed the possible origins of the expression, which generally means to embarrass oneself, or in college terms, make an ass out of oneself. No matter the origin, whether from eggs thrown at the theater, hardening onto diner dishes, or because your dog got into the chicken coop again, this expression leaves me mildly disturbed.

I can think of few things worse than raw egg on my face. Okay, so I know it is an expression and there is no egg on anyone’s face, but I cannot help but think of a real egg. Raw eggs just gross me out, which says a bunch because few things ever do in fact disgust me. I must get it from my mother. My dad makes fun of us and our squeamish tendencies towards eggs and our obsession with removing the squiggles before cooking or baking. Though, I know plenty of other people who remove the squiggles too, some at my influences of course.

Still, couldn’t people come up with a better food than eggs to have running down one’s face. Perhaps something that would look sillier? There is nothing silly about eggs, unless you are playing with them cooked. If people supposedly used to thrown rotten foods at bad performers, then why can’t the expression include something of the sort. Rotten food on a face is more humiliating than an egg. I would definitely have been more embarrassed to walk around with rotting food than some egg.

Google for Giggles

I stumbled on an old blog post on Englastuces titled googling the word "generic.” Obviously we all know and use the term googling and google as a verb. “Go google it!” Well the term “googling” was placed in dictionaries in July 2006—less than a year ago if you can do the math.

Googling: to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web

It’s just one of those commonly used terms that you don’t really think about it being added to a dictionary, nor does it even matter to most if it is or not. Clearly this has been a word for much longer than its dictionary life, but all words have to originate from somewhere. Which seeing the birth of a word is pretty neat in and of itself since words often change throughout their lifetime.

Google. I think it is amazing how one search engine has become such a crutch that so many rely upon. I can hardly think of the internet before Google. In middle school we would sometimes have assignments that required us going to the computer lab to look things up. They always had a list of various search engines such as Metacrawler and other names you do not hear anymore. Mozilla Firefox has a Google search bar next to the address bar. It’s just so convenient.

The name Google just intrigues me too. It reminds me of googol and googolplex. Some people still think I am crazy when I used these terms. They are just ridiculously large numbers, and I have always assumed that is where Google got their name, which makes total sense to me. Anyway, I love Google and hooray for officially influencing our language and dictionaries!

You think it's funny, but it's snot!

BLaugh is the “(Un)official Comic of the Blogosphere.” This site frequently posts a comic relating to the blogosphere or internet world. According to Comic Art, the first official comic strips appeared in Sunday newspapers in the late 19^th century to draw readers.

(Credit: BLaugh )

Comics have obviously come a long way since their first appearance. Not only do they provide nonsensical entertainment, they can also illustrate a political side or seek to prove a point and sometimes even be controversial. Syntax and semantics do not even have to play a role in comics; and words, if present, can be used in countless ways through play on words, misinterpretations, and the like. I think humor is one of the best components of the human language. Without humor, what hope do we have to get by in life in a cruel world?

Ways of expressing the human language is going to go through fads and different medias. Already we are seeing a jump from physical medias (e.g. newspapers and magazines) to online medias (internet newspapers and such). However, whether they appear in print or on a computer screen, comics are bound to follow humans around in all our technological advancements. I still enjoy picking the “Funnies” out of the Sunday paper at home and sprawl out on the floor with them, while keeping Sammy Kitty from plopping himself down right in the middle of the comic I am reading.

I just think comics sometimes get forgotten about and we should show a little appreciation for what they provide for us.

Response to Adjectivy

In his Evolving English II blog, Mike wrote a post titled Adjectivy—a clever name for the contents of the post and also defined as—

When people note (or complain about) words changing parts of speech, they tend to draw examples of nouns becoming verbs (verbizing) and verbs becoming nouns (nounification, double bonus).

Basically he talked about people having issues with adding endings such as –y onto the end of words, which obviously creates a new tense of a word in a non-dictionary approved manner.

Personally, I fail to see the harm in doing so in casual conversation. Obviously this is not appropriate for formal papers or presentations. Spoken language is ever evolving and does get incorporated into written language often enough. (Though “blog” is still not a recognized work in the Microsoft Word dictionary)

The Adjectivy post excited me because I catch myself doing this constantly, especially in chit chat and instant messaging to get my point across when my brain fails to produce an appropriate word. However, my ending of choice usually end in –yness or –ness, not just –y. It’s semi-comical at times and everyone usually knows what I am trying to convey, so what’s the problem? Problem is, intelligent speaking scholars do not want to be belittled by common folk who have a brain fart or two. The problem with that is the hoity-toity scholars who do not feel someone they deem as common folk might actually be on or above their intelligence level, which is a grave brain fart on their part.

It was an interesting post though because it is something I have been noticing while talking, observing, or eavesdropping. Still, I feel no need to alter my current habits since I am harming no one and may even be contributing to the next language revolution in a minute sense of the drawn out the cultural/language change we are ever-experiencing.

One bottle of molt paste please

I had an interesting run-in with my Chinese foreign exchange roommate the other day. She came into my room asking where she could buy molt paste. I repeated the phrase wondering if I heard her correctly. Molt paste? She said yes, either molt or moult. There spellings are used interchangeably with the same definition of—

To shed periodically part or all of a coat or an outer covering, such as feathers, cuticle, or skin, which is then replaced by a new growth.

Rubbing her arm, she tried to explain what molt paste was- “something to take it off.” I assumed she meant hair removal and she went to get her electronic translation device to verify. Yes, a hair removal was what she was looking for and asked if that was a paste/lotion or “the little knife” (razor). I told her it could be either and that she could find it at Target. So a few days later she demanded I take her to Target. We have a slight language barrier. She does not know enough grammar and vocabulary to ask things in a more polite way so comments and questions always sound demanding. It’s actually amusing at times because it is not her fault; though she is here to learn English better.

At Target I found Nair and showed it to her. She tried reading the directions and I had to explain most of them from what “apply an even layer” was to “rinse off thoroughly”. It was slightly awkward. She refused to touch the razors, and decided to try the Nair.

Translation from one language to another can be tricky at times, and though pocket electronic dictionaries can make it easier to look up the words you want, they can sometimes be unreliable. She must have tried to translate her normal hair removal lotion from Chinese to English. Molt makes sense in a way, especially if you happen to be a bird. The manufacturers coding the words in these dictionaries must throw in a few curveballs for giggles at the expense of their consumers.

Whatever!

The BBC ran the article Whatev-ah… by Tom Geoghegan last week on their website. Even though it is only a week old, I felt like it was more outdated at parts. The article delved into the many meanings of “whatever.”

It's a catch-all response which can mean many things, commonly "I don't care", but also "this is the end of the conversation" or "say what you want, I've got no position on this subject".

Apparently this is just becoming a problem to teachers, as it was being compared to a toddler’s version of “no!” The article suggested that to reduce the whatever reply, people should ask more meaningful questions that give options. Personally, if someone gives me options I am much more apt to actually say “whatever.” Sometimes people are just easy going and do not want to make a definite decision, in which case, whatever sounds like an appropriate reply. Still, I understand that this is common response that has only begun in the 1970s and some people have not accustomed themselves to it while others use it in a stubborn or snotty rhetorical manner as a reply to anything.

One thing I have to mention is how the author described the non-verbal way to communicate whatever—

…fingers and thumbs in a W-shape…

Who still does that?? That was big several years ago, maybe as recent as my middle school years (I am a college senior now), but I have not seen anyone do that for quite some time. This doubled in amusement when I read—

Mr. Thorne believes it will stay in the language, but will no longer be an edgy catchphrase within a year or so.

The W sign with the thumbs and fingers has not been “edgy” or even seen for several years, thus taking away from the appeal of “whatever” that bratty kids feel the need to utilize. I never thought of “whatever” being edgy since it is used now in a number of different contexts. In my opinion, the word is simple reply that the other person can easily comprehend no matter how dim-witted or brilliant he or she may be. Of course the word will run its course, as all vocabulary does, but it has long since been the “edgy” reply that some old school fellows believe it to be. Of course this was also printed in the UK so maybe they have not caught up with the fad, but whatever.

McJob in the Work Industry

As I was reading through some blogs the other day, one thing really caught my eye and made me actually laugh out loud. Apparently McDonalds decided that they want to start a campaign to change a certain definition in the Oxford English Dictionary. The Language Log stated that this term was:

“McJob” -- An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition:

Low paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement

Dictionary.com gives the same idea

McDonald’s retaliation??

“McProspects” - - over half of our executive team started in our restaurants.

The Language Log mentioned that the vice-president of the company only wanted the “McLanguage” to be connected with McDonalds. Now considering the company went through this “McLanguage” phase, I think they should have expected something of this sort to appear, though perhaps not to the extent of it appearing in dictionaries worldwide.

When someone hears “McDonalds,” they do not automatically think “oh what a great, high paying job I could get there!” Almost any person you walk up to on the street is bound to have a similar idea of jobs at the fast food restaurant as the term “mcjobs” implies. Kids do not aspire from kindergarten wishing to flip burgers onto stale, flat buns at the always nearby fast food joint.

My favorite part about the definition is not that it is limited to McDonalds, but includes other desperate service industry jobs at other fast food places, retail stores, and even the local 7-eleven. Even so, the connotation of mcjob to low end jobs could almost be seen as genius. No one thinks about McDonalds as a job opportunity to get ahead. Many people take poor jobs like this to supplement their bank accounts while either in school or while looking for a better paying job because this was the only place hiring at the time.

If McDonalds really wants to change this word, then they should into consideration their current employees and look at why they are even working at the restaurant to begin with. Perhaps they should do some sort of ethnographic study into the lives of mcjob holders. Whichever path they choose, they should really look into ways to change their reputation. “They” is not limited to McDonalds either; “they” includes all these low end, poorly paying jobs that people are almost forced to take that have poor reputations. Can they show the glory side of mcjobs? Doesn’t someone have to do the dirty work?