Language Investigation #2

In primary and secondary school, there were many different kinds of reading and writing that the teachers and curriculum required of me. I don’t remember too much of elementary school. I do, however, remember a few of the books that we read. One of these was The Bronze Bow, which I think is a pretty standard book for elementary school. I know my brother, Nicholas, a sixth grader, just finished it. He hated it. That’s not the point, though his descriptions and dislike of it did make me laugh. He’s a funny kid. Book reports were a huge part of elementary school. I did multiple book reports, piles and piles of the things. There was a tiny, two walled library outside of the cafeteria/auditorium/not-really-a-gymnasium-but-hey-it’ll-work. It had at least twenty Boxcar Children books, the entire Nancy Drew collection, and I even think they had the Pony Club. But was that enough for me? No. I had to bring in my Harry Potter book, present it to the teacher, and ask her if I could do the report on it. I was in the third grade and had no idea that small Christian schools tended to think them horrendous. The principal sent a letter to my mom. Regardless to say, shortly thereafter those books were decorating the garbage can.
The book reports and reading in elementary school was a good cornerstone for the rest of my schooling career, and, I believe, continues to help in my personal enjoyment of reading. Those book reports allowed me to explore reading and discover stories and adventures, things that continue to inspire me even now. In secondary school, I learned how to do research reports and, of course, how much they were to be loathed. No matter how much I hated it, though, the foundation is sound. I can spit out a paper in an hour flat, on a good day. In my eleventh grade English class, I learned to analyze what I read, thanks to Mr. Morrill. He was the first to have us read on our own and return to class for a group discussion. To this day, the Scarlet Letter, The Catcher in the Rye and several other stories are in my head. I remember those discussions and, as much as I thought he was stretching things a little too far—I mean, could the author really have put in all of that symbolism? Really? On purpose?—they helped me to analyze things for myself. Two years of my high school career were spent in Christian schools. Let me tell you, if you’re hoping to get some credit for Bible class when you transfer to a public school, you’re in for a disappointment, but there are some skills to be gained from it. The memorization helped me with long and short term memory skills. The teacher often held class discussions where the students’ input was both valued and appreciated. The analyzing and comprehension required to participate in class really helped with my focus and reading abilities. Best of all, you learn to think. Do I agree with what the teacher is saying? Do I take a different meaning from that verse? Is he way off? Is he right on the money? Can I learn something from this? What does this have to do with my life? Can I be a better person from this? These are all skills that good readers employ, and I learned a lot of them in Bible class.
The rules and regulations of writing were instilled at an early age. Do not use conjunctions. Do not use personal pronouns. Use the correct sentence structure. Do not use fragments. These are all very good rules to follow when writing a strict, collegiate paper. I think that this particular class allows for a stretch in style and language use, which allows much more creativity in assignments. However, when I’m sitting in American Prose or British Romanticism, would I ever even consider breaking any of those rules? Never, not in a million years. These rules have really kept me alive academically. I don’t think I could have survived school without them.

Language Investigation #1

Language Investigation #1
The language of video games is one that is very different from that of the common language people use in everyday life. This particular community is one in which the language exists only within the community. There are many video games, each with its own genre and system, so it is essential to look at each video game through its own language lense. An MMORPG is a type of video game. This acronym means massive multiplayer online role playing game. These games are whole worlds created online, in which the player creates his or her own character with which to play in and interact with other players online.
Some of these games include World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Age of Conan and Warhammer. One in particular that I am familiar with is that of World of Warcraft. It has an arsenal of new vocabulary that a newcomer must pick up on in order to be successful. This includes new words and new meanings for words the member already knows from everyday life. Words such as gank, camp, tank, instance, ninja looter and server are commonly used, must know words from the community. As well as new words, new acronyms must be learned, such as LFG, DC, LF2M, DPS, BRB, DK and many others. Shorter terms and acronyms are also created for places on the world map, such as KARA and BT. The lower levels are peppered with mention of such places as WC, SFK and SM.
Would any newcomer be able to successfully integrate into this in depth community? As well as language, these WOW players have a set of rules that are not enforced by the game, but by the members of the community. They must learn how to successfully level up, join a guild, instance, arena and so many other things. That’s not to mention speccing and professions. What about the auction house? There are so many things required in order to be a functioning part of WOW.
What do all of these different words and acronyms mean? To be honest, like in all languages and dialects, things can get a little complicated, so a list will be presented. Ready? To gank means to kill another player, one that is a lower level than you are, or one who does not suspect what is coming. This can be accomplished in a variety of highly satisfying ways. To camp is to hang out around said ganked player’s dead body and gank them again, every time they try to res. To res is to resurrect oneself from the dead by walking from the graveyard to the place in which you died. A tank is a player who is most often a warrior. This player, when playing with a group, keeps all of the aggro, or aggression, of the enemy on himself, so that the others can use DPS to finish off said enemy. It can also be used in verb form. An instance is a place in the game that can be accessed by one or a group of players. It is a place that challenges the players with a set of quests and goals, to be achieved through teamwork. While in the instance other players not in the group cannot mess with the enemies or tasks within the instance. LFG means looking for group, DC means disconnected, LF2M means looking for two more, DPS means damage per second, BRB means be right back, DK means death knight, and AFK means away from keyboard.

Memory Vignette

“Because I’m not heard, I feel I’m not seen. My words often seem to baffle others. They are inappropriate, or forced, or just plain incomprehensible. People look at me with puzzlement; they mumble something in response—something that doesn’t hit home” (Eva Hoffman, Lost 147).

I feel like it is very difficult to get a point across in class, at times. When reading the literature, I get particular ideas from it, just like everyone else does. During class discussions, I am generally able to get my point across just fine. The teacher often understands what I’m saying, and I haven’t really had too many problems. Monday, however, was a different story. I was sitting in American Prose, and the teacher asked a question about the book we were discussing, The House of Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He asked why Hawthorne uses such lengthy, wordy descriptions in his book. I responded with something I thought was a legitimate answer. I wanted to say that the descriptions allowed the reader to enmesh themselves in the characters’ lives, that they showed the depth and emotion of the situations to a reader that might not necessarily identify with them, or who might find the goings on rather trivial. The teacher thought I was asserting that the book was silly and irrelevant! He took that to mean that I didn’t care or have sympathy for the characters! I don’t know how that happened! He went into a long discussion, in parallel to the book, but using me as the main character, instead of Hepzibah! He asked me how I would feel if I was a big time CEO who lost all of her money and was forced to work at a 7 Eleven! I hope I don’t get docked too many points, but I plan on avoiding discussing as many books as possible in that class!