9.3.08 Warm-Up

1. The patterns prevalent in the language of the blogs I read were the friendly, informal tone and diction. Because people were talking about intimacies within their families, they were more likely to write informally about the subject and in explaining the different phrases or words used in their family, more careful to break down the meaning so all could understand. Personally, I did not plan out my writing for this blog, but rather wrote down whatever came to mind first and just rolled with the way I was rephrasing it on the blogspot. This gave my own writing an informal tone and hopefully broke down some of the language used in my family so others could understand it and its origins.

2. The pattern of informality reveals language as an informal aspect of being a part of a family. When you are in a family you rarely think about making every sentence sound extremely intelligent or well-thought out because you are closer than that. People can be themselves and worry more about life issues than being grammatically "correct" with their family members. Unless that is, you come from a family where being grammatically correct is a terribly big deal (as it is with my mom and her side of the family). Language serves in a family as a source of bonding and endearment. We become closer to our families by using language that is exclusive to our families.

3. As a future teacher, it may be helpful to find ways to let students be comfortable with their writing and speaking abilities. Much like in a family, an English classroom should be a place where free-flow of dialogue, ideas, and questions can be addressed and announced without much hesitation.

Language Investigation 1

My dad is the carrier of family stories, traditions, and most importantly, family phrases. The first phrase that comes to mind is "The breath of a thousand buffaloes." This is used to describe bad breath in our family. When my brother and I were little after our parent's divorce, we shared a bed with my dad for a few weeks while he got sorted to move into a different house. My dad said when my brother would roll over in the morning and breathe into his face, it would smell like "the breath of a thousand buffaloes." I'm not sure why he picked buffaloes... but it has stuck with our family ever since. Another family phrase is "Giddy-up like a horsey." This is a phrase my dad would use in the morning to wake my brother and I up for school. Again, not entirely sure why he chose this phrase, but it always indicated the coming of morning and another school day ahead. The last phrase I am going to discuss comes from my brother and I when we would jump on my dad while he was watching television. We would look at each other and count, "1...2....3..." and then shout, "DOUBLES!" and jump together on my dad's stomach. Since then Garrett and I still say, "Doubles!" when we are about to do something together. Once when my youngest brother Jack and I were watching The Simpsons one of the characters said "The berries taste like burning!" Since then, every time Jack is eating something he doesn't like he says, "It tastes like burning!" Only him and my brother Garrett and I understand what it means.