Slang in America

Today in class Twin wasn't there, so she assigned us some classwork. We had to read an essay by Walt Whitman, then answer the twelve questions. I personally didn't like the essay that much, but that's because I'm tired and processing words in my head isn't really working right now. So yeah, these answers might be a little rough.
1. Walt Whitman believes that slang is particularly American because so many people are sharing and mixing cultures and languages, that new words (slang) are being created to portray new meaning. I think this is still true in the 21st century. People will mix Spanish and English words to create something just their own, for example.
2. The beginning of Whitman's essay is a discussion about the English language. This forms the basis for his argument, that slang comes from languages to make words that portray feelings. When he writes his first paragraph, he talks about the vastness of language and how much of the world a language absorbs, then passes on.
3. Slang is "the lawless germinal element, below all words and sentences, and behind all poetry, and proves a certain perennial rankness and protestantism in speech."

• Slang is lawless because it follows no rules, it is created and used freely
• Slang is germinal because it gives way to the use of new words based on old ones (the google definition of germinal is to provide material for further development)
• Slang is below all words and sentences because it does not have a clear meaning and can't really be defined
• Slang is behind all poetry because slang is the voice of the people and poetry is that written voice
• Slang has perennial rankness because it lives on through the years and develops new meanings
• Slang is protestantism in speech because it is simple and rejects the "proper" language of the people

4. Whitman's two metaphors in paragraph two are:

a. "Considering Language then as some might potentate, into the majestic audience-hall of the monarch ever enters a personage like one of Shakespeare's clowns, and takes position there, and plays a part even in the stateliest ceremonies. Such is Slang..."
b. "Slant, too, is the wholesome fermentation or eructation of those processes eternally active in language, by which froth and specks are thrown up, mostly to pass away; though occasionally to settle and permanently chystallize."
Both of these metaphors are fitting to explain slang-in the first metaphor, it shows that slang is the more easygoing, ridiculous use of language. In the second, it shows that it is the mix and combination to prior languages. Personally I think that the second metaphor is more effective at explaining slang, because slang comes from the mix of languages.
5. In the third paragraph, Whitman makes his perspective of slang "plainer" by explaining in simple terms that the words we use today, were once the slang of older languages and generations. He lists clear examples of how words may mean something else: "Spirit meant breath, or flame."
6. According to Whitman, there is a connection between slang and mythology. He compares the creation and use of slang to the creation of gods, because it is not fully understood, and where it comes from is not really known for each individual slang word. "Yet we are utterly ignorant of their embryology; the true science of Origins is yet in its cradle."
7. Whitman lists several examples of slang. They illustrate two points, in my opinion-that slang is used to make conversation simpler, and that slang is made up of old words to make new ones.
8. In paragraph 11, Whitman implies that the opinion of humorists towards slang isn't very positive. They seem to think that slang is improper because it is fun. I think this weakens Whitman's argument. Though he puts the viewpoint of the opposite side, he doesn't really use his point to prove why slang is good. He says that slang is more fun that listening to the humorists speak, but that's an opinion, not an argument.
9. I think the tone of this essay is very positive towards slang. Whitman feels very enthusiastic from the topic, because of all the positive words and metaphors he uses, like comparing slang to mythology and as the fun clowns of Shakespeare. His last paragraph even compares slang to the breath of life-he obviously feels that use of slang creates something new.
10. Whitman's poetry wasn't very traditional. It had free verse and he wrote in the sounds of geese or people yelling as they worked. He included everyday slang to make his poetry both more accessible and more entertaining for his readers. The essay reflected his positive attitude and use of slang.
11. "An attempt of common humanity to escape from bald literalism, and express itself illuminable, which in highest walks reduces poets and poem..." Some slang does not have a definition, it defines a feeling. For example, the word lit. Everyone uses it, but there's really no clear meaning. There's obviously the literal meaning, but people use it to describe a feeling, not an action (of something actually being lit).
12. Slang truly is the way youth rebel. Parents and authority can control the way you dress, the way you look, the food you eat, how you dress, etc. However, they can't stop kids from thinking a certain way, and they can't stop the inevitable clash between old words and new words. As parents try to control their children, the kids come up with new words to express themselves and show how they feel.
Finally I'm done!!!!

Mother Tongue

So there's this theory that if a child was never spoken to, and the only words they heard in their developmental years came from a TV, everything would be opposite for them. Yes would mean no, hot would mean cold, etc, etc. Obviously this theory was scrapped-it's more science fiction than science, but it did connect a child's parents to their development of language.
Children learn to speak from their parents and friends. Immigrant families, who sometimes come to America only knowing their mother language, pass it on to their children. It was somewhat like this for the author of "Mother Tongue", Amy Tan. Her mother spoke in fragmented English to her as a child, and though that influenced the way Tan saw language and English, it did not harm her. Some would say it helped her.
To those who's first language is English, it can be hard to imagine thinking in anything else. Those who are bilingual or multilingual are even more confusing. My mom, who speaks four languages fluently and three languages well enough to get by in everyday life, sometimes mixes up phrases. She'll slip into Portuguese when she's talking to her mother, even though my Vavo has lived here for fifty years. Though I do not consider myself bilingual, I can read easily in French and understand my mom when she speaks in French and Portuguese. We were out one day and I was trying to talk to her (she's really big on speaking French at home) and I couldn't think of the right word in French, so I said the word that represented what I wanted to say. In Portuguese.
Though these are examples of how speaking more than one language affects daily life, they life that Tan describes is very different. Because my mother speaks European languages (which I find that people consider white languages) her being multilingual is seen as cool. But people like Tan's mother were looked down upon for not being able to grasp the nitpicky details of English.
Honestly, English is hard. And while oversimplifying a language isn't a good idea, neither is considering someone an English speaker if they can conjugate and come up with tenses. Language is used to communicate and that is what Tan and her mother did. Just in a different way than we might do.
For example, in paragraph six, she wrote down what her mother said to her once. It isn't edited and shows the true way her mother speaks English. She is showing that while maybe we don't completely understand what she might be saying, that she is communicating in English, while still being unique. She wanted to show that she was still communicating, even if native English speakers might not have considered her English proper.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Imagine having to live two lives. Now some people would say that they'd love to do it. It would mean being able to be yourself but be a completely different person in another situation-you could gain acceptance from being a new person if you led two lives. 

Well, according to the people who actually do that, it kinda sucks. In Firoozeh Dumas's essay, "The F Word", an Iranian immigrant who moved to America, trying to be "American" and trying to assimilate was pretty hard. Especially since "With eight letters, including a z, and four syllables, my last name is as difficult and as foreign as my first." So Dumas decides she's going to be called Julie. A nice, Anglo name. Dumas writes this experience in a comical way-her writing style isn't very serious and she writes as if she's speaking. But when you really think about it, what she went through was actually pretty awful. Imagine having to give up part of who you are-because if you accept you who you are, you'll be excluded for the rest of your life. People will look at you differently, they will treat you as if you're an alien. They won't even do something as simple as learning a name!

And yet-Dumas writes about this and actually makes the reader laugh. In my opinion, she's furthering her argument by using humor to show that despite her name, she's just like every other person. She doesn't need to be Julie to be considered human. For example, she talks about a time she was in a waiting room and was called in by the nurse with the name Fritzy Dumbass. It's put into the writing to be funny, but it also shows that hey-this is a real thing that is actually happening. We need to start actually making an attempt to be culturally aware. 

The Power of Privacy

I’ve dealt with many things in my life, just like everyone around me. I have been altered by these events and I often define myself by things that have happened to me. Though it is cliché, I am more than what I’ve gone through, and I really do not want people to create an idea of what kind of person I am solely based on these moments. It is often easier not to share memories, because it allows me to be my own person, instead of a person who is stereotyped by what has happened to them. I believe in using privacy to be my own person. 

My first day at Saints, I was extremely nervous. It sounds pretty typical, but middle school really had not been easy for me. I think it’s like that for a lot of people. Going to a new school allowed me to break out of the shell I had made for myself-an awkward, shy, and unconfident person. Anyway, during my first days, people often shared their eighth grade memories, and I found myself keeping my mouth shut. Everyone was making friends, and connecting with people because of things that had happened in their life, like playing the same sport, or seeing the same band in concert. I remember all the getting to know you games we played. I was so uncomfortable, going around to random strangers and telling about them myself. Why would I share my memories, which sometimes weren’t very positive, with people I barely knew? For once, I wasn’t being shy; instead, I was choosing to keep quiet about the past me so I could actually be the new me.  

I realized that being private wasn’t really a bad thing. Instead, it gave me the chance to decide who I really wanted to share intimate information with. Why would I want to share personal stuff with people I’m not really personal with? I think this has affected me in both a positive and negative way. Because I was private about my memories, nobody made judgements on who I was as a freshman based on who I was as an eighth grader, and I was able to make relationships based on new experiences, not old ones. So in a positive way, I met the friends that I am really close to now. In a negative way, I probably missed out on some relationships because of my privacy towards myself. But I don’t really regret this-I value my privacy and will not give it up in the future easily for a person I may or may not end up trusting.  

I think a lot of people can find value in privacy. It gave me confidence, because if so few people were privy to my personal memories, then the majority of people could not judge me on who I used to be. I think privacy made me more confident, which sounds ironic. Private people are seen as closed off and quiet, but I think privacy allowed me to open up. I didn’t have to share my thoughts and feelings like everyone around me seemed to do growing up. I was able to talk, without having to sacrifice my privacy.  

Home

As corny as it sounds, home is a feeling, not always a place. Today in class we read an article by a young man who was technically born in Ethiopia but has no memory of the country, since he moved to the United States a few months later. He had no memories of Ethiopia and was not able to speak the language. He never felt Ethiopian or even American; he didn't fit in to the native born American or the American immigrant category in his eyes.
He ended up moving to Brooklyn, as a way to choose his home and choose where he really wanted to make a life for himself. In the end he realized that Brooklyn didn't become his home because it was pretty or a wealthy area or had lots of things to do. Brooklyn became his home because of the feeling it provided him.
When I think of my home, I obviously think of the physical space my house takes up. But it's more than just a house. Being home means being relaxed, being safe. For an introvert like me, it gives me the chance to just chill for a bit before I have to go back into the world. So my home isn't exactly a house, it's more of the safety and security that the house represents. Home is also in other people. When I am having a bad day, it really does help to be with my close friends. They're more like family.
So I think home is about family, too, which is why being with my friends can feel a bit like being at home-I feel calm, I feel happy, I feel relaxed. And, there's my actual blood family, not just my friends that make my house feel like a home. Home is about being welcomed no matter how bad a situation is or how awful you feel.
Which is why I think the author was having such a hard time. He didn't have the memory of Ethiopia, so he wasn't exactly welcomed into the Ethiopian immigrant community. And because he wasn't part of SCWAMP, he wasn't really welcome in America either. Just because he had a house and a family doesn't mean he had a home. He didn't have a shelter or a group of people that made him feel like he belonged. A home is like a network that is full of the things that make us happy. He didn't really have that. When he moved to Brooklyn, he was able to create that feeling for himself.
As a child, he was isolated by trying to be part of a home that just didn't exist. When he got older, he built a community-like with the person who always gave him extra rice or vegetables with his take out. He had a sense of self in Brooklyn. That feeling is what made it feel like a home and is what really makes a home a home at all.