Be careful of taboos....NOT tatoos...well and tatoos but thats not what i am trying to say

On monday in my Linguistics class, we were learning about all kinds of slang, taboos, epithets and euphemisms. Well, let me give you a little example of each and especially when we hit the epithets...be careful.

• Slang- Everyone one should know what these are. It just a use of casual speech often invented and spread by a close nit social group. For example, I notice I use a different speech when I am around different groups of people. Let's say I am snowboarding...some things a snowboarder might say would be, "Shred the Gnar" "Pow Pow" "SPORE" "Skeeze" and then the typical, "dude" and "sick" hahaha
• Taboos- This is any type of word or activity that is considered inappropriate. I won't go into detail but for example, it's taking anything those scientific names of your reproductive organs and making them into those four letter words, or calling the process of making love into another four letter word....you get the picture...they are bad...don't use them!
• Euphemisms- It's a word or phrase to take and replace a taboo word or avoid reference to certain acts or subjects. For example, it's relacing those curse words with good ol words like "crap" or "dang it" :)
• Racial or National Epithets- Its a taboo that is  degrading towards a race or nationality. I just learned this but have any of you guys said the phrase..."Man, we got gypped!" ? Well, did you know that gypped comes from the word gypsy? So basically, when we say that phrase, we are making fun of gypsies and implying that all of them are thieves and steal...Bet you'll think twice before you say that again!

How Mr. Jackie Robinson was treated when he was first signed

Just to give a bit more detail to the life of the good ol' Mr. Jackie Robinson, I just wanted to put a little bit more emphasis on his character and to tell everyone how he really was and still is a great example of someone who faces trials in life. 

When Jackie was first signed to the Montreal Royals in 1945 and started his sprin

g training in 1946, the team went down to Florida. Many of the cities in which they had to play in was rough. Alot of games were cancelled because teams refused to play a team who had a black player. He received numerous amounts of threatening letters, was segregated from his team in cities they had to stay over night in, and when they finally started playing in the season, he was harassed more then any other player. When he reached the actual major leagues and played for the Dodgers in 1947, while he was fielding, players slid into base and tried to puncture his leg with their spikes. On several occasions he was severely spiked to where his leg was bloody and was knocked to the ground. He also had many balls thrown at his head as well. 

But while this all happened, guess what he did? Jus

t turned the other cheek. He was known for having a short temper, but was some how able to control it and never retaliated in anyway. He always kept a positive attitude and never blamed the whites for anything even though he knew a lot of the violence that was thrown against him was intentional. He conquered adversity every time something was thrown at him. 

Another thing i really admired about him was his love for his wife. He married a gal named Rachel young; before he signed onto the Royals. Their marriage was tried by all the violence and the constant traveling to games. But Rachel NEVER missed a home game, even when they had a son. One time when Jackie had go on the road again, he called her from the train station and said, "I don't want to make this trip with out you, come on down." And of course just packed up everything and went right on down with him. Rachel described their relationship as a very intense pairing, as if they were a part of each other. As Jackie's popularity increased, the ladies were starting to become attracted to him and trying to throw themselves on him. In one instance, he received a letter from a women basically begging him to commit adultery with her and confessed her love for him and said, "I know you are a married man and that you have a son, but you don't have to be an angel." Can you believe this SLUT??? Well guess what Jackie said back..."When i married Mrs. Robinson, i exchanged vows to love and honor, and cherish her for the rest of my life. Honor means just that to me and any sneaking, skulking escapade would destroy the very thing that enables me to hold my head up high." YOU GO JACKIE! 

See, isn't he the best?? I have loved reading about this man. He truly helped destroy the color barrier of baseball, blaze the trail to the civil rights movement, and kept true to himself during all the trials and tribulations he faced. He truly was a great man and a great example of how we should all be. 

He said She Said...

Last week in my linguistics class we had to watch a lecture video entitled, "He said, She Said." I am not gunna lie, it was sooooooo interesting and very entertaining. Basically this women studied the differences in language between boys and girls. Here are some things I learned about our species...

• Women like to do a thing called "trouble talking." For some reason girls, we like to always talk to eachother about our problems, and when we don't have problems, then we bring up other peoples problems. As for men, they really could care less about other peoples problems so if we start to talk about others peoples problems to them, they will most likely zone out or won't know what to say.
  
• Women like to be the same and men like to compete. When women talk about something to eachother, we try to mention things that will make us equal so we can feel accepted. Men on the other hand will always try to one up the next person. When in a relationship, be careful men to try not to always one up your lover. lol
• Women like to take into account other peoples feelings before their own and likes to discuss things while men just say more or less what they feel. For example, you are driving a long and the woman asks the man, "Are you thirsty?" and he says, "No." and thats it. Well then the women gets upset because she is thirsty and wants to pull over but he didn't ask her how she felt. Then the man goes, "Why couldnt you just say you were thirsty?" And it's because women like to take into account every one's feelings and men just answer the question that is asked.

Hope this helps at all to anyone who is trying to understand the opposite sex! haha

Extinction of languages? Is this even important?

Today in my linguistics class we learned about endangered languages. At first i was like, "uhhh ok? and whats soooooo special about keeping languages around that no one knows about?" Well, let me tell you... it is very important. We watched this 20 min video and this guy gave a really cool presentation of all the different languages that are becoming extinct. He talked about many languages aren't even recorded or written down so one they are lost, they are lost forever. And what does a language incorporate you ask? When a language goes down, so does their culture, their technology, and their findings. Findings could include different types of plants and different species that scientists havent even discovered because of the remotness of the places or because of the way these people use the plants and animals. It's crazy learning about all that goes along with a language...if anyone is interested, this video clip lecture is really interesting.

The start of something new...

So! This is my first blogging experience. I had to create a blog for my technology teaching class and have to have five educational posts by this week. So for the next five posts, i shall be discussing something educational and then maybe i will decide to keep blogging after that..



My first educational moment for today will be about....the rise of JACKIE ROBINSON!! WOHOO!!

If you don't know, Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player to be signed into the major league in 1946. He crossed the color barrier and many have said it was because of him that got the ball rolling to integrate blacks into society and stop the Jim Crow stupid segregation laws! Even Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged him and praised him for his efforts. From 1890 to 1946, blacks were not allowed to play baseball with whites. They had to have their own league, were payed less, couldn't get the proper conditioning, and played and traveled more. Certain events starting getting the public's opinion on segregation to think more negatively about it. Different sports writer's ofter commented on the fact that blacks were allowed to represent America in the Olympics, play football, be a boxing star lik Joe Loius, fight side by side with whites in WWII and die for our country, but they couldnt play ball?? It was messed up. So thank goodness for Mr. Rickey and wanted to change all of this by looking for the perfect candidate to be the first black baseball player to be integrated into the major leagues. Jackie Robinson was religious, attractive, strong, courageous, great athelte and ball player, and was not afraid of the publics opinion of him. He was the perfect candidate...