Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language

A 10 year old girl, teenage gamer, science professor observing diet coke & Mentos reaction

The 10 year old girl would be super fascinated. She would tell about how the bottle sprayed the pop everywhere and how it looked like a fountain. A teenage gamer might describe the event similar to the girl but then take it further. The mess it makes would be noted and plans for trying that at home and in larger quantities could also be made. Both the girl and the teenager would enjoy the reaction. However, the science professor would have seen a reaction like this before. Instead of describing what was seen, he could be describing the molecular interactions and how the event occurs in more scientific terms. He would also not be as excited as the other two people.

Going to Japan

When two cultures mix, I find that the people of both parties are bit more cautious than usual. Both parties realize that they're different and neither group wants to offend the other. I have this happen to me all the time when I have Caucasian friends over and they interact with my parents. My parents are hesitant to feed my friends certain foods (not dog or anything crazy :P) and my friends are just plan awkward at times. I've learned that when you talk and confront these issues things go a lot more smoothly. When you talk about it, both groups realize that it's pretty silly to be so stressed about cultural insensitivity.

Talking in the New Land

If I had my name changed early on in life, not much would be lost. It took me a while to realize that names even mattered. All through high school, I went by the name "Erick". As college came, I started using my real name: Vu. If I were to only go by Vu now, it would likely lose some fondness of all my high school friends that called me Erick. However, "Vu" has brought me a lot of fun here in college. When I introduce myself to others, they usually ask me to repeat my name. I always say, "Vu, like Deja Vu." Its has a nice ring to it and I like it a lot. I strongly identify myself with my name. I feel like a name is a base for which respect and honor can be built upon. 

Gender Wars in Cyberspace

I communicate through many ways. Besides the typical verbal communication, I like to use a lot of body language. I also text and chat online often. I find myself to be more confrontational. However, it wasn't too long ago that I was conciliatory. I feel that I am in a transition right now since Junior year in high school. My habits of online communications definitely carry over to the real world. I can't help but use abbreviations and acronyms in real life, either to save time or crack jokes. I always talk to my friends from home through this online communication program. It is like a private mini vocal chat room for us and when we meet up to play basketball or hang out in real life, we always use our Internet slang. 

-not sure how to classify things like this.

He and She: What's the Real Difference?

Usually people can tell things about an author beyond his/her writings. Writing styles portray to the personality of the writer. In more scientific writings it could be hard but in other cases you can definitely tell things about the author. Age can be generalized by the vocabulary, grammar/structure can make a person seem more intelligent or old. Sometimes I also believe you can tell if the author is a male or female due to topic, word choice, AND style. There are a lot of subtle things in writings that's kind of hard to explain but definitely hints to what the author is like.

How to give orders like a man!

I recieve orders all the time and each one varies in its dificulty. It is surprising how even the simplest commands can be very challenging. After thinking for some time for a specific event that stands out, I came across one in my dusty mind. The command was given by my mom. It was just "move". One simply word but still I was unable to comply to it.  Senarios can change everything. I remember that day because my parents were fighting and my mom was about to up and leave. My brother and I crowded the door to stop her. With tears in her eyes, it was evident that she was in no condition to drive. There was no way we were going to move. From that event, my family got closer -in my opinion.  In my eyes, in no way does gender affect giving orders. To me, credentials makes me think twice about a command, not the gender. Also the nature of the order matters. Telling me to operate some high tech surgery equipment would not fly well with me. 

Exposing Media Myths

Watching television news is not very important to me. The only time I find myself watching a news program is when someone else is already watching it or I happen to catch glimpse of an interesting head title as I flicker through channels. What I prefer to do is to find interesting articles online; yahoo news or digg is a good source. The length of time an event spends in my memory depends on how outrageous the event is. The things I read usually stay in my mind for a while, just because if I clicked on it, I thought it would be interesting beforehand. Some of my favorite news topics lately have been the monkey tearing a person about and the octo-mom lady. Youtube is also a place of great sorted news. A channel I love to watch is sxephil; he provides a great group of entertaining news feed.

English Belongs To Everybody

I believe we have had this prompt before, towards the beginning of the semester. Depending on the audience, my language is changed. People of authority get more respect and casual friends see a more laid back me. Emotion also plays a role. Before, I did not realize how much this affects it. But the way I talk to my girlfriend is much more "lovey-duby" than when I'm mad. The only time I use profanity is when I'm upset. I feel swearing is usually unnecessary and seems almost fake to me. I don't use them because it's not me, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  Academic writing is very refined and different from everyday speech. But not all writing is academic. Journals, emails, or even letters to a love one are much more like spoken English.

The Hard Sell: Advertising in America

Sobe products

Gecko car insurance

Axe & Tag body spray

Hanes underwear

Many different shampoo/hair products

Movie trailers

I occasionally buy Sobe drinks but not any of the other products listed. However, movie trailers get me. If a trailer seems cool to me, I always chat with my friends about them and see if they also want to go see the movie. Advertising in general does not affect my spending habits on myself. I buy what I need to buy and not much else. Products that are intensely advertise tend to be much more pricier and I am cheap. Advertising does get its name into peoples brain. As I walk through supermarkets, I always see products and remember what their ad was. 

From a different prospective, I do however buy gifts for other people taking into account advertisement. Sometimes I buy the masculine bath products for friends and such.