Meaning
1. The main point Kirk Johnson, writer of “Today’s Kids Are, Like, Killing the English Language” published by the New York Times, illustrates is a shift in the way society nowadays communicates and expresses themselves with the emergence of technology and other forms of media in this new era compared to the precedent and placid century.
2. The terms that Johnson singles out are “like,” “duh,” and “yeah, right”. These words are constructed and scattered all throughout Kirk’s argument. This supports the main thesis of Johnson’s entry is that these slang terms are utilized to project the significance of the time we live in. He also marvels at the way one might unconsciously need those words to buffer and fill statements.
3. A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself, but has veracity to it. Johnson demonstrates that there’s a paradox in this new age in that He provides a technical and ornate response by saying that computers of today, used by this new society dependant on “duh” and/or “like” and “yeah,
…show more content…
Caustic is defined as being too abrasive and/or too critical: “Shannon’s caustic commentaries slightly shifted the employee’s smirk into a frown.” Incisive is defined as being clear and direct, referred as an action: “While writing a research paper on Napoleon and his influence, Sarah traveled to the library for a novel on the subject and formed an incisive and thought-provoking argument.” Semiotics is defined as being the study of signs and symbols and how they are applied: “As a young boy, Elias was intrigued in semiotics and how the pi symbol came to be.” Unpalatable is defined as distasteful and unpleasant, usually regarding forms of food: “Marge’s mother had always an unpalatable and unappealing dish every Thanksgiving dinner.” Self-deprecation is an action of not giving value to and belittling oneself: “Once Alice had taken the will of replacing her rimmed eyeglasses for contacts, her self-deprecation only diminished and confidence
In “Cultural Illiteracy,” a preface to the novel The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein critically evaluates how technological distractions affect the younger generation. Bauerlein states that “digital diversions” are cutting the younger generation off from culturally enhancing mediums and is in turn making the younger generation less intelligent. Though Bauerlein is correct about the increase of peer pressure due to technology, he is mistaken about how technology is making the younger generation unintelligent.
In order to understand the concept of Moore’s Paradox, we must first assess and understand the behavior of logical and performative contradictions. Credited for devising and examining this paradox, George Edward Moore, a British philosopher who taught at the University of Cambridge and studied ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics describes the paradox in its omissive and commissive forms in which we will discuss thoroughly. I will then express my standpoint on which solution is the most optimal choice for Moore’s Paradox in order to analyze and explain why I believe my solution is superior to other solutions. I will also discuss any issues that arise
Contradictions are ideas or statements that oppose one another, such as paradox and irony. Paradox means that a statement contradicts itself, which may or may not be true; while irony is when you say one idea but mean another. For instance, The Declaration of Independence is one example which Americans show their contradictions. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “All men are created equal” at the same time Americans had slaves in their possession which evoked all African-Americans to obtain any natural rights as indicated in The Declaration of Independence (194). In addition, the paradox involved with this statement is a reason, which makes this country a travesty. All of these writers relate to The Declaration of Independence when dealing with contradictions
Since it’s been a predominant topic of our discussion, let us talk about the infamous English language. We can be sure that it has painstakingly progressed throughout generations of reevaluation and modernization, and has thus become what it is today. It has gone in several directions to try and mesh with the various epochs of language, from the Shakespearean era to the common English slang we use now, we can all agree that English is a language that has been transcending and will continue to transcend into many
Writing, according to an article in Times Magazine titled “Is Texting Killing the English Language” by John McWhorter, is an art that has been around for about 5,500 years. Since writing is deliberate and takes more time to compose, it’s usually better thought out and sounds more sophisticated. Speech, on the other hand, is more of an “unconscious” practice.
In Postman’s perspective, America has moved along with an incredible way of communication to accommodate itself with the several different interferences that are brought on by television. This ends up killing the printed language (156).
Despite the warnings of Orwell through both his essay and dystopian novel, bad English is still used today, and could be argued to affect more English than it did during Orwell’s life. The consequences are also just as he predicted, those who control the language are able to wield control over the thoughts of others. The usage of poor quality English by media has he effect of making the recipients of news more detached from events and as a consequence, more self-focused. The clumsiness and foolishness imposed by bad English ultimately degrading thought, politics, culture, and society is what Orwell had foretold. This is the English tragedy that is disregarded, modern thoughts of “English” are not of language but of the English Queen.
Another strategy Johnson uses is the use of logic. When addressing the woman’s son, he describes him as a “great man” , but “to whom I never spoke” and “had never seen” . This is an example of logic because he is saying that he
“Your Ability to Can Even: A Defense of Internet Linguistics” by Tia Baheri, is a great read. The article focuses on the new language that has been created among Internet users and how some critics think it is a negative impact on the English language and how others, such as Baheri herself, think that there is nothing wrong with the change what so ever. After reading the article, I agree with Tia Baheri, I also think that language is as she states, “Supposed to flex and shape itself to convey what we mean to say as directly and efficiently as possible”. Yes, some who do not spend a lot of time on the Internet may not understand some of the newly used phrases but for others it is the best way to express themselves.
One specific example is, “...We are becoming a callous, chickenhearted and immoral people…” Wainwright uses words such as callous, and immoral, to show his stern disapproval of the witnesses actions. In this sentence, Wainwright is calling out everyone, saying that more people need to be good Samaritans, and help when someone is in need. This is because Kitty Genovese had at least 38 witnesses, but not one of them went outside their home to help her, and not one of them called the police until after the murderer had driven off. Another example of Wainwright’s use of diction is, “Another witness had the awful distinction of being the only person Kitty Genovese recognized in the audience, taking in her final moments.” This was when Kitty called the man she recognized by his name, but he didn’t answer, he ignored her, leaving her helpless. With the specific content of the sentence, it appears that Wainwright shows her sarcasm towards the man that had to go through those “traumatizing” moments. By Kitty calling the man’s name, it shows the inexcusable public apathy from him, for not caring, or bothering to see what she
In Raksha Shetty’s CBS News article, “Hugh Decline in Book Reading.,” he interviewed, Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), about the decline in students reading for fun. Gioia states that “what we’re seeing is an enormous cultural shift from print media to electronic media, and the unintended consequence of that shift” (qtd. in Shetty) There has been a huge increase in technology available to today’s youth. Now, as a nation, the issue of those who can read and can not it no longer an issue of can not read but will not read. According to Gale Harrington, a ninth grade College Preparation English teacher in Solano County, “younger generations are just more focused on social networking than most other things,” when asked about the decline in her students reading (Harrington). The youth of today has access to more technology than any other generation before them and they are using it avidly to the detriment of their literary drive and abilities. They will instead spend hours each day watching television and movies, play video games, or even “surfing” the world wide
A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. After Guitar suspect that Milkman has taken and hidden the gold, Guitar feels betrayed by Milkman. When Milkman is in Shalimar, Guitar leaves a message warning Milkman that he is going to kill him. The conversation between Guitar and Milkman is paradoxical because a best friend would not try to kill you, and an enemy would not help and warn another enemy.
Because of Brown’s lack lustering amount of background information, I have to assume that his involvement to social media and technology is where he gets the motivation for some of his vocabulary such as “commTech” and “MedBots”(Brown 325). Brown has a very unique writing style. What Brown lacks in character development, he replaces with writing style. I found it hard to make notes on the character’s because he never gave me much reason to care about the character’s until they were killed off like insects. While the bonding between reader and character is scarce, his use of writing devices such as similes come in an abundance, “pawns in a giant chess match”(Brown 284) and “You’re mad as a Red.”(Brown 280), both quotes are said by important characters, but they are referring to characters that have no ties to me as the
Johnson explains that language is one of the many proofs of civility among people. Being a people of class and artistic pleasures most are well read and pursue knowledge daily. This leads to what he calls internal causes for changes in language such as the sciences. Many scientific terms are created to represent new ideas and discoveries. By creating a dictionary Johnson hopes to build a foundation on which more words can be founded not eliminated. I believe that Johnson finds this type of change to be beneficial to the English language; saying “a language is amplified (Johnson2751).
The above examples require special contextual knowledge to make out hidden meaning of Tom and Sam’s expressions. Why Tom and Sam used those utterances can only be explained by relating them to the context in which they are used. The expressions violate maxim of relevance and maxim of manner respectively.