Re: watch your language! (or don't)

Subject: Re: watch your language! (or don't)
From: John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 18:47:03 -0700 (PDT)


> ok by me. but try this. i like to think of a kind of language
> agility. why couldn't one move with the contexts, moving in and out
> of various language games, using language like one might use
> clothes, accessories, or any other means of self-expression? why
> not be-bop in one context while blue-grassing in another? why not
> hip-hop on the bus and twang with the venders at the farmers'
> market*?

That might be fine if you knew when to apply what styles and
conventions...I might then believe you are doing it intentionally.
However, I don't think you are. If you did, you would know that you
were addressing an audience to whom usage and grammar are important
and you would have used capital letters where they are called for.

> english is my native language, and i've been learning spanish and
> french over the past few years, in addition to a smattering of
> other languages. i've noticed a very interesting thing that i
> wonder if anyone else can relate to. i've had a number of french
> friends, some of whom had only rudimentary english, or good english
> that was thickly accented. over time, i started to realize that
> whenever i spoke to french people in english, i'd unconsciously
> start speaking english as if i were a french person speaking
> english! i was unconsciously adopting their accent, their patterns,
> their word choices, their syntax. i would find myself making the
> same mistakes that they tend to make, but i just let it pass. and
> why not? they could see, if only subconsciously, that i was moving
> over into their world, communicating with them in their frame of
> reference.


John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

?Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone
amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built
the Titanic.? - Dave Barry

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References:
Re: watch your language! (or don't): From: diotima

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