Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Talking Smart

Have you ever found yourself in conversation with someone, and you realize you have no idea what the other person is saying? When I find myself in conversation with someone from the 'jock' group on the Monday after Sunday night football, I often find myself extremely lost. Touchdown? Hail Mary Pass? Come Again? However, throw me into conversation with an 'AP' student, and I tend to fare better. I can throw around words such as electrons, redox-reactions, oxidation states, ect. without a problem.

The language we use and understand in everyday conversation is often associated with the people we spend our time with as well as the backgrounds we possess. When I 'talk smart' around some friends, they point me in the direction of a science book and ask me to translate. Yet, I feel the same way when someone begins to talk sports and yesterday's Big Game.

The same can be said for where we live in the country. We all speak English in the US, but we often use different words for the same objects. For example, is it pop or soda? If you visit Michigan, they call it pop. However, here in New Jersey, there is no pop. It's soda all the way.

It can often feel as though we all speak a different language, but they can actually all be perceived as different dialects. Although each dialect is different depending on what circle you run in, we all speak the same language.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, and the language we use is also associated with the level of education to whom we are speaking to. If we were to speak to a baby/child we would most definitely act and speak differently,then if we were to take to our classmate/ people of the same level.

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