In bocca al lupo

So I’m watching Pocahontas for the first time in about 10 years, and I completely forgot about “Wingapo,” the Native American greeting that Pocahontas teaches to John Smith.

Guess how I’ll be greeting customers and answering the phone at work tomorrow.

jekoh:

hisnamewasbeanni:

anescapedfish:

drtanner-sfw:

crowleyaziraphale:

edgebug:

turnabout-taisa:

my-singing-soul:

why is it that all the most popular posts on tumblr

are written like this

with no capitals

and no punctuation

i just really want there to be a popular and grammatically correct post on tumblr

I think the majority of Tumblr’s dialect (is there a word for a written dialect? Hardly anyone speaks Tumblr.) comes from influence within the tag system.

My theory is that the lack of capitalization is stylized, ironic laziness (same reason as the increasingly popular use of abbreviations such as idek and ikr, and particles like desu), whereas the punctuation stems from the tag system, where commas split up tags. So, “this is like, so totally cool” would be tagged “this is like” “so totally cool.”

With commas struck from the tumblr blogger’s arsenal, they rely on run-on sentences and other means to show emphasis. One such means, spacing, is another quirk influenced by the tags. If you repeat a tag, it will only show once, which is why you get “really r e a l l y weird things like this.”

Also common on Tumblr are people who show their enthusiasm through their text by pretending their haNDS ARE FRKEAKIGN OUT AN D THEY CANT TPYE OMFGGGG. This adaptation is actually pretty cool, I think, as it serves to communicate tone across a very toneless medium.

Did you hear that noise? That was the sound of my desk breaking. My linguistics boner just snapped it in half.

 #we’ve created our own language with its own set of rules and guidelines #based on the environment #that is cool #if you don’t think that’s cool you’re wrong

I was literally talking to someone about internet dialects just the other day, and how someone “from” 4chan will speak in a different dialect to someone “from” Tumblr, even if physically they live right next door to each other. The internet’s become like some kind of shadow world with its own languages and regional dialects, depending on what website someone might have “originated” from. 

Fucking fascinating. 

Reblogging this again for that added commentary

Wow. Incredible.

Cyberpsych is a thing and it’s fascinating.  Now to that roster, we add cyberlinguistics.  I love it. I just want to diagram sentences across netspeak and make it an educational poster.

girlwithalessonplan:

lizabethdavis:

I don’t understand why we are required to learn some of the things we do in school. How often do covalent bonds come up in a normal conversation? I feel like I’m being forced to learn this, or else I will fail at everything in life. 

I must get an A. If I don’t understand covalent bonds I will not get an A. I will not get into college. I will die and the world will end because I don’t understand covalent bonds.

and then of course there are ionic bonds… 

This is one of the reasons I think required education should end at a certain point. Do we really need four years of high school science to succeed. Is it necessary?

I know much of the theory of unschooling (or even homeschooling) is that the student should be required only to learn what interests her or him.

But your normal conversation now is going to change drastically.  A normal conversation for those who discuss ionic bonds could be within their jobs, or tinkering with a new discovery.  

But how would you know what interests you if no one shows you the possibilities?  

No one is saying you have to et an A in Science.  You will still get into college if if you get a B.  Or even a C.  I was a God-awful math student and I still got into college.  No one ever told me to get an A or that I wouldn’t go to college because I got a D in Algebra.  And I said the same things you’re saying about bonds about graphing and FOILing.  Why did I need three years of Math, anyway?

I could make the same argument about my metals and woodworking class I was forced to take.  Or French.   Or writing in cursive for one year straight in 8th grade English when I was obviously better at printing.  

Because it made me a better student to be challenged and stretch my abilities—even if stretching them showed, “Oh, hey, she’s not very good at that.”

As an English teacher, I have students write in various modes of writing.  I make them use Standard American English.  I teach them the rules so that they know when to break them.  

Because having a wide base of knowledge, whether it is math, science, or English, makes a student adaptable to a variety of situations. I WANT you to learn about science for four years so that I don’t have a voting electorate that thinks the world is 6,000 years old and man rode dinosaurs.

But to get all sociological on you:  Students need to learn about bonds, and take Algebra 2, and learn about iambic pentameter, because you are roads.

Yes.  Roads.

I like roads.  They are a public good.  Roads get me safely from one point to another.  Whether it is WalMart five minutes away or Montana, 24 hours away.  Well kept roads can get me there faster.  Roads are a public good.  I like paying taxes for roads, road repairs, and civil engineering studies on the best road materials.  Even if I didn’t drive, I’d still like paying taxes on roads because I benefit from them still—from the pizza delivery guy to the ambulance that comes to save me.

You are a road.  Your education is a public good.  You are not my child, but I want you educated in a variety of topics. Because if you’re more educated, then you’re more likely to contribute fiscally to the society.  Because if you’re exposed to a variety of topics, you’re likely to be inspired by—I don’t know—ionic bonds, and then aspire to go into biochemical engineering and design medicine that will eventually save my life.  

Now, if you feel dehumanized for my comparative metaphor, I apologize.  I have used it before in face to face conversations on the topic of school funding and it has gone over well.  

We don’t need fewer people not learning STUFF.  We need MORE people learning MORE stuff.  If that happens, the society as a whole will benefit.  

And besides, your required education DOES end at a certain point.  A prescribed education ends when you are approximately 17-18 years old if you stay on track, but you can end your education earlier depending on the state.  And that’s not bad, considering the frontal lobe of your brain controlling decision making skills isn’t fully developed until your early 20s.

So you don’t like ionic bonds?  Okay, but maybe the next chapter will spark a new interest.  I hope that for you.  I really do.