Curse Words :X

I would say that I've been very exposed to curse words, and it has had a great deal of influence on me. I don't like to indulge in using curse words but from time the time I feel the need for them. I believe it helps get my point across when I'm angry or sometimes even when I'm passionate about something. 

I've always been told that you curse because you have a limited vocabulary and I would say that's partially true. I at least turn to cursing when I need to explain how great or bad something was but can't find the appropriate word to do it justice. I know it's a bad habit to have as it reflects poorly onto others but at times I can't help but let them slip.

Again I'm a bit of a hypocrite... when it comes to cursing there's a certain point where it's just not acceptable. I understand the instinctive curse word after hurting yourself on accident but it shouldn't be a permanent part of your vocabulary. I respect the people who go most of their life not uttering a single curse word, at least in public, because they show great self restraint. What grinds my gears is the whole substituting fluffy words instead like fudge for... yeah.

Crutch Words

Crutch words are my best friend... Seeing as my social skills are just about non-existent such words really help me cope with my harsh reality. The post about the six words that can ruin your sentence really resonated with me because I use them all... I frustrate myself because I know that I use these and other filler words like the usual umm and like. Others also never fail to mention that I use them, recently we had to do a quick speech in JROTC and someone tallied the number of times I said "umm", it was seventeen... An impressive number. 

When others utilize fillers I don't get too annoyed but it does bother me that it delays the conversation. I know it's hypocritical to say that but still... For some it actually works, for example during the press conference one of the participants would say umm a lot but it actually sounded good, made me wait on the edge of my seat to hear what he was conjuring up in his head in that split second delay.

Crutch words like literally are the ones that do begin to bother me at times. I'm more of a black and white person so I hate ambiguity, and when you tell me literally I think in a literal sense. Along with literally I also semi hate obviously at times. Mostly when it follows the answer to a question I was asking, if it was so obvious I wouldn't have asked... ;-;

22 Maps Not All of Them Covered

For these maps I've decided to go through the ones that I have personally encountered... 

Caramel-

If you say Car-ml you're nasty... no not really but to me it sounds so strange to hear it said like that. Looking at the map though it seems I'm the strange one for saying it Carra-mel. Maybe there's a logical explanation for this... I was thinking since the east coast is prone to say Carra-mel it must be because foreigners tend to want to pronounce every letter in a word... maybe...

Bowie Knife-

I don't think I've ever heard someone say it using bo instead of boo, and yet the map shows that's what is prominent here.

Lawyer- 

I have heard either one, I personally say loyer but I don't see Law-yer being that different. This one I would say is acceptable either way.

Coleslaw- 

Coleslaw is coleslaw, not slaw. 

Addressing a crowd of people-

This one was pretty obvious as it's stereotypical for southern folk to use y'all. I have heard it here but more often than not the individual responsible is from somewhere in the south, or relatively close to it. 

Mayo-

I actually use both forms so I can't say much about this one without offending myself.

Pajamas-

Again I find myself in the wrong part of the country... PaJAMas just sounds bad...

Pecan- 

I personally say it Pee-can, realizing now that I'm basically saying a can where you pee in... I don't mind this one so much as long as you don't try to correct me by saying your way is right if it's different from mine. 

Sweetened Carbonated Beverage-

I actually say two from the list, I say soda and coke. I generalize all drinks into coke and expect others to know my preference. I think I would just rather go for saying sweetened carbonated beverage instead... I always thought that southerners said pop but the map shows that it's actually the north, or maybe I was thinking about the south side of Chicago.

Water fountain v. drinking fountain v. bubbler?-

I've heard the first two before but bubbler is just out there for me, and it's concentrated in Wisconsin and I've been there plenty and never heard it called that. 

Rubber-soled shoes- 

This one was weird seeing that we're basically the only people to call them gym shoes... I've heard the other terms a lot more but it's just interesting.

Chicago v. New York

It's funny to see that most everyone considers New York to be the city except the people nearest to Chicago. It's understandable though as New York is usually the city everyone covets and despises. 

Drive-through liquor store-

Wut..

Dialect Quiz

After taking the dialect quiz, which was interesting, I was given a result that I was halfway okay with. 

Residing in the Midwest I wasn't too upset with Overland Park, Kansas as it's also apart of Midwestern states. The other two seemed a bit far off being on the east coast though. I would think that they have quite distinct dialect from that of ours, mostly judging from the stereotypes that I've encountered. I suppose that some of our dialect is similar and that's mostly due to the stuff that I'm into, as I like to watch older east coast based movies so I pick it up a bit. 

The one showing the most distinctive hold true to what I believe. Seeing as we are from the Midwest we kind of don't have an accent and in the map it shows me the two places where an accent is most prominent, in the East and South. This one I do completely agree with seeing as the concentration of red seems to be heavily focused on the either side of the country.

I was glad to see that when I answered gym shoes for one of the questions our area of Illinois was the only piece highlighted in red. 

Social Media You Vs. Reality You

I've noticed that a lot of my friends, and some of the internet population, write very disgustingly when it comes to talking online. I try to keep it at an acceptable level only throwing in a couple shortened words. One example would be that instead of writing out "though" I just simply leave it as "tho". I would say that that it's an acceptable alternative as it's not too far off and who needs all those extra letters that don't make sounds amirite? This goes along with the whole video game language and how at times it can be so abstract. 

I used to be all into using the text language using words like ROFL and roflcopter amongst other really nasty words. Now it seems that I'm limited to lol, lel, or if it was extremely funny, lmao. 

I am tolerant of this language while it stays in the online format, in real life... It's a bit gross seeing people use LOL or any other word to "laugh". Recently some people have been using the word "KEK", which is horrid both online and offline, but they continue to use it often pairing it with "LMAO". The worst part about it is that they say it like an actual word and not as individual letters. So it LAMOW instead of L-M-A-O, it's just so ehh... I believe this is just one of those things that will continue to happen as long as someone on the receiving end gets pleasure or discomfort out of it.

Every Villain Is Lemons

Acronyms are horrible, at least to me they are. Actually they're not all that bad as long as you use them properly. I've always been taught that you need to introduce what it means and then, and only then, are you allowed to use the acronym. (Ex. The National Honor Society (NHS) is... | NHS works to... ) It really irritates me when people don't do this, maybe I'm wrong... but even then it should be done in a way that gives the same effect. 

Based off of Spongebob, I'm completely right... 

In real life speaking it sometimes does bother me as well that people assume that we know what they're talking about when speaking with acronyms. It's not too often that they do, but when they do it sets me off... internally. It's like being out of the loop on a good joke. I would want to ask what they mean but it could put me off as ignorant, and obviously self image is everything so... It's not really but people should realize that sometimes taking the short way and not explaining thoroughly will sometimes leave others in a position in which they need clarification.

I would also apply the same concept to abbreviations. While most people don't usually speak in abbreviations there is still the conflict when it comes to writing. Not everyone can figure out what you mean, myself included, so they have to look it up...

Video Game Language Contaminating the Real World

Video gaming is a huge industry and it continues to grow. Its main audience is deeply rooted in teenagers, who are pretty destructive. I've played my fair share of video games and have witnessed first hand this rage. Amidst the rage you can notice that there is a whole new language that is being spoken. Word and phrases like casul, git gud, git rekt, and GG (good game) often are spoken or messaged. 

In the real world I've noticed that it's beginning to be invaded by such terms. It's quite amusing to hear it out of it's original context, but it's also quite weird as it's usually not good in a grammatical sense. I'm again guilty of using these terms, often picking them up from my surroundings. Each phrase or word seems to correspond to a game and moves on to others from there. For example the phrase "git gud" seems to have been popularized from Dark Souls, a game that would not be given true justice if it were classified as being difficult.

These words, and many other like them, have become a permanent part of my vocabulary and of the vocabulary of others. I wouldn't say I'm proud of it, but it gives me the sense that I'm a part of something exclusive. 

Brah...

The word "bro" and its variants has been around for quite a while now. I personally use it out of habit everyday. Usually I use it to greet people with a simple, "hey bro/dude/brah/etc." Sometimes by adding inflection you can manipulate the word to reflect your emotions. It's interesting to see its origin of the word as well, and seeing how it just has become a blanket statement for any bro. 

Using these words does sometimes stir something inside of me though. Even though I use them I try hard to avoid it, I just can't help but say it... In terms of using the word "bro" to form new words, that's a bit weird to me. reading the blog post at http://blog.dictionary.com/brocab/ it was the first time seeing that people do this to the extent shown. I did know about bromances and all of that but the fact that they just slap it on to any old word it a bit odd to me. Brogrammer and bronies were mentioned in the post and if I were to have heard that in the real world I would've felt bad knowing I was near these people.

All in all these words have become part of my vocabulary although I do hope to shake them as they sound a bit informal at times. Seeing others use it casually is okay but there's is definitely a limit to everything, including the excessive use and manipulation of words using bro...

Espanglish

The hybrid language of Spanglish has been increasing in popularity. I'm definitely guilty of using it everyday. I learned Spanish first but now it seems that it's escaping me. I find myself filling in my Spanish with English words and when talking to my parents this sometimes becomes a problem. I start to beat around the bush looking for the word and end up just giving the English equivalent. 

A problem I see when myself and others use Spanglish is that we pronounce some of the words in the other language. 

       

While it may not come up often it's pretty funny when it happens, usually it arises when someone is reading not actually speaking off the top of their head. I sometimes say things wrong because of Spanish when I'm speaking English. For example I say Portugal how it's said in Spanish rather than the English form. Sometimes I say the word video as Bideo and I get called out for it...

The usage of Spanglish doesn't necessarily bother me because I know the struggle of being bilingual. I more or less just get a kick out of it because of how dysfunctional it sometimes sounds. It's just interesting to see how two languages come together and somehow work.