DW1a

For quite a long time, it has been my belief that I should try as hard as I could to use a similar tone of voice, vocabulary, and use of language in general, in all aspects of my life. Even around my friends, I do not really change the types of words that I use, as I don't want to feel like I have to "dumb down" my vocabulary to impress people or fit in with what they say. However, regardless of such efforts that I put forth, there are some very distinct differences I can recognize between my different scenario languages. More specifically, there are big differences between the kind of language I use at home and at school.

For example, even something like an argument that would seem to have a similar tone and use of language in any situation, can change completely depending on who I'm arguing with. At home, my mom and I often have small arguments, like one that arose 3 weeks ago, because she did not like how I left some clothes on my bed. As some sort of punishment she wanted me to shovel our deck and driveway, go get some groceries, and take in about 2 months worth of recycling on a Saturday. So, immediately I had to take a serious disposition about all of this, and looked for points in her accusation that were just ridiculous. I started out by saying, "Mother, you can't be serious... First of all it is just one t-shirt and a pair of pants, and they have not been there for more than two hours. Second of all, I just got out of the shower and have not had the time to do anything yet." Note that even though I address my mother formally, I still use a more informal expression like "you can't be serious". However, the general thought of the sentences are very organized, the grammar is fine, and slang is not used.

On the other had, when I had a similarly petty argument with a friend at school over why I would not be attending a video game tournament with him and another friend, the general context was much less formal. I started by saying, "Listen... Andre, it's a Saturday. I'm ass-tired... And that tournament is like 1000 miles away. I mean, you can't seriously expect me to go, can you? I really just wanna chillax/do nothing for a day." Right off the bat, it is clear that this sentence, although similar to the previous one in "type", is very different. First of all, I made many elongated pauses while I spoke, just to emphasis how ridiculous the concept sounded. Secondly, I did swear, and used an expression that really makes very little sense ("ass-tired"). Next, I started off a sentence with and (which is informal grammar), and used "like" in incorrect context. Finally, I used "wanna" instead of "want to", "Chillax" (not a real word), and literally said "slash" after chillax. The important thing to note, is that there is still a form of organization (multiple points about why I shouldn't do something), but compared to the argument I had with my mother, this one lacks a proper form of organization.

It is not just the way I speak that can change without me thinking about it, however. Another good example would be the type of texts I send between older relatives, and my friends. When I send a text message, I never use abbreviations for words or phrases like "u" or "brt", strangely enough because one of my friends hates it when people do that and kept bugging me about it. Regardless, there are still a lot of differences. When I text messaged my Mom just recently about when I needed her to pick me up so I could come home and do some laundry, my text read as, "Hey, Mom. I'm going to be finished with classes after 2, so anytime you would want to pick me up after that is fine with me. And just so you know, I actually do have your plastic containers you were looking for, sorry about that." Now unlike last time I refer to my mother as "Mom", but it is still a pretty formal message (especially for a text). I do start a sentence with "And", but in general, the tone is very formal. As such, there is really not much to say about this text until it is compared to another one.

Now, when I text messaged a friend yesterday when a fire alarm went off at night and I was waiting outside, it was very different. It read as, "Rrrrr, fire alarm, in shorts... Oh yeah and by the way, are you doing anything after 3 tomorrow? Chris and Andre are gonna come over for a bit and play some Smash, and....well yeah you're probably gonna get trashed but hey, no guts on the ground, no glory!" So analyzing this text message, it really looks nothing like the last one. Right off the bat I use an onomatopoeia ("Rrrr"), and the entire first sentence is more like a run on of words rather than an actual sentence. Clearly it expresses anger at being outside in the cold in shorts because of a fire alarm, but more important than the fact that the sentence is incorrect, is the fact that all the words are still correct, as I mentioned before. Like when I was talking to my friend Andre about the tournament before, I again use ellipsises, but this time I type them out, which is slightly less necessary. Like in the first text example, I do have a transition to another thought, but this one uses "Oh yeah", which is more informal than "And by the way". After that, I use "Smash" referring to a video game "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", which we call it anyways, since saying the whole name would be a pain considering how much we play it. Finally, my friends and I like to use random analogies or sayings where they sometimes don't belong just to be clever, which is what the last sentence here represents (although I did change it around a bit).

Through only four different scenarios, it is extraordinarily obvious that I actually have not succeed in keeping my language similar between home and school, or relatives and friends. I do make a conscious effort to use full words whenever I text and just by my nature, tend to use similar words no matter what situation I'm in. Therefore, most of the transitions I have between my languages exist because of the different state of mind I am in while talking or messaging certain groups of people. It is natural that one would be more informal and comfortable around his or her friends, and would show a little more respect and formality around his or her parents. Still, I have used phrases like "He's a complete tool" around my parents before. Whether they understood what I was talking about is up for debate though, so that is more a phrase I save for people my age.