Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Flickr
When I was reading the discussion on flickr I found there were lots of interesting points made. I feel that language in perceived in amny different ways and when it comes down to it, a word is juts a word. I agreed with what "rippie" said when they stated that it comes down to "how one uses the word." Its all about context. As I learned about connotations and denotations in the text I realized that many people can take offense to words just because of how they personally perceive the word. There was an already an argument (controlled but still apparent) on flickr in this conversation we just read (about "webglish.") Personally I think that when it comes to the topic of what word to use to refer to male or female, there will always be an argument and no one will ever be completly satisfied.
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2 comments:
I completely agree with you. A word is just a word, but it really just all depends on how someone uses the word. What their tone of voice is and the sentence they use it in. There is just way too many words in the english launguage to change what has already been set into place. No matter what any one tries to do to change our connotations of a word, no one will ever be completely content. One of the people on the website made a good point saying what are we suppose to do call everything it because it would be way too hard to try and differentiate betwwen who or what you are talking about. Although, we can change certain occupations to be universal such as police officer instead of policeman. But what about nurse? It is automatically precieved as a female, but there are male nurses.
Hello Marisa and Rocky:
I enjoyed reading both your posts and I agree with many aspects of what you both said. I believe our interactions online are far different than face to face interactions. In a way, the internet makes it easy to use such language and perhaps we go along in our daily lives doing the same (using sexist language) without thinking much of it. I believe this is the challenge that public speakers must face. It is worthwhile to practice using language that is neutral and not offensive. Eventually we will all be professionals in our given fields. Employers hire people who can communicate effectively. While it may not be possible to please everyone, it is important for students consider language, if not for the individuals we address, then for our future success as communicators and professionals.
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