Somewhere Over the Soul

Way up high, there's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby. As in, it doesn't exist. Get over it.

Also, this picture is the creepiest thing I've seen in three days. Seriously, what the-

A. According to Emerson, the mind ultimately under the soul, which happens to be under the oversoul. The soul is our natural beauty-thingy with some actual understanding and pureness while the mind is what's a bit more on the outside. Savvy?

B. Beatitude in the context means "a blessing" or happiness. Or that's what Dictionary.com told me. Don't judge!

C. Not only does this emphasize the ideas, but also these separate sentences are presented as one entity, a single idea. Pretty neat if you ask me.

D. "Revelation is the disclosure of the soul," the freedom of the pureness of "creation," the answer to the questions of life. It's so deep that I can't see it anymore.

F. God's role is apparently to just be there in case someone needs him. He's always there. He's in our souls and can provide a "shoulder to cry on". It should be noted that this isn't the God you're thinking of; it's the inner God we all have inside.

It's complicated.

Manifestos, Lies, and Pizza

Where better to start than with a dictionary definition, eh? manifesto (noun) a public declaration of intent, policy, aims, etc, as issued by a political party, government, or movement Honestly, there are infinitely many ways to start on a better note, but hey, such is life. Anyway, let us start with Reality Hunger by David Shields. I noted that the cover of the book of orange-red with yellow text, keeping it simplistic; yet, there is a dumpload of text on top of that (mostly positive reviews about the book) making it rather chaotic. We can probably infer that the author is narcissistic. Well, at least I'm sure he doesn't have OCD. Anyway, it seems at the moment that this is about art a lot of the time. Even the opening quote is "Art is theft," by Picasso. Simplistic, yet chaotic enough to turn your brain into mush once it is amplified by a factor of five-hundred. Apparently, everything's trying to portray reality, and in the process of doing anything, you are plagiarizing. Or at least they are. This is all delivered through numbered bullet-point-like-quotes-like-things. Simple. Each quote-thingy has a different style, possibly from different sources/authors. Chaotic. It's pretty obvious this is intentional at this point. I like it. For once, it's like as if EVERYTHING is a lie. EVERYTHING. Now let's all snap out heads to the other direction to see the Futurist Manifesto by Marinetti, a moderately Italian name. A bit more direct, this one is, as the author straight out says, "art can only be violence, cruelty, injustice." These guys, the "Futurists," are basically opposing the new forms of art, and apparently new forms of anything, including pizza. Also, they're rejecting old forms of pizza at the same time, so I'm assuming these guys had brains the shape of cubes. In a way, this is similar to the other manifesto we discussed only a couple paragraphs ago, in that it seems to be criticizing art, especially the new ones, but for apparently different reasons (although I'm not yet sure if that's what Reality Hunger is trying to say. I've only read the first chapter, spare me the verdict.). Really, I don't know.  Summary: I've found Reality Hunger more interesting so far, Futurists were weird, and Bob's your uncle. Also, I wonder if pizza as we know it existed in 1909. That's my manifesto.

The Power of English

Let's start here: What is an empire? Let us assume that it's a superior form of power that condescendingly looks down at the "inferiors".

Throughout history, these empires have shaped languages. No doubt, languages have been formed, while others destroyed, although I'd probably say that there was more of the latter. As an empire takes control of the "inferior" people, the culture of these people are more likely to die.

Why?

Take this example from the documentary series The Adventures of English: When the British empire ruled over India, the power the British exerted on India was enormous. Not only was India taken over as a source for profit, but also the English language came into play in this country. Because the English language in a way demonstrated power, Indians eventually adapted themselves to it, at least more than the British adapted themselves to the native Indian language.

That was the power of the language.

English, as the language of a dominant force, is definitely more than just a language. It has the power to change a culture, shape a culture, and destroy a culture. In a way it could be seen as the "survival of the fittest," as the "strongest" language would survive while others may possibly disappear over time.

Have you ever heard of the expression "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"? You probably have, in one form or the other, but the truth is that words can hurt you. Sort of. In fact, it can do much more than just that.

Anyways, all bow down before the power of English.

Changes We Encounter

Do you want to be here?
I'm not sure if I do, so we'll make this quick.

There were a bunch of thinkers/writers throughout history. "No ship, Sherlock," you might say, and I would retort by saying "touche."

Swift didn't like the changes in the English language. Ha. If he were alive now, he wouldn't be, considering all the LOLs, ROFLs, TTYLs, and PBYOBOBs.

Samuel Johnson liked dictionaries, and I guess he wasn't too much here nor there. He put all kinds of words in them dictionaries.

William Cobbett thought English was key to moving up the social ranks.

Wordsworth thought a language widely in use (English!) should be used. This is reflected in his poetry, which unsurprisingly, are in English.

Finally, Jane Austen used "proper English" and tried very hard to not sprinkle her writings with supposed "vulgar" words and such.

The problem here, as I see, is that many were not happy with the changes, the changes that were inevitable, especially in a language such as English. I'm fine with the use of "proper English," although not allowing for the use of nonstandard or informal English would not be right. Today, if people who have ever used an "informal" English term in their entire lives were to be executed, we'd be left with a smaller population consisting of non-English speakers and babies.

I guess we are more liberal with these things now...
But who are "we"?

American English

"America."
"I'm from America."

Whenever someone says that, we are to understand that they are from the United States, despite America being a continent rather than a country. You're still American if you're Colombian, Brazilian, Mexican, or any of that jazz.

You know what else is in America?

Canada.

Canada is one of those countries in America in which English is spoken, and no doubt, there are connections between its English with the English in the United States. For starters, they're both English.

Now, Canada is a constant source of jokes and stuff, firstly due to the accent, and secondly (and usually) due to the people who head out of their houses casually on a cold day with just a pair of boxers and a t-shirt on. This is comparable to the Russians who wear nothing but a swimsuit on a day with temperatures close to absolute zero, but that's irrelevant, considering the Russians don't speak English.

This is Canada, by the way.

As English came and was sort of separated through the creation of the border between Canada and "America", things started to differ in these two countries, such as the about (or aboot in Canada, apparently) as well as the "ey" at the end of every independent clause.

So is Canadian English a dialect? Is American English a dialect of British English?
Bla bla bla.

This really made me want to explore Australian English.

"Pioneers! O Pioneers!." The Story of English. Writ. Robert McCrum and Robert MacNeil. Dir. Vivian Ducat, Howard Reid, William Cran. BBC MCML XXXVI. YouTube. 

Black to Gray

I googled "black accent" and this car came out. I guess I'm going with it.


This time, The Story of English will be talking about the influences and roots of Black English. I'm not quite sure if the title "Black on White" is a good title, but whatever. Anyways, back then, black people spoke quite differently from what white people did. The dialects rose, and surprisingly enough, it can still be glimpsed at through some of the remaining traditions and stuff.

Someone in the comments states that "This is all being wiped off the face of the land. Instead of hearing and experiencing unique culture you can party with the wealthy who have built their resorts and golf courses." I'm going to say that this is mostly true, since I'm assuming these "odd" versions of English was discouraged in an age of increasing globalization and standardized English tests. Seeing that this documentary was made at least twenty years ago, I'm almost sure that a lot of this older-root-diversity stuff has disappeared and gone away. This is even more so since most of these people with odd accents were some of the older people, and the younger would have probably grown up in an environment with more of the "real" English.

Now, there was one specific comment that really got me thinking. A dude said, "Even though I'm Nigerian, I can understand the pidgin. It sounds so much like Nigerian pidgin." Not only was this interesting due to the use of the word "pidgin", which I have only discovered recently through the discussions about earlier episodes of the same series, but this shows that stuff have come from Nigeria and actually impacted the form of language in the United States. If this is how languages are formed, by having many different influences coming together and merging together, then it may be hard to trace the one and only root and "story" of English.

According to the narrator, black people have taken there rightful place in society now. This has contributed to the disappearance of the "black English" since the way you speak can affect the way you live. However, we must ask: should the "black English" be preserved? You decide.

"Black on White." The Story of English. Writ. Robert McCrum and Robert MacNeil. Dir. Vivian Ducat, Howard Reid. BBC MCML XXXVI. YouTube.

Ah Gab Pure Weird

Ah gab loch a scottish chiel.

Somethin' abit listenin' tae th' scottish bark gart me hink abit whit other a bampot accents an' dialects ay sassenach thaur ur it thaur. oan a huir uv a similar note, Ah woods loch tae ken hoo these sentences ur gonnae be translated. hopefully, they will be left relatively untooched sic' 'at Ah can still kin it. 

I'm nae in quite th' reit situation tae laugh at th' odd scottish vocabulary, since Ah can still kin it, unlike in most ay th' cases in korea. at leest Ah can sort ay teel whit these troaps ur sayin', althoogh 'at main be purely due tae th' generoos addition ay subtitles. 

So sassenach can be traced back a wee tae scootlund, whaur it is still recognizable as a f'rm ay sassenach. if we gang a bit mair back, we'd arrife at a leid 'at is recognizably similar tae th' scottish sassenach, an' if we gang e'en further, a body 'at is similar tae said leid. whaur woods we end up? Ah main be jist havin' a mid-necht deep thooght abit languages, but hink abit it: if we keep gonnae back, thaur woods hae probably bin a point at which aw languages merged, whaur thaur was but a body f'rm ay verbal communication, th' most primitife f'rm ay sassenach. we coods technically trace th' origins ay sassenach back tae africa ur th' babel tower ur somethin' bla bla bla. 


Yoo main hae noticed 'at Ah am wabbit. 

accordin' tae sairrr daniel (a random bodie Ah foond in th' comment section ay th' foorth episode ay th' story ay sassenach fa happened tae be huggin' a huir uv a attractife piece ay cubical metal wi' a cardiac organ embedded intae its center), sassenach becam sae accessible coz th' leid has "elements frae selic, germanic (dutch), an' norman (french)."

However, thes isnae aw poaps an' giggles, as natife cultures ur disappearin'. jist as we discussed in class an' jist as th' documentary brushed upon, a lot ay th' auld scottish cultures hae disappeared, mostly left only as folk songs. 

The loch ness monster woods be disappointed.




Something about listening to the Scottish news made me think about what other crazy accents and dialects of English (or pre-English) there are out there. On a very similar note, I would like to know how these sentences are going to be translated. Hopefully, they will be left relatively untouched such that I can still understand it.

I'm not in quite the right situation to laugh at the odd Scottish vocabulary, since I can still understand it, unlike in most of the cases in Korea. At least I can sort of tell what these guys are saying, although that may be purely due to the generous addition of subtitles.

So English can be traced back a little to Scotland, where it is still recognizable as a form of English. If we go a bit more back, we'd arrive at a language that is recognizably similar to the Scottish English, and if we go even further, one that is similar to said language. Where would we end up? I may be just having a mid-night deep thought about languages, but think about it: if we keep going back, there would have probably been a point at which all languages merged, where there was but one form of verbal communication, the most primitive form of English. We could technically trace the origins of English back to Africa or the Babel Tower or something bla bla bla.

You may have noticed that I am tired.

According to Sir Daniel (a random person I found in the comment section of the fourth episode of the Story of English who happened to be hugging a very attractive piece of cubical metal with a cardiac organ embedded into its center), English became so accessible because the language has "elements from Celtic, Germanic (Dutch), and Norman (French)."

However, this isn't all poops and giggles, as native cultures are disappearing. Just as we discussed in class and just as the documentary brushed upon, a lot of the old Scottish cultures have disappeared, mostly left only as folk songs.

The Loch Ness Monster would be disappointed.

"The Guid Scots Tongue." The Story of English. Writ. Robert McCrum and Robert MacNeil. Dir. Vivian Ducat, Howard Reid. BBC MCML XXXVI. YouTube.