LANGUAGE BUT DIFFERENT

BY DAVID CRYSTAL

We use language to Express our thoughts, form of relationships with others, and built communities. The focus is always on the individual. If you study language you study people and people are different as chalk from cheese. So their language will be different too.

Sometimes it is regional background that makes the difference. If you hear someone say That is a bonny wee child, the speaker is probably from Scotland, because words as wee (little) and bonny (pretty) are hardly ever used anywhere else.

Often it is social background that makes the difference. In 1950s in Britain there was a lot of publicity about how upper-class (U) people used different words from those who used by other classes (non U). U speakers had luncheon (or lunch) in the middle of the day and dinner in the evening. Non-U speakers, had dinner in the middle of the day. Luncheon is rare today, but there is a still social divide between lunch and dinner.

Above all, these days, it is technology that makes the difference. The internet allows people to express their individuality in ways that are inconceivable few years ago. Emails vary from highly formal ( Dear Professor Crystal) to highly informal ( Yo, David!!). Older people often keep the rules of punctuation and capitalization they once learned, younger people often try out NEW WAYS ( I don’t think so- LOL).

BUT TIMES ARE CHANGING. AS MORE OLDER PEOPLE START USE THE NET, THEY ARE ALSO USING THE LATEST ABREVIATIONS MORE AND MORE. BRB ( be right back).

And you, do you really think that Rich people speak differently to poor people?

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is a holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. It precedes Black Friday.

What do people do?

Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day for families and friends to get together for a special meal. The meal often includes a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie, and vegetables. Thanksgiving Day is a time for many people to give thanks for what they have.
Thanksgiving Day parades are held in some cities and towns on or around Thanksgiving Day. Some parades or festivities also mark the opening of the Christmas shopping season. Some people have a four-day weekend so it is a popular time for trips and to visit family and friends.

Public life:

Most government offices, businesses, schools and other organizations are closed on Thanksgiving Day. Many offices and businesses allow staff to have a four-day weekend so these offices and businesses are also closed on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day. Public transit systems do not usually operate on their regular timetables.
Thanksgiving Day it is one of the busiest periods for travel in the USA. This can cause congestion and overcrowding. Seasonal parades and busy football games can cause disruption to local traffic.

Background:

Thanksgiving Day has been an annual holiday in the United States since 1863. Not everyone sees Thanksgiving Day as a cause for celebration. Each year since 1970, a group of Native Americans and their supporters have staged a protest for a National Day of Mourning at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts on Thanksgiving Day. American Indian Heritage Day is also observed at this time of the year.
There are claims that the first Thanksgiving Day was held in the city of El Paso, Texas in 1598. Another early event was held in 1619 in the Virginia Colony. Many people trace the origins of the modern Thanksgiving Day to the harvest celebration that the Pilgrims held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. However, their first true thanksgiving was in 1623, when they gave thanks for rain that ended a drought. These early thanksgivings took the form of a special church service, rather than a feast.
In the second half of the 1600s, thanksgivings after the harvest became more common and started to become annual events. However, it was celebrated on different days in different communities and in some places there were more than one thanksgiving each year. George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789.

English is new!

 

 

The language continues to makes new daily in many countries. And the headline isn't stating the obvious.

 

Some interesting questions to explore about English language:

 

• What does it means exactly?
• Is it saying that everyone in the world speaks English?
• Is it saying, then, that every country in the world reconize English as an official language?
• What does it mean to say that a language is a global language?
• Why is English the language which is usually cited in this connetction?
• How did the situation arise?and it could change?
• Or is it the case that, once a language becomes a global language, is it there forever?

 

I really wanted to know all these answers, but it is a matter of fact that We as Portuguese speakers have a mix of feelings related to English.

 

You may be strongly motivated to learn it, because you know that will put you in touch with more people than any other language, but at the same time you know it will take you a great deal of effort to master it, and you may begrudge that effort. Having made a progress, you will feel pride in your achievement, and savour the communicative power you have at your disposal , but may none the less fell that your mother tongue speakers of English have unfair advantage over you.

 

And you how you feel about it ?



Life Lessons

10 Amazing Life Lessons

 

YOU CAN LEARN FROM

 

ALBERT EISTEIN:

 

 

1- Follow your curiosity.

 

2- Perseverance is priceless.

 

3- Focus on the present.

 

4- The imagination is powerful.

 

5- Make mistakes.

 

6- Live in the moment.

 

7- Create value.

 

8- Don't expect different results.

 

9- Knowledge comes from experience.

 

10- Learn the rules and then play better.

 

HAVE YOU DONE ANY OF THIS? I need to confess that I really have a POWERFUL IMAGINATION!

 

 



A world full of Englishes

Why do we have a language? To talk and write to each other.But what do we talk and write about?This is where culture comes in.

Language enable us to say who we are and how we live. It's natural, therefore, to find English-teaching courses telling us about local shops, national events, and famous places. While studying points of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, learns take in a great deal of cultural information. If the course focuses on British English, the settings may be such places as Oxford Street and the Tower of London.If American English, they migth be Broadway and Times Square.

Today English is found in countries all over the world, and everywhere we see the language changing as people use it to talk about their local situation.The most noticeable change is the new vocabulary they use when they want to talk in English about plants and animals, food and drink, customs and pratcices, and other features of everyday life. A visitor can sometimes find it difficult to understand what's being said,especially when the conversation turns to politics,folklore, city streets ,or TV personalities. Local people unconsciously use names, words and expressions that reflect their culture, which outsiders have to learn if they want to participate.

Everyone in brazil knows what bateria is (the drummers in a samba school0.Everyone in India knows what alakh is ( a numerical unit, 100,000).Each country has thousands of works like these, may borrowed from local languages,which can form part of an English conversation.Along with regional features of pronunciation and grammar, they make up a country's national dialect of English.

The first national English dialects appearead in Britain in the Middle Ages, when the English of Scotalnsd began to differ from English of England.Later ,American and British English diverged.Then local varieties developed in Australia, South Africa, and other territories of the Britih Empire .Later still,newly independent nations such as Nigeria continued the process,adapting English to suit her needs, Today, we have to prepared for a world full of "ENGLISHES".

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
Albert Einstein

Seja um Idiota

SEJA UM IDIOTA
A idiotice é vital para a felicidade.

Gente chata essa que quer ser séria, profunda e visceral sempre. Putz! A vida já é um caos, por que fazermos dela, ainda por cima, um tratado? Deixe a seriedade para as horas em que ela é inevitável: mortes, separações, dores e afins.

No dia-a-dia, pelo amor de Deus, seja idiota! Ria dos próprios defeitos. E de quem acha defeitos em você. Ignore o que o boçal do seu chefe disse. Pense assim: quem tem que carregar aquela cara feia, todos os dias, inseparavelmente, é ele. Pobre dele.

Milhares de casamentos acabaram-se não pela falta de amor, dinheiro, sexo, sincronia, mas pela ausência de idiotice. Trate seu amor como seu melhor amigo, e pronto.

Quem disse que é bom dividirmos a vida com alguém que tem conselho pra tudo,soluções sensatas, mas não consegue rir quando tropeça?

hahahahahahahahaha!...

Alguém que sabe resolver uma crise familiar, mas não tem a menor idéia de como preencher as horas livres de um fim de semana? Quanto tempo faz que você não vai ao cinema?

É bem comum gente que fica perdida quando se acabam os problemas. E daí,o que elas farão se já não têm por que se desesperar?

Desaprenderam a brincar. Eu não quero alguém assim comigo. Você quer? Espero que não.

Tudo que é mais difícil é mais gostoso, mas... a realidade já é dura; piora se for densa.

Dura, densa, e bem ruim.

Brincar é legal. Entendeu?

Esqueça o que te falaram sobre ser adulto, tudo aquilo de não brincar com comida, não falar besteira, não ser imaturo, não chorar, não andar descalço,não tomar chuva.

Pule corda!

Adultos podem (e devem) contar piadas, passear no parque, rir alto e lamber a tampa do iogurte.

Ser adulto não é perder os prazeres da vida - e esse é o único "não" realmente aceitável.

Teste a teoria. Uma semaninha, para começar.

Veja e sinta as coisas como se elas fossem o que realmente são:
passageiras. Acorde de manhã e decida entre duas coisas: ficar de mau humor e transmitir isso adiante ou sorrir...

Bom mesmo é ter problema na cabeça, sorriso na boca e paz no coração!

Aliás, entregue os problemas nas mãos de Deus e que tal um cafezinho gostoso agora?

A vida é uma peça de teatro que não permite ensaios. Por isso cante, chore,dance e viva intensamente antes que a cortina se feche!

Arnaldo Jabor

soul mate

what is a soul mate ?

“People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.

A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.

A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master...”