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lmli
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Name: laura
Country: United States
State: Michigan
Interests: loving the Lord, my friends, graphic design, scrapbooking, reading (ie listening to books on tape), eating sour gummy worms, the backstreet boys, point of grace, romantic comedies
Expertise: quoting "while you were sleeping" as often as i can, checking my email every ten minutes, procrastinating at work, writing extremely witty and entertaining top ten lists
Occupation: Administrative
Industry: Other
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
5/26/2005
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| I don't usually get very involved in blog world debates about controversial subjects, but today I spent nearly the whole morning (and much of the afternoon) pouring over blogs and comments about the Deadly Viper book published by Zondervan. I am always especially interested when there are issues of racism towards Asians and Asian Americans, and in this case, even more interested as a person working in the Christian communications field. I won't go into the situation here, (you can read about it yourself on above link) but I just wanted to reflect on the subject of written communication. Since my ministry has a special focus on how we communicate the Gospel both visually and verbally, I wanted to discuss this a little. I am by no means an expert; I am still learning. But I thought I'd blog about it just because I wanted to respond in my own way.
Just yesterday one of my coworkers was drafting an email that she was writing to her extended family in response to a hoax/spam email one of her relatives had sent to them all. She wanted to clearly let them know that these emails were hardly ever real and therefore pointless to send (apparently a lot of them get sent around within her family). She spent a very long time writing the email, asking me to help her be tactful but clear. In the end, she called her dad for advice, and they decided that he would approach the relative personally. So she did not end up sending the email at all.
This got us into a conversation about the importance of 'good online writing' and how we need to have training in this in college, or something. Due to the increasing interaction that happens in front of our computer screens and through our fingertips, how we communicate has changed drastically in the past 10-20 years. I recently read an article that said that some elementary schools were abandoning lesson plans to teach handwriting, and instead were looking into computer/typing classes for their students. Grammar, spelling and slang have all transformed as we communicate more and more via email, blogs, chat rooms, forums, instant messaging, twitter, facebook, etc. Because of that, it seems that we have forgotten or simply ignore the common courtesies of written communication. I can't count the number of times I've seen posters blatantly insult each other using derogatory phrases, on very public websites. This would hardly ever happen if these people were face to face. There is something about the anonymity of sitting at our computers or even our phones that seems to give people the impression that it's okay to be rude or hateful. It seems to bring out the worst in us, often times.
Emails can be especially damaging. (I have little experience with texting, and other forms of online communication, so I'm using this as an example.) Unlike the brevity of status updates and instant messaging where one types only a few phrases or sentences at a time, emails have no length limit, stay in our inboxes for years, and can be reread, forwarded, printed out, etc. What we say in our emails are read by its recipient at another time than when we wrote it, and we have very little control over the way he/she will receive it. I have shameful memories of immature confrontations I had with a friend when I was very young (maybe about age 14) over email. We were extremely rude and insulting to each other, and the more times I would reread the emails, the more hurt I would become, thus resulting in even angrier replies. It was a big mess and I am sorry for what I did.
I am sure that others have experienced similar things. If only we would not be in such a rush when we reply to emails, and perhaps treat our emails as if we were saying something in person. If we could thoughtfully respond, whether it's to opt to call or talk in person, or to at least rethink what we initially type when we're feeling angry, defensive, or just tired. What we say when we're at our most vulnerable times often is not from the best parts of ourselves.
Written communication, whether it's a professionally published brochure, an email, or a quick comment on a blog, is a gift that we must use well. The written language is one of humanity's greatest achievements (no other created being has anything like it!) and is the main instrument (aside from Christ Incarnate) God chose to communicate with us. We should think of written communication as a form of stewardship, and an opportunity to reflect how we were made in God's image, a way to demonstrate true humanity. And as communication technology advances, we must be increasingly aware of our role as stewards. How can we redeem the ways in which online writing has been used to tear each other down, cause pain and misunderstanding? How can we thoughtfully engage this form of communication in a way that's helpful and productive?
Obviously this is a large topic; I didn't even touch the ways we use online written communication professionally, as opposed to relationally. Your thoughts and comments are welcome; my one request is that you reread what you type before you click "submit"! May that be our practice in all of our online venues! | | |
| okay so apparently smarty pants calvin knows half of the words i didn't know. well, soon i will know all these words! so there! you really don't have to read this, as it's basically just words and definitions. i'm just writing them down for my own record!
despotism (n): tyranny, the exercise of absolute authority.
from N&S: "I am trying to reconcile your admiration of despotism with your respect for other men's independence of character."
clem (v): to starve
"Think of that first strike when mother died - how we all had to clem - you worst of all..."
(This word was used a lot. It's all making sense now!)
abstemious (adj): sparing or moderate in eating and drinking; temperate in diet.
"Careless to abstemiousness in her daily habits, it was part of her pride to set a feast before such of her guests as cared for it."
languid (adj): lacking in vigor or vitality; drooping or flagging from weakness or fatigue; faint
"...without a word, she raised her up, and so arranged the pillows, that Bessy was more at ease, though very languid."
(This word was used very frequently in this book that I had figured out its meaning after a while.)
fustian (n): a fabric of stout twilled cotton or of cotton and low-quality wool, with a short nap or pile
"And for all he said he'd got a confidential situation, he was dressed in fustian just like a working man."
the following 3 words were all in the same paragraph.
indolent (adj): having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful
"But her father set too high a standard, and too abstract a view, before the indolent invalid."
torpid (adj): inactive or sluggish
"She count not rouse her torpid mind into any vivid imagination of what her husband's misery might have been...she could only look upon it as it affected herself..."
inveterate (adj): settled or confirmed in a habit, practice, feeling, or the like
"She was inveterate in her abuse of all who could by any possibility supposed to have driven him to such desperation."
fettle (v): to remove mold marks from (a cast piece); to remove sand from (a casting) repair the hearth of (an open-hearth furnace)
"For sure, th'world is in a confusion that passes me or any other man to understand; it needs fettling, and who's to fettle it, if it's as yon folks say, and there's naught but what we see?"
brusque (adj): abrupt in manner; blunt; rough
"...Mr. Bell returned the compliment in secret by considering Mr. Thornton about as brusque and curt a fellow as he had ever met with, and terribly gone off both in intelligence and manner."
umbrage (n): offense; annoyance; displeasure
"And from what Margaret could gather of what Mr. Thornton had said, there was nothing in the cessation of his visits which could arise from any umbrage or vexation."
(Ahh, I get it now. Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter has a very appropriate name!)
preux chevalier (n)[French]: valiant knight, especially a man who behaves chivalrously toward a woman
"Moreover, I myself, will be her preux chevalier, sixty and gouty though I be."
vis inertiae (n)[Latin]: the resistance of matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a body in motion is brought to rest,or has its motion changed, either in direction or in velocity
"It needed the sharp, uncourteous command to make her conquer her vis inertiae , and allow herself to be packed by her maid, after the latter had completed the boxes."
contumelies (pl) (n): insulting display of contempt in words or actions; contemptuous or humiliating treatment
"It had been a royal time of luxury to him, with all its stings and contumelies, compared to the poverty that crept round and clipped the anticipation of the future down to sordid fact, and life without an atmosphere of either hope or fear."
sententiously (adv): given to or using pithy sayings or maxims (adjective) (I had to look up pithy and maxim! pithy = meaningful, forceful; maxim = an expression of a general truth or principle)
"Nothing like the act of eating for equalizing men. dying is nothing to it. The philosopher dies sententiously - the pharisee ostentatiously - the simple-hearted humbly - the poor idiot blindly, as the sparrow falls to the ground; the philosopher and idiot, publican and pharisee, all eat after the same fashion - given an equally good digestion."
ostensibly (adv): outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended
"Dixon followed her by Mrs. Shaw's desire, ostensibly to receive instructions, but with a private injunction to soother her into repose as soon as might be."
surfeited (adj): excessive, overindulged in eating or drinking
"She was getting surfeited of the eventless ease in which no struggle or endeavor was required."
panacea (n): a remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all
"Margaret did not feel as if the dinner-parties would be a panacea."
redolent (adj): having a pleasant odor; fragrant
"Every mile was redolent of associations, which she would not have missed for the world, but each of which made her cry upon 'the days that are no more,' with ineffable longing."
escutcheon (n): a shield or shieldlike surface on which a coat of arms is depicted
"The house fronted the village green;and right before it stood and immemorial lime-tree benched all round, in some hidden recesses of whose leafy ealthy hung the grim escutcheon of the Lennards."
bosky (adj): covered with bushes, shrubs, and small trees; woody
"They did not speak much more, but threaded their way through many a bosky dell, whose soft green influence could not charm away the shock and the pain in Margaret's heart..."
(apparently xanga does not recognize this as a word as it is underlined in red as I'm typing this)
circumlocutory (adj): a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea
"True, that was bad I own; not but what I have told a pretty round number in my life, not all in downright words, as I suppose you did, but in actions, or in some shabby circumlocutory way, leading people to either disbelieve the truth, or believe a falsehood."
slatternly (adv): slovenly and untidy
"And Mary? oh! of course, she was very well, a great, stout, slatternly thing!"
(Apparently the noun "slattern" means 'slut' or 'harlot' - but I don't think that was what Gaskell meant here.)
wile (n): a trick, artifice, or stratagem meant to fool, trap, or entice; device
"She would carry him off into a room, where they two alone battled it out; she with a a firm power which subdued him into peace, while every sudden charm and wile she possessed was exerted on the side of right, until he would rub his little hot and tear-smeared face all over hers, kissing and caressing till he often fell asleep in her arms or on her shoulder." (Dang, Gaskell writes some long sentences! This isn't even the longest.)
apoplectic (adj): of or pertaining to apoplexy (apoplexy = a sudden, usually marked loss of bodily function due to rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel, aka a stroke)
"...at the very time that he should have set out for London, he had been seized with an apoplectic fit..."
farouche (n) [French]: fierce
"She has been very farouche with me for a long time, and is only just beginning to thaw a little from her Zenobia ways."
(wiki says "Zenobia (240 - after 274) was a 3rd century Syrian queen of the Palmyrene Empire...")
acquiescence (n): agreement or consent by silence or without objection
"...and now, chastened even by what the world called her good fortune, she charmed her reluctant aunt into acquiescence with her will."
Well! I don't know about you but I feel smart now! I should try to use one of these words in real life some time. hehe. "Don't you dare try to be my preux chevalier!"  Extra points if you leave a comment using one the words (properly)!
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| i just finished reading this book last night! i loved it! it's pretty similar to pride & prejudice but in some ways it's an easier/faster read. also there seems to be more character development of the male character. i also liked that the book's focus was not only on the relationship between margaret and john but also on the economic/social unrest of the town they live in, and a commentary on the differences in culture between the north and south (of england). well, if you're looking for a jane austen-esque book to read, i recommend it!
i kept a post- it in my book as i was reading and wrote down all the words i didn't know (i started late cuz i didn't think of the idea til about page 140). there were quite a lot! i plan to look them up and learn them but i thought i'd post them here. do you know any of these words?
- despotism
- clem
- abstemiousness
- languid
- fustian
- indolent
- torpid
- inveterate
- fettle
- brusque
- umbrage
- preux chevalier (i think this is french)
- vis inertiae (latin?)
- contumelies
- sententiously
- ostensibly
- surfeited
- panacea
- redolent
- escutcheon
- bosky
- circumlocutory
- slatternly
- wile
- apoplectic
- farouche
- acquiesence
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| whoops! i've been super M.I.A. from this xanga. work is starting to get really busy which leaves me with much less energy for my other computer activities. on the flip side, i'm working hard on the urbana 09 handbook, and today i had a breakthrough on a design for one of the sections. i was really excited because i came up with the idea by myself (as opposed to working from a previous template, which is what most of the handbook is). it'll be fun to see people at urbana 09 using the handbook and to know i had a big part in making it readable, functional, and aesthetically pleasing (hopefully)! now if i can just manage to stay afloat as the deadline gets closer and closer and the pressure gets higher and higher!
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