What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: How the Internet has Evolved the Way we Communicat...

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: How the Internet has Evolved the Way we Communicat...: As I posted at the start of this blog, What Grinds My Gears- Calgary Edition was for a class at Mount Royal University called Writing in a...

How the Internet has Evolved the Way we Communicate!

As I posted at the start of this blog, What Grinds My Gears- Calgary Edition was for a class at Mount Royal University called Writing in a Digital context, and with the semester coming to an end, this may be my very last post for this blog. So to end on a high note today, we are going to be discussing the important influences that the Internet has had on the evolution of the human language, but some people choose to ignore this fact or simply think that the way the English language is evolving is an abomination or just simply a perversion of the English language.

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                In his book Language and the Internet, David Crystal describes the evolution of the English language as a natural occurrence and simply reflects the ideas and thoughts of the citizens of the Internet or as he describes them, netizens, and the advancement of the way we communicate as a whole. This not only effects the English language but all languages as a whole due to the global use of the Internet and the global connections that have been established through such things such as social media. The reasoning why the English language is evolving, as explained by David Crystal, is that it is adapting to meet our need or needs and simplify and help with the way we communicating on a global scale.

“There is of course nothing new about fears accompanying the emergence of a new communications technology. In the fifteenth century, the arrival of printing was widely perceived by the Church as an invention of Satan, the hierarchy fearing that the dissemination of uncensored ideas would lead to a breakdown of social order and pit innumerable souls at risk if damnation”- David Crystal

                Now to properly understand the changes in languages that are happening due to the usage of the Internet, it is important to remember that the Internet is a global phenomenon and no matter if we like it or not it affects all of us in some way or another. Not only has communicating effected the social aspect of language, it has also effected the way we communicate for business and often times both styles of communication have been lapsing over and merging helping created a new, yet somewhat less orthodox style of speech and written communication.  This kept in mind the way we communicate online is still heavily dependent based on the situation, there is a concept of linguistic variety that is heavily dependent on various factors such as the audience which controls both the language we use and the level of formality.

"In a setting where linguistic differences are likely to loom large, the concept of a language variety will be helpful. A variety of language is a system of linguistic expression whose use is governed by situational factors. In its broadest sense, the notion includes speech and writing, regional and class dialects occupational genres (such as legal and scientific language), creative linguistic expression (as in literature), and a wide range of other styles of expression. Varieties are, in principle, systematic and predictable. It is possible to say with some degree of certainty in a given language, how people from a particular region will speak, how layers will write, or how television commentators will present a type of sport. Notions such as ‘British English’ or ‘Liverpool English’, ‘legal French’, and ‘sport commentary’ are a result.” – David Crystal

                The way we write a memo or report at work and a personal text or Facebook massage to a friend is much different, one being a lot more formal than the other but some of the writing style from both seems to blend together.  This is happening for many various reasons from new emerging technologies to the size of screens to a limitation of the amount of letters we can place into an SMS massage.  The constantly changing and evolving technologies require us to both adapt and in some cases simplify languages to some degree to be able to effectively communicate and the future technologies will distinctly impact on the evolutions of languages as well as the way we communicate.

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                The impact the Internet and other new forms of technology are having on the evolution of the English language, as well as other various languages, is more or less positive rather than negative for several good reasons. Due to the globalization of communication and the ease with which people from various places in the globe can communicate, it is almost a necessity for some slang as well as simplification of some words to exist so as to make it easier for people to understand one another. New words are also created because of influence from other cultures; a word that exists in one language may not exist in another language or dialect, so essentially a new word is created to describe an object or activity. This slang also makes it substantially easier for quick and easy communication through technologies such as text, Facebook chat, or Twitter by shortening words and creating abbreviations that are both easy to understand and simple. Although the technologies that exist today will be quickly replaced by other, better technologies, the evolution of languages will continue. Even though some critics will say that this evolution is wrong and may even go as far as saying ‘that it’s the work of the devil,’ they should look at history and see the languages have been adapting to the technologies of the day for as long as we have been able communicate and no skeptic has ever been able to change that.

                With that, I bring my last post to an end (or what may be my last post), and I hope that it wasn’t too horrible of a read. Summer is almost upon us and the cold, nasty weather should be clearing up soon for that beautiful sunshine we have all been waiting for the last 9 months here in Calgary. If any of you good old Calgarians are like me, then you are probably going to be celebrating an end to another long winter and school year in style by camping with a couple good friends at a lake with a substantial amount of beer and just kicking back. As always, stay classy Calgary.

The book I used as a reference for this article by David Crystal can be found at the following link: http://library.mtroyal.ca:2052/lib/mtroyal/docDetail.action?docID=5008037

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What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: How Online Collectives are Helping Fight the RCMP ...

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: How Online Collectives are Helping Fight the RCMP ...: This week the thing that really grinds my gears is something a lot closer to home, and something that effects many of us living in Cal...

How Online Collectives are Helping Fight the RCMP Gun Reclassification!

This week the thing that really grinds my gears is something a lot closer to home, and something that effects many of us living in Calgary. This topic is the reclassification of fire arms that is currently being practiced by the RCMP which turn normal everyday gun owners into criminals overnight and the many petitions that have been started by everyday Canadians to counter the RCMP decisions and change the current laws for the classification of firearms. 

For many years now there have been vast opportunities for people all over the world to participate in online collective actions, some of it positive having dramatic positive effects that brought issues out into the open as well as some that have been problematic and had serious negative effects on innocent peoples lives. 

The collective action I am going to be ranting about seems to be having a positive effect and helping bring the voices of gun owners in Canada be heard in Ottawa. I recently received an email from Cheryl Gallant who is the Member of Parliament for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke in response to putting m sighing my name on a petition that was started by a concerned Canadian in response to the recent attempt at another confiscation by re-classification by the RCMP.  in her email she vows to make our voices heard in Ottawa.

"You need to know your voice is being heard in Ottawa.Since I was first elected in 2000, I have been fighting for the rights of responsible firearms owners.While we scrapped the wasteful long-gun registry, there is still more work that needs to be done.Job #1 is educating Canadians who don’t own firearms that we still need to make reforms to protect the property rights of all Canadians. That is why I started the website www.responsiblefirearmsreform.ca  last year.I need to hear from Canadians like you who want to see greater protections for the rights of responsible firearms owners.Together, we need to reach out to your friends and neighbours who may not know the RCMP has used every opportunity and excuse it can to seize lawfully purchased firearms."-Cheryl Gallant

The initiative started by the Honorable Cheryl Gallant and the emails guaranteeing that your voices will be heard in Ottawa is a great   step forward and allows guns owner in Canada have a small sign of relief even during this dark time for Canadian gun owners. This is another positive way that online collectives are doing good! As always Calgary stay safe, stay classy!

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What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: Post-Olympic Ukraine Crisis!

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: Post-Olympic Ukraine Crisis!: Retrieved from http://www.prosebeforehos.com/international-relations/03/11/16-best-russian-invasion-ukraine-memes/                   As...

Post-Olympic Ukraine Crisis!

Retrieved from http://www.prosebeforehos.com/international-relations/03/11/16-best-russian-invasion-ukraine-memes/

                  As I mentioned on my previous posts, this blog was created for a class I am currently in, and obviously requires me to blog, which in fact grinds my gears. So I am going to be a minor hypocrite and keep on working on  critique of the Crisis in Ukraine, firstly by analyzing the picture above.

                 There have been various jokes as well as memes made about the fact that President Putin moved Russian Federation forces out of their bases within the Crimean shortly after the Olympic games and before the para-Olympic games were even over. Some of this jokes being that even Hitler waited 5 years before he began his campaign in the eastern front and invaded Ukraine.

  

                  But going back to the above meme, even though it is entertaining it only caries some through to it. I personally don't believe that the amount of money that was spent on the Olympics in any way shape or form helped improve Russia's image, it may have in fact done the opposite. The fact that 50 billion dollars were spent in preparation for the Olympic games is crazy, especially seeing how little was actually accomplished. The massive issues that were seen in the infrastructure of the city of Sochi, are a example an example of this being the in-completed hotels, the struggling sewage system, the ridiculously expensive highway that was built  specifically for the Olympics (which would probably have been cheaper to build had they paved it in gold). 

          

                  There were many other massive issues that existed during the construction such as the governments complete disregard for the citizens living in the city. There were vast groups of residents that were essentially made homeless, with no compensation, when their homes were torn down to make room for construction; all under the pretext of "this is for the Olympic games". This combined with the mishandling of 50 billion dollars which also outlined the massive amount of corruption that exists in the country, which instead of improving Russian image may have made it worse. Although Russian forces moving into the Crimean may have dampened the view some people have on Russia even more, but there seem to still be a decent amount of people that support Russia's decision.  

               For those that want to see how messed up the construction of the Olympics was, check out the documentary that the passionate eye aired. Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP1ll3i2U2U 

                  On to other news the Crimean region has broken itself off of Ukraine and joined Russia, oddly enough this was used a democratic vote! Mother nature seems to be on her time of the month, and the beautiful "hot" weather has come to an abrupt end and has been replaced by snow, and cold winds.... great way to start off spring 2014! Stay warm out there Calgary! 

                                     Retrieved from: http://www.prosebeforehos.com/international-relations/03/11/16-best- russian-invasion-ukraine-memes/

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: An Olympic Mockery

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: An Olympic Mockery: You know what really grinds my gears ?! How some people attempt to use a peaceful sports event like the Olympics in Sochi as an excuse to ba...