The Section on, "Why We're All Becoming American..."

     Although this is a blog for Grammar class, I feel I have been writing about a lot of things that pertain to linguistics, but oh well, It's interesting and easy to write about!  When I read the title of the section, Why We're All Becoming American,  I was reminded of the wonderful documentary that we watched, The Linguists, and how amazing it was to see learn about all the different cultures they included in their project.  I remembered talking about how sad it was though, that languages are disappearing, and thinking that it's important for us to learn about each others cultures so we can better understand one another and become more accepting individuals, but that it is important to really embrace cultures and learn things about them so that the culture doesn't just disappear.  I like the "melting pot" idea, in the sense that when in America, you can have your rights and freedoms, and be treated as an American in that way... but not that we should all start talking, eating, dressing, and behaving as the typical "American"... that would just be homogenous, BORING and HORRIBLE.  Back to The Linguists though... after watching the documentary in class, we spoke about how languages are disappearing because of children... they are sent away to schools for better a better education and opportunity at life, but they begin to place a stigma on their native tongue and culture;  though this book gives off a much lighter mood, than the documentary, the paragraph still reminded me of it.  They authors write about how, "due to the wide distribution of American television and movies, the younger generations of all cultures are developing a generic form of North American body language".  They say how members of different generations will have different understandings of gestures; for example, "Australians in their sixties will identify the Two-Fingers-Up as an insult whereas an Australian teenager is more likely to read it as the number two but recognize the American Middle-Finger-Raised as a main form of insult".

Vocabulary


distribution- (n) an act of distributing, the act of spreading something around

generation- (n) an whole group of people living at and around the same time

homogenous- (adj) composed of parts that are all the same

disappear- (v) to cease to exist

embrace- (v) to accept willingly

"melting pot"- (n) A country where a blending of races and cultures is taking place

boring- (adj) dull and tiresome


Match the vocabulary word or term to the correct definition

distribution         a. whole group of people living at and around the same time

generation          b. country where a blending of races and cultures is taking place

homogenous       c. accept willingly

disappear            d. dull and tiresome

embrace              e. composed of parts that are all the same

"melting pot"     f. of distributing, the act of spreading something around

boring                  h. to cease to exist

I used a preposition when I said "we watched the documentary IN class", please insert the correct preposition into the following sentences.

1. I listened to a lot of music (on/at) the plane ride.
2. The clown (to/in) the circus was very funny.
3. While in Thailand, my cousins rode (on/ in) an elephant.
4. I have to go (to/at) the store for some fruit today.
5. We will drive (in/ on) the car for five hours tomorrow.