What'd You Just Say?!

When it comes to communication of the sexes, I noticed that men and women have their very own special ways of speaking and getting their point across. You can't really tell what your own style of communicating is until you really analyze it and pay attention. It just comes out naturally! It is much easier to see the differences between men and women if you watch them in conversation together, ESPECIALLY when they are in a relationship. Relationships have their ups and downs and ins and outs and one of the most important things to two lovers would have to be communication. Without it, how would the couple get anywhere? Have you ever seen a couple fight before? It can be pretty entertaining if you really pay attention to the facial expressions, tone, pitch, and other visible expressions of both parties. I noticed that women have different ways of expressing that they are angry through the pitch of their voice and tone. Some women have that "I'm pretending like I'm happy, but there is definitely something wrong with me and you have 10 minutes to figure it out" kind of expression where they speak with a higher pitch, a forced cheerful tone that almost sounds pained, and they have a huge obviously fake smile on their face. Sometimes you can tell they are saying "I can't believe what you don't know what you did, you are so naive," when their eyes are opened a little wider than normal their body is leaning farther toward their significant other, they are speaking with a high pitched voice as if talking to someone significantly younger, and they are speaking slowly using easy to understand words as if breaking down something to make it easier for the other party to understand and almost demeaning them. Some women convey they are angry merely by doing the normal scrunch of the eyebrows, speaking with a lower pitch, and speaking quickly letting the other party know that they are serious about the matter at hand.

I also noticed that women have a distinct way of letting a member of the opposite sex know that she is interested. Usually she has a smirk, or a big smile on her face, she tends to make the pitch of her voice a little more squeaky than normal (I could not think of any other technical word), she tends to make a lot of eye contact, and she tends to think everything is that much funnier then it had been before by getting a case of the giggles every couple of minutes. This is just what I have noticed through observing my friends and talking to some of my male friends about what they have observed. I recently even had a conversation with my boyfriend, and he helped me realize that I also do some of these examples. Being a women, I can't really say why we express ourselves in this way, it just comes naturally to us. But, that's enough about women, lets look at the way men express themselves.

I'm just going to stick with the two that I mentioned above. How they express themselves when they are angry and when they find themselves in a situation where they are interested in a women. When men are angry I've noticed that they don't show emotion as much as women. I'm not sure if it's the lack of estrogen and that extra shot of testosterone, but they tend to hide their emotions if they are sad or upset about something. Some men do the exact opposite and once you get it out of them, it doesn't take a lot of thinking to be able to tell that they are angry. A lot of men don't talk a whole lot when they are angry, they tend to keep to themselves, anything said comes out in short forced sentences, their faces are very somber, and their pitch is a lot lower, and their tone is very short and stuccato. A lot of men use their body language to show they are angry by turning their body in a different direction while they are speaking to the other party, speaking in a loud higher pitch, their face is more scrunched then normal, and they tend to shake their head from left to right numerous times. When they are trying to pick up women I noticed, if they are confident, they are a little braver. They say things that they think might be funny, they speak with a matter of factly tone, and make a lot of eye contact. Their voice has a higher pitch to it to show they are happy and enjoying themselves also. If they are not confident I notice they fidget a lot with their hands and they are constantly doing something while talking to the girl. They tend to avert their eyes a lot, maybe looking around at different things, they speak with a quiet pitch, but their tone is also a little higher than normal, but their body is facing the girl they are most interested in.

These aren't all of the ways men and women express themselves, but these are the most drastic differences that I have caught on to between the sexes. I've only given examples of expressions when angry and when in a flirtatious environment because I think this is when the differences in communicating and expressing between the genders are the most apparent. Take some times in the next day or two to observe and I think you'll notice the same things I did. Maybe you'll be able to catch yourself doing some of these things.;)

The Power of Body Language

There are so many ways in this world to communicate besides literal spoken language. One way of communication that's power I find is extremely underestimated is body language including facial expressions. Many people do not take into consideration how much they could understand and completely grasp if they only paid attention to what was right in front of them. Let's take a look at body language for a second. If you were talking to someone how would you be able to tell if they were enjoying conversation or not? You could tell if they were not enjoying it by noticing if they were looking at their watch over and over again, not making eye contact, not really responding, or if their body was facing an entirely different direction. These are just some examples that one could get a clue from. If someone were truly enjoying the talk they would engage conversation back, and offer advice or maybe ask questions to possibly keep the conversation moving. They would be in a comfortable relaxed position and they would be making eye contact every now and then just to reassure the speaker that they still have their attention.

I know that I use body language whenever I'm in the middle of a conversation. My hand gestures help me get my point across and I use everything that I listed above. Usually if I'm talking in a group of more than one person, the person that the anterior of my body is facing toward it the person that I am most interested in what they are talking about. Just today I was testing out the powers of body language and facial expressions in a supermarket. I had gone to pick up a thank you card for a family member that had filed my taxes for me and this middle aged woman happened to be in the card aisle as well. Right when I picked up my first card she immediately started talking and I mean talking ....NONSTOP. She was a very nice lady she just had a lot of issues in her family that she had wanted to vent to a total stranger about. She started by telling me that she had been look for a sympathy card and began the conversation by crying. I could tell she was under a lot of stress and everything so I humored her and gave her my support and attention. I figured it would be okay because I didn't have to be at work for an hour and a half. An hour later rolled around and she was still talking to me and by this time I had knows all her family member's names, every significant event that had happened in the past twenty years of her life, that her husband carried a man purse as she called it, and that her family had a hernia problem. By this time I had sneaked a peak at my cell phone (trying to avoid her seeing because I didn't want to be rude) and noticed I needed to get out of there. I tried to subtly give her the hints by shifting my weight around directing my gaze toward the door, pulling out my cell phone a few more times to look at the clock, then finally she understood and let me go, but not before asking for a hug. Body language does work, but had I had started to use more of it during the conversation I would have been able to make it to work sooner.

Another way of body language that everyone especially women tend to use is the way that they walk. Especially if they are alone females are always extremely vulnerable. In order to avoid the danger of getting abducted and to avoid the taunts and calls that every women gets, I try to walk with confidence. I keep my keys in my hand and my cell phone in an easy to reach place at all times. I don't make eye contact with anyone and walk with a purpose. There have been so many cases where women have found themselves in an undesirable position and this is my way of avoiding it. Body language has the power to even protect you!

Is The Globalization of English a Good Thing?

English, being thought of as the language of success, is being globalized each and every day. Globalized, meaning that it is being used more and more in different countries. Last semester in Sociology, I learned that America (along with Japan, China, and other important trade countries) is hugely involved in trade and commerce and when it comes down to business, the United States is one of the more important buyers if not producers. I don't mean that we are more important than the other countries, I merely mean that the American society is a large part of the economical society of the world, hence the globalization of the English language.

I know that I refer to this a lot, but from where I grew up, English has evolved so drastically from the proper way of speaking the language. It has morphed into this weird language that consists of part English, part Hawaiian, part Samoan, and part of the Asian languages. People there that are considered to be "true locals", use this way as their English. As I've said before in another one of my blogs, I grew up thinking that some of these words were real English words, failing to realize that they were from an entirely different country. Children that grow up in different countries and in different situations are sometimes required to learn English because they think that the language is the only way to success. Growing up with this along with their native tongue causes English to morph, creating mixed language such as Spanglish or Pigeon English even though that was created in our country.

Not only is this going to affect the evolution of true and proper English, but there are also other ways. Look at our generation. We are constantly mixing words and using certain words to mean other things, for instance, the word "hot" no longer only means that the sun is beating down on your back, now it also means good looking and "bad" is no longer a negative thing to be, now it is what people strive to be considered.

By the way that English is progressing in , give or take, fifty years, the generations of tomorrow will no longer know true and proper English. The Webster dictionary will have changed so much you won't recognize it. Basically what I'm saying is I'm not sure if complete globalization of English is something to look forward to, but who know, change can be a good thing, right? The good things about globalization of English would be, for starters, the expansion of the AMerican trade. Our economy would probably benefit and our ability, or the government's ability rather, to speak with different important figures of different countries would benefit. There might be less violence and more peace if communication were easier and better ways of getting one's point across were available, but that is a big thing to say. No one would be able to promise anything, but it is worth a shot especially to especially to peace lovers and tree huggers like myself ;). I think we should take a shot and welcome the globalization of English. Tehre is no rewind button to life, but life's full of bumpy roads, why not add another that might benefit us like a speed bump. That's just some food for thought.

Creatively Speaking...

Creativity is something that I think has sort of shaped the world to what it is today. Honestly, take a moment to take a look around. Everything you see was started from someone's creative light bulb. That chair in the corner, the bed, and even my dog (cockapoo..some breeder had to come up with the mix right?) all came from a sudden burst of creativity. I think that without it, everything would be a little duller, the day would be a little less bright, and our minds would constantly be running on autopilot. Creativity is the pure essence that I like to thrive off of. I have a horrible time reading books like textbooks because they are pure facts and the languages used is so didactic and not alluring to me at all. When it comes to poetry, the creativity just spills off the page and it makes it a lot easier for myself to read.

When it comes to creative writing, that's when I like to have my fun. Writing creatively has no limits, no boundaries, you just write. There are no wrong ways to write when it comes to being creative because every way that you write is your way unless you feel the need to copy other people's work which is frowned upon in most societies ; ). Being creative shows that someone is unique and allows them to display their individuality. I could sit here and write huge words out on this little blog and completely confuse all the readers, but I think that would probably be a good example of a double speak form in which someone, most likely a politician, takes to time to use huge words integrated into their sentences so well that they lose the audience completely because they are incapable of keeping up with all the bedazzled words. If I were to do that I would lose who I was along with those long confusing words. I like to keep things short and sweet. I often read newspapers and magazines where people try to use all these huge words INCORRECTLY, and I have to admit that that is one of the reasons why I try to keep things simple. I believe that if you don't know what something means, look it up, don't try to wing it. Sure it may show some spark of creativity, but so will making up your own words and that will surely not be acceptable in college papers, I promise. Basically, I think that we need creativity in not only our writing, but also every aspect of our lives because if not things would get terribly boring. We need to keep things changing so that we can open ourselves up to new experiences and keep our minds open to new thoughts.