I'm not sure what I was expecting after hearing descriptions of this book, but it might be one of the coolest "textbooks" I've ever had for a class. Macrorie's in my head right now as I'm writing this. What stipulations do I had to follow for this blog post and the ones in the future? How should I be thinking about writing about what I've read in a way the corresponds well with the class and doesn't sound cookie cutter? AH. All the things.
There were so many situations that he has described that I've felt, as a student, way too many times to count. One that sticks out to me, it being a more recent experience, was this: "I would excuse (which, the first time through, I accidentally read as execute - fitting?) the professor and his secretary their slips if the professor was not so insufferably superior" (Macrorie, 74). Insufferable. That is the word I think of when certain professors, students, etc, that I've come into contact with the last four years. I don't know if it's just an English major thing, but it's been the same case in both of the universities I've been too, in both programs. So, what is the root of the problem here? How do we change this?
On a tangent, this line also stopped me:
"I remember now that when Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, the white, college-educated mayor of Memphis spoke hypocrisies in Engfish and the black garbage workers spoke truth eloquently" (Macrorie, 51).
The word "dialect" is what popped into my head as I read that section. I rarely think of it in conjunction with the English language and generally apply it in my head to indigenous tribes that may be found somewhere in Africa or the lesser inhabited parts of Asia. I never thought of the different regional language quirks in our country as different dialects; it seems too foreign a word. But it fits incredibly well, especially in relation to the above passage. Why do our accents, our words, all change depending on what part of the country we were born in? What sort of culture influences them? And why do we sometimes feel uncomfortable in the unknown parts (to us) of our country where the language is still the same? My mind kept spiraling, and I kind of want to take another linguistics class, on that note.
Looking forward to finishing the book.
