Ethnographic Blog

You can find my article here.

Although this article is short, it's very important to this area. It's absolutely stunning to me that Knoxville has more victims of asthma than anyone. How could it be that Tennessee is like that? I know that Tennessee is one of the most obese states in the US. I also know that there was such a smog problem, that the state lowered the speed limit on I-40 in the Knoxville area from 65 for 55. Memphis was 5th worse. The top five asthma problems are all in the southeast. It's so amazing to me, that these are issues that my children will have to deal with.

Everyone knows these bad things about Tennessee. The studies hold all the evidence that it takes to keep someone out of here. I am now concerned with this problem.

If this article includes cultural information, it's the fact that the culture of Tennessee involves something that causes this high asthma rate. And not even in Tennessee, in the Southeast in general. If a fieldworker were looking for more information, they might ask the population of the Knoxville area. They might try to find out a vehicle preference. They might also try to see how people in the area feel about the problem. The questions of the field workers would differ because they fieldworkers would try to find out the meat of the story. They would just report it, like this particular article did, they would ask the questions not covered, like I gave examples of.

A field worker would interview the asthma victims, and get their take on living in Tennesseee. The worker would find out if the victim thought it was worth it or not. The worker would also talk to Scientists and find out what really causes the problem. A field worker would probably use historical facts, such as the progression of pollution in this area. Also, they would try to find the the rate of people with asthma throughout the years, and find out the increase. To find this information the field worker could go to the Knoxville Court House or look at online reasearch databases.

Language Memoir

When I was eight years old my family went on vacation to Florida. We stayed in a condo that was conveniently located five minutes from Disney World. I remember my family stopping off and asking a cleaning lady where our room was. Her reply was, "me no speak English." I'd always seen that in movies, but I never knew that people actually said it. Ever since then, I'd been very fascinated with different languages. I couldn't wait to learn a foreign language when I got to high school. I never understood why there had to be more than one language anyway. Finally, I got to high school.

My high school didn't offer Spanish, so I couldn't take the language that I wanted to. They offered German and French. I took French, because I decided that one day I'd like to go to France and it would be useful. I took my first semester of French, and learned that I was lucky to have grown up in an English speaking family. Without question, English would have been the toughest language to learn and pick up. There are so many different rules to English that I'm still, as a freshman in college, trying to learn. I had French, my girlfriend had Spanish, and some of my friends had German, and they each seem to think their foreign language class was relatively easy.

As a senior, my English teacher based his English class around the history of the world. We learned about everything it seems. We talked about the fall of ancient Rome, the Norman Conquest of 1066, the rise of the Tudor kings in England, and the many translations of the Bible. In this course, I learned much about the communication throughout the years. One thing that I learned, which I think is funny, was about Old English. I believe a lot of people protested the NIV version of the Bible because it wasn't in Old English form, and it didn't seem authentic to them. What they don't know, however, is that when King James gave permission for a new translation of the Bible in the 17th Century, I believe it was, Old English was just common. That's the way everyone sounded, therefore it was translated in the way that everyone could understand. Had King James approved it today in the 21st Century, it would be quite like the NIV.

That's the way language changes though. When we are born we base our language on what we hear, because that's all we know. We look to our mommies and daddies for guidance. I know that growing up in a small town in rural Tennessee, I was subject to such hick sayings as, "down yonder" and "warsh" and "tater". No matter how hideous those words sound to me now, everyone knew exactly what I was saying when I asked my mother why she went down yonder to warsh the taters. And that's how language works. I know that while I was in school, a lot of words were made up, that would have no meaning to anyone but us. We had such words and sayings as "snaff" and"dorkus klump". What are those words going to mean to anyone? Nothing, but if someone called me a "snaff" I would get offensive and know that they were making fun of my intelligence.

I know that if I want to hear a new word, all I have to do is turn on the radio or tv. People are making up words everyday. There's even a site online called Urban Dictionary, with meanings to all these new words. I know I've had to use that site as a reference a couple of times, just because I was really curious about what certain words meant. Some words are colorful and creative, but some I can't tell how they came up with a connection for it. That's the beauty of language. It doesn't even have to make sense. Once one person knows what it is, he can tell someone else. Then two people know what it is, and then it keeps spreading until one day you have your "cowabunga" or your "scrubs". No one will ever be able to keep up with their own native language, and I think that's great. It helps everyone keep their identity. If you feel like your password is being hacked, you have to change it. I think people can look at language similarly. I just hope that 50 years from now, I can have a conversation with my grandson, and we don't have any problems knowing what each other's words mean.

first thoughts of Language

What could be easier than talking about the English Language? I've been speaking English ever since I've been able to form words, which is a long time. I've learned slang, grammar rules, and advanced vocabulary. After every word I've heard, I wouldn't believe anyone if they told me I still had a lot to learn about the English language. I had no idea it was true. After our first class discussions I feel small and weak. I talk a lot. In high school I was voted most talkative. If there was one thing I knew I was good at, it was striking a conversation. All English is, is a language put together from several other languages. If this is so, then why can't English become an international language. At a young age, many foreign countries require their students to learn English as a second language. I think a whole new international language is a good idea. I'd love to be able to communicate with all the foreign speaking people I see in Wal-Mart. Well, that's all for now. See you next week.