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Unit 1 Slang: Talking Cool
TEACHER: OK, let's get started . . . Today we're going to be looking
at a really interesting phenomenon, slang. We'll be looking at where
slang comes from, who uses it and why. We all use it more often
than you might think—every day of our lives, in fact. And we use it
for a reason.
You know, most of us are fascinated with slang. We continually
hear new words and phrases enter the language and replace old, and
we see familiar words take on new meanings. We feel a need to
keep in touch with these changes, to be aware of the latest street
talk. Fact is, we love slang. But what is it exactly? What is slang?
Anyone like to suggest a definition?
STUDENT 1: Isn't it basically kind of casual talk?
TEACHER: Can you say a bit more?
STUDENT 1: You know, the sort of words we use with friends ...
in relaxed situations.
TEACHER: Good. You're pretty much there with your idea of
casual language. We can say that slang is language that's found only
in the very informal speech of particular groups of people. It can
help to identify the communities, the groups of people, who use it.
And this brings me to the first important point of the lecture—why
people use slang.
A lot of slang comes from not wanting to be understood by
outsiders, people outside your circle. In other words, people exploit
slang to give their group an identity, by making their language
exclusive, or at least private. Through this private language, they
can tease one another, enjoy shared experiences, and keep everyone
else at a distance. All cultures contain groups or subcultures with
different interests and priorities, and each group tries to establish a
separate identity. They want people to know who they are, what
they stand for—and slang helps to construct and cement that
identity. We can say, then, that slang reflects the experiences,
beliefs, and values of its speakers.
Now let's look more closely at this relationship between slang
and community, slang and identity. A nice example of this is, uh,
student language, sometimes called "youth-speak." Young people
use a lot of slang, and many of the words they use are used by both
sexes, often metaphorically rather than literally. That is to say, the
conventional meaning of the words change. For example, words
that have traditionally had strong negative literal meanings that are
used as insults have taken on, uh, gentler, and in many cases even
positive meanings in conversation. We'll look at some examples
later.
Now, if you ask college students why they use slang, they'll tell
you it's cool, and that's true in several different ways. First, it's
cool because it's in style, in fashion. Using current slang shows
that the speaker is in tune with the times . . . you know, that he or
she knows what's in fashion and is pan of that fashion.
Second, slang is cool in the sense of showing that the speaker is
knowledgeable . . . the speaker is "in the know," the speaker knows
when slang is acceptable. People don't use slang all the time, only
in situations and with people who accept the use of slang—a point
I'll return to later. Research tells us that although young people
often deny that they use slang intentionally, in fact they clearly
choose whether or not to use it depending on the situation they're
in. As we've already said, slang's typically used in informal rather
than formal settings, and this is certainly true among college
students: They usually avoid using it in the class-room or a work
environment, for example. Anyone like to suggest why?
STUDENT 1: People won't understand them.
STUDENT 2: Yeah, so it's like a waste of time.
TEACHER: Well, that may be true, but it's not the main reason.
They don't use it simply because it could make them look bad.
And everyone hates looking bad, right?
So, to review, we've said that students use slang only in certain
situations. But they also only use it with certain people, usually
friends. When they use slang, they are showing that they share
social and emotional experiences—so slang reinforces their
relationships. But ... it also gives special meaning to what they say.
For instance, to say "That party was the bomb" is more than merely
saying it was a very good party. It shares an emotional experience
that might otherwise take several sentences to explain. In other
words, it's a kind of. . . shorthand.
The third and final way slang's cool is that it's fun; it's very
creative in the same way that poetry is, and it's often humorous. In
other words, it's a form of play, a way of entertaining.
So . . . uh, let me repeat: I've said that slang's cool for three
reasons: One, it shows the user's fashionable and in tune with the
times; two, it's a way of reinforcing relationships and
communicating efficiently; and three, it's fun and entertaining. Got
that?
All right then, let's now take a look at different kinds of slang, in
particular three types of slang words: those that are currently most
used, those that linger year after year, and those that have become
unfashionable.
So . . . now what is the most used slang? Well, research tells us
that over the past few years, in the number one position is "dope,"
which basically means very good, great,
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excellent, attractive, or nice. So somebody might say, for
example, that his friend's new motorbike is really dope; in
other words, it's very good. Other words that feature in the
top twenty include "chill out" (to calm down or relax), "the
bomb" (meaning the best or most excellent), "whack" (which
means bad, unfair, crazy, or foolish), and "dude" (meaning
person—usually a man, actually). Any other examples? Yes?
STUDENT 1: Hella.
TEACHER: Meaning?
STUDENT 1: Very, a lot.
TEACHER: OK, yep. Luis?
STUDENT 3: "Kick it," which means, like, to hang out, uh,
relax, you know, sit around doing nothing.
TEACHER: Right. And it's interesting, isn't it, how most
slang terms indicate approval or disapproval; they show what
we feel positive or negative about. So, like "dope" and "the
bomb," we have "sweet," "phat"—spelled P-H-A-T, not
F-A-T—"cool," and "tight"—all meaning good, excellent,
nice, or attractive.
And then you have words like "bad" which really mean
good; so "That new CD is bad" actually means it's good! So
you see, slang does strange things with language. Like I said
earlier, it's certainly creative. As a matter of fact, some slang
words have many different meanings, sometimes as many as
nine or ten. For instance, the word "trip" or "tripping" has
various meanings, but they all reflect the idea of unusual,
strange, or extreme. When a word's used a lot or has a num-
ber of different meanings like this, we sometimes say it
"works hard." The word "trip," then, is a word that works
hard.
Uh . . . now, the second type of slang consists of words
that linger from decade to decade and never seem to go out
of fashion—and these words also work hard, that is, they
have a lot of meanings. A great example is the word cool—
forever popular, it seems! Other terms in this category are
"nerd," "cheesy," "chick," "the man," "toasted," "wasted,"
"what's up," "blow away," and "gross." And once again, most
of these show approval or disapproval.
And . . . now, finally, there are slang terms that come and
go; they disappear almost as quickly as they appear.
Examples include "gimme five," "how's it hanging," and
"core." Words like these often disappear because they're
closely associated with famous personalities who similarly
come and go—they're popular, in the spotlight for a while,
and then seem almost to disappear. And when they disappear,
the slang associated with them tends to disappear as well.
Now, today, public tolerance of slang is at an all-time
high—just look at how widely it's used in newspapers. But
how do college teachers and academics view slang? Well,
some persist with the idea that its use will degrade . . . uh,
you might even say "pollute" academic discourse. However,
among themselves students tolerate words their teachers
might consider taboo. Students are actually very good at
code-switching; that is, they're very good at using different
styles or codes of communication in different situations. Do
you agree? Do you use slang in your essays or when you
speak with a teacher?
STUDENT 3: Personally I never use slang in essays. It just
doesn't feel right. It's true, you know, most students know
when to use slang, and when not to.
STUDENT 2: I agree. I sometimes use it with teachers,
though; it just depends on who the teacher is.
TEACHER: Why, I imagine most people do the same. Here's
something you may find surprising: A recent study on stu-
dent conversation suggests that students don't in fact use
slang that often but instead they choose more ordinary col-
loquial vocabulary.
OK, to finish up, now let me say something about the
history of slang. Many years ago, slang was closely associ-
ated with underground, criminal organizations, groups that
deviate from mainstream society . . . uh . . . with notions of
outcasts and socially unacceptable behaviors. A look back in
time shows, for example, that in the seventeenth century
more than twenty words were used to refer to vagrants, that
is, to someone who has no home or job. Today, of course,
these associations are much weaker and slang's used much
more widely. As underground culture has become more
mainstream, there's not the same need for the kind of secret
code that slang offered. Today, most of us use slang and
aren't ashamed of using it. It may still have negative
connotations, but like it or not it's here to stay, and
increasingly it's become the subject of serious academic
study. And why not? As I've tried to show, it's a fascinating
social as well as linguistic phenomenon. So, any
questions? . . .
Unit 2 Murphy's Law
TEACHER: Good afternoon, everyone. More than 200 years
ago, the Scottish poet Robert Burns said that "the best laid
plans of mice and men often go awry." I'm sure we all have
firsthand experience with what Burns means; no matter how
carefully we plan a project and no matter how carefully we
try to, uh, anticipate problems, we're likely to, uh encounter
something unexpected and unwelcome that will throw our
plan off course.
Well, class today we'll be looking at how plans can go right
or wrong... and, uh, how we can make sense of this. Are you
all familiar with Murphy's Law? Well, according to Murphy's
Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. So we'll be
looking at everyday examples of Murphy's Law—uh, things
like why toast falls buttered-side down, why it always seems
like we choose slow lines at the supermarket, and why it is so
difficult to win when we gamble.
As you may know, we now have many different versions
of Murphy's Law, and today I'd like to look at the science
behind three of them. I'll try to show you that some things
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which have happened to you, and which you may have thought
were simply bad luck, had nothing to do with luck at all. What I'm
saying is that there are some very good scientific reasons for many
of the things that happen to us, and we're not victims of bad luck as
often as we might think. When we consider some basic science and
probability theory, we can more clearly understand why some
"bad" things happen the way they do.
All right. Let's begin with a very commonplace situation. Let's
say you've just gotten up. You're still sleepy, and you make your
way to the breakfast table. In your half-awake state, you
accidentally hit your piece of toast, which has butter on one side.
The toast begins to fall to the floor. Now what are the chances that
you'll be lucky and the toast will land buttered-side up? Well, the
toast has only two sides, so most people think that the answer is
fifty-fifty. Fifty percent. Right? Do you think that there's a 50
percent chance that the toast will land with the buttered-side up?
STUDENT 1: Well, this sounds like a trick question, but, uh, yeah.
Logically, 50 percent sounds about right.
TEACHER: Yes, 50 percent does seem right, but, in this case,
Murphy's Law of Falling Toast says: "Toast which falls from a table
will land buttered-side down." Actually, the probability of this
happening is extremely high. It's close to 100 percent. Now, here's
why. When something like a piece of toast falls from a table, its
behavior is not random. The rate of spin is controlled by the laws of
physics. This is the problem. The rate of spin, that is, how fast the
toast spins, is too low for the toast to make a complete revolution.
It's too slow to turn completely around and hit the floor
buttered-side up. The rate of spin is determined by the force of
gravity. So in a very real sense, the laws of physics, and specifically
the rate of spin, make sure that our toast lands buttered-side down
almost all the time. So the point is that simple probabilities—for
example, the probability that toast has a fifty-fifty chance of landing
buttered-side up—can be greatly affected by other more
fundamental factors, such as the laws of physics. So, in this case, we
believe that we have bad luck because we don't understand that the
natural laws of physics are in effect. The toast should land
buttered-side down. OK? Let's look at the next point.
Now we come to one of my most frustrating situations in
life—the supermarket line. In this case, Murphy's Law of
Supermarket Lines says: "The line next to you will move faster than
yours." Now everybody wants to get into the fastest line when they
go to the supermarket, right? OK, so let's say that you're at your
local supermarket and there are five lines, but each of the five lines
looks pretty much equal in length. Now, of course, you want to try
to anticipate which one of the five lines will move the fastest. Well,
this is where simple probability theory enters the picture. The
chances that you have chosen the fastest of the five lines is one
divided by the number of lines, which is five in this case. So
mathematically, the formula is one divided by N where N is the
total number of lines. So in this example, one divided by five gives
us what?
STUDENT 2: One divided by five is one-fifth or . . . uh . . . 20
percent.
TEACHER: Right. Twenty percent. There's only a 20 percent
chance that we have chosen the fastest of the five lines. Now even
if we reduce that to three lines, our line and the lines on each side
of us, the chances we've chosen the fastest line are still only what?
STUDENT 2: Uh, 33 percent. One out of three.
TEACHER: Sure. One divided by three is 33 percent, so it's not just
your imagination that one line near you almost always moves faster
than yours. Simple probability theory shows that the odds are
against you. If there are very many lines, the chances that you'll
choose the fastest one is quite low. So, you see, it has little to do
with luck, but we perceive that it does.
All right. Now let's look at a final situation that shows how we
commonly misunderstand the laws of probability. We've come to
Murphy's Law of Gambling that says simply: "You will lose." Now
in the case of the supermarket lines that we've just talked about,
probability theory applied very nicely. And actually, as we go
through life, most things are fairly predictable because they follow
the basic laws of probability. Weather is an example. Let's say that
it's been raining for a week, and a friend says to you "I think it's
going to be sunny tomorrow." Is that an unreasonable statement?
Well, no. Clouds move, and they are of limited size, so if it's been
raining for a week, it's likely that the rain and clouds will end soon.
In other words, the next sunny day is more likely to occur after the
seventh day of rain than after the first, because the storm front has
what is called a life history. Now this is important, so let me explain
that term. Events with a life history have changing probabilities of
certain events occurring over time. For instance, uh, if you plant
flower seeds, you can predict with reasonable accuracy when the
plants will come up, when they will bloom, and how long they will
bloom. For instance, with some types of flowers, there's a 90 percent
chance that they will come up fifteen to twenty days after the seeds
have been planted. In short, the growth of a flower follows a clear
predictable pattern, and we call this pattern a life history. But this is
the trick with many gambling games. The casino owners want us to
believe that dice also have a life history and that we can therefore
estimate the probability of events related to the dice. However,
gambling devices like dice are different because they don't have life
histories. Now . . . what do you think that means?
STUDENT 1: There aren't any reliable patterns? Um, just because I
rolled a seven last time doesn't tell me anything about the next roll.
TEACHER: Right. You can't look at the past rolls of the dice and
predict what the next roll will be. Now many people, especially
gamblers, think that they can, but this is what's called the gambler's
fallacy. The gambler's fallacy is expecting to roll a seven with a pair
of dice because a seven hasn't come up recently. So, in other words,
there's a widespread belief among gamblers that dice have a life
history. In the
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real world, that's not a bad way to reason, but in a casino, it's the
path to financial loss. Dice have no memory, no life history. Now
you can predict that if you roll one dice many, many times, the
number five will come up about 16 percent of the time. That's one
divided by six. But that's not what we're concerned with here. We're
concerned with the next roll of the dice. As a result, the element of
arbitrariness or randomness makes prediction of the next roll
impossible. Statisticians who work with probability theory call the
roll of a pair of dice a single-event probability, and many of these
same statisticians believe that the probability of a single event can't
even be computed mathematically. So, the same probability theory
that works well with supermarket lines won't help you win a million
dollars in a dice game in Las Vegas. It could, in fact, lead to a
catastrophe!
So, to sum up, we have looked at three cases involving Murphy's
Law and our perception of "bad luck." The first case was the toast,
right? Our toast lands buttered-side down far more often than we
would predict because the basic laws of physics have a strong effect
on normal probabilities. The second case was the supermarket line,
remember? Another line moves faster than ours because the laws of
probability are behaving normally, even though we might perceive
them as behaving unfairly. And the third case was the dice game.
People lose at gambling games like dice because the laws of "life
history probability" simply don't apply in those situations, even
though gamblers think they do.
So, as you can see, in some cases, Murphy's Law is not just some
form of bad luck. There are some very real, scientific explanations
for these events. OK, that's about it for today. For next class I'd like
you to take a look at Chapter 7 and be ready to talk about the
discussion questions on page 255. See you then.
Unit 3 Types of Memory
TEACHER: Good morning everyone. Um . . . today, I have the
pleasure of introducing you to the basics of what I think is one of
the most fascinating topics in the field of psychology—memory.
What is memory? How does memory