Language Autobiography

Intro

            This project was to make a language autobiography. Our paper had to explain how our language relates to our life and include scenes using words that either we made up, or words that mean something special to us or are they’re just slang. We had to explain how language shaped our life and made us who we are today.

            The parts that I feel that are strong in my paper would be the scenes. I included more than one and I made sure they were really descriptive and included my words. Another part that I think is really strong is my analysis. A place that I struggled in was my final paragraph, because I had to close up the scene I was just talking about and try to include the first scene with it to tie it all together. I learned a lot, one thing that I learned that stood out to me was a thing called "code switching."  "Code switching" means that when you're speaking to someone you have a certain way to speak to them. I knew that I always did that but I just didn’t know that it had a name.

Language might be one thing that travels the fastest around the world. It’s something that everyone knows about and uses everyday.  It is also part of who I am. My language is so different from everyone else that I talk to. Yes, I speak English but I used different words and different dialect than you. Everyone that I ever held a conversation with from school has noticed the way I talk. Everyone else that wasn’t from my school never had anything to say about it.  I believe it’s my “South Philly” accent or some of the slang words that I say all the time. I talk the same way that everyone around my neighborhood talks. I don’t really use a lot of slang but the word that I use most often is “yous.” This word is an Italian slang for “you guys” really simply. If you go into South Philly you would find that out pretty quickly. I must use this word about seventy times a day and not even notice.

I remember the first time that I said it in school. I was sitting at lunch on the second floor near the pool, surrounded by people that I knew, but not well. I had one really close friend that was in my stream her name was Goldie. We were all laughing and everything was great. I was sitting against the wall and Goldie got her trash and all her things together and began standing up.

  “Me and Ellen are leaving do you want to come?” She asked me as Ellen walked over to her.

  “Well, where are yous going?” I asked looking up to her and Ellen. Suddenly everyone around me snapped their heads in my direction. All I heard was a bunch of voices talking about what I had just said. Everyone was just as puzzled as I was but for different reasons.
                    “What did she just say?” A girl asked in between laughter.
                    “What does “yous” mean?” A boy shouted out but he got no answers. Then Goldie asked the same question. I thought maybe of all people she would know because I used this around her before and she never questioned it.
                    “Yeah what does that mean?” She said as she was laughing along with everyone else. I didn’t know that no one knew what that word meant. My face got redder than a tomato and I was suddenly scared that everyone was going to make fun of me. I just wanted to run and hide until it all passed.
                    “You guys. Yous never heard that before?” I asked looking around and I realized that I just said it again but hoped that no one heard me. Laughter was the only thing I heard after that.
                    “No!” She shouted as if I should have known that.
                    “Oh. Well where I’m from that’s what everyone says. It’s weird that no one here knew. But anyway where are yous going?” I said it in a joking manner because everyone made a big deal about it. I felt embarrassed, like I was an alien and no one ever heard the word before. But no one minded, they all thought it was funny and I know now that they would never make fun of me for real. But now everyone is used to it, and a lot more people say it. I guess I just worry too much. It has become a joke between some friends and me all from that one-day. Another thing that I believe makes me who I am today is the fact that I talk with my hands. A lot if not all the people from south Philly do this. Growing up seeing my parents do it, or neighbors or just strangers when I walk in the street. I don’t even realize that I do it but all of my friends do. They sometimes tease me about this also. Either if I am really angry or excited, I wave my hands or clap them. But nevertheless I believe that it has made me part of who I am today. Also, that I impacted some peoples lives because they started to do it also.
                    Which brings me back to my thought that language might be one thing that travels the fastest around the world. If someone says one thing to me and I like it then I will say it, text it, or chat it to my friends and if they like it they do the same and it spreads like wildfire, it’s crazy! Of course there are some words that you don’t want to say around certain people, which is called Code Switching. The way I talk in school is way different from the way I talk when I’m home or around my friends. Just as some teachers talk different when they talk to their class and then when they are around their friends they speak differently also. We can’t help that we do this but it’s just what were used to.  For example, when I went to Drexel to present my water filtration project I spoke perfect English. I had to make sure for a fact that I dropped all of my slang words because I wanted to impress the professors at the school. I had to make sure I didn’t use my hands I didn’t want to clap in the audience faces just to get my point across.
                    “I’m extremely nervous! What if I mess up?” I said looking at Jessica as we were impatiently waiting for our names to get called up to go present. I couldn’t eat the nice food they supplied for us, I could barley drink what they supplied for us. I keep reading over my slide and practicing what I was going to say and how I was going to say it and stand.

            “You’ll be fine! Relax. Breathe. You did this in school a millions times and did it prefect!” She reassured me with a smile. I still couldn’t shake the nervous feeling that I was having. I remember when I first heard that we won this project challenge and I was nervous from then on.
                    “You know me I’m socially awkward I don’t like to talk to people especially professors!” I said laughing and she joined in with me. Then they called us and once I got up there and saw my slide I was fine. I didn’t mess up and I managed to keep my English perfect. I was so proud of myself for not messing up and not clapping in their faces.

Even though I always say “yous” I will never change the way that I speak or stop saying the words that I do because someone has a problem with it. Of course I will if I ever go back to Drexel or present but other then that, I will not. Everything I say and the way I say it makes me who I am. I love it.