The Lounge

This blog is intended to help you guys have a forum to discuss your thoughts concerning the upcoming literary device test dealing with these words. Feel free to post examples/questions/concerns/comments/etc. about any of the words that will appear on the test.

Create your own 4 line rhyming poem following any of the following rhyme schemes for extra credit. aabb, abab, abba, abcb. (Hint: The one I made follows abab.)

Sittin’ in my chair

So many things to do

Building castles in the air

Thinkin’ up things for you

Recently, it has been rumored that a Kaufman student spray painted the phrase “Crandall sucks” on the outside of Crandall’s high school as well as burned Wills Point’s bonfire setup. My question to you, is this type of behavior acceptable or is it juvenile? Is one okay, but not the other? How would you feel about it if it was done at Kaufman?

Should troubled NFL stars like Michael Vick, Donte’ Stallworth, and/or Plaxico Burress be allowed back into the NFL after they have been convicted of such dishonorable crimes?

Stephanie Albin, a student of mine in English IV AP, recently discussed with me another discussion she had with one of her friends. I’ll stop rambling so she can tell her side of the story. Feel free to comment and either agree or be a little daring and disagree. Let’s get some heated debate started on this one. Anyways, without further delay, here she is.

I was recently sitting in my english class doing my assignment (or something close to it), when I happened to glance around the room and notice several people reading different books. Some of the books were for pleasure, which those reading seemed to be entertained by, while others reading books assigned to us were not so excited . I began to think about the various books I have read and the different effects I received from them. After some thought on this subject I arrived at the theory that everything you read has some sort of effect. I mean of course everything you read is different and so you can have extremely different effects, for instance reading Twilight is going to have a much different effect than Great Expectations or Moby Dick. However, all these books  help develop who you are, because the effects help develop your opinions, which in turn help develop your personality. So it is my opinion that everything you read does have an effect on you.  So maybe instead of “You are what you eat”, the quote should really state “You are what you read.”

So, I have this obsession or disorder if you will. Whenever I go into a bathroom and notice that the toilet paper is hung in improper under-hang fashion, I must change it to where it is hung in proper over-hang fashion. This is just one of the many things that you could classify as “anal” about me. For instance, I need to alphabatize my CD/DVD collection and have major problems if they are out of order. It bothers me for whatever reason. My desk in my classroom is cluttered beyond belief, but I do know where everything is though. Anyways, I’m rambling. Comment on whether or not you share some of these disorders/obsessions or feel free to share some of your own weird findings of yourself. See you in class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The word “meh” has officially entered the dictionary. As this Associated Press story points out, the “expression of indifference or boredom” was chosen amongst various terms submitted by lexicographers to be included in the Collins English Dictionary next year.

Its origins are somewhat unclear, but one of its first known uses was in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons in which Homer suggests a day trip to Bart and Lisa, whereupon they simply shrug and say “Meh” in unison before going back to watching TV.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper might be disappointed to learn that one of the examples of the word in a sentence provided by the dictionary is: “The Canadian election was so meh.”

Part of the reason the word “meh” gained so much traction has to do with its proliferation in the blogosphere and online chat rooms. But there are plenty of other words-that-aren’t-really-words being used on the internet these days — does this mean w00t is next on the list?

What about acronyms like “btw” or “brb”? Or, there’s always the purposely misspelled words, such as “teh,” a variation of “the,” which is seen frequently on sites like Cute Overload and has the impressive ability to become a gerund, as in: “This is teh suck”.

And of course, thanks to Perez Hilton, we also have the expression, “Loves it” instead of “Love it.”

Finally, there’s the intentionally superfluous use of the letter Y to convey a sing-songy form of excitement, as in: “Heyyy! Can’t wait to partyyyy!”

Perhaps the folks over at Collins, Oxford and Merriam-Webster should bookmark Wikipedia’s internet slang page for future reference — after all, the open-source online encyclopedia is teh best resource for predicting linguistic trends. We loves it.

The first 7 seniors to do this will receive 10 bonus points on their last test grade! That’s magnanimous!

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This one can go on for a while. Discuss two things that are different between the book version of Animal Farm and the movie version. The next person to comment after the first person has either has to talk about something totally different from the person who has posted already, or they have to talk about why the movie creator chose to show a different perspective from the book. For example, if the book had a character in it and the movie did not, the person commenting might say: I believe the movie creator chose not to include [insert name here] because maybe he/she felt that the character was not really relevant to the whole scheme of things that take place in the novel. I mean, think about it, if you took [insert name here] out of the book, the story would not change much at all, if any. I have no problem with [insert name here] being left out in the movie adaptation. Simple right? Anyways, if you do this one, I will award you with a free 100 for a daily grade. Wahoo!

“Money makes the man.” & “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

Which statement do you agree with and why? The first 5 people to comment, insightfully, will receive bonus points on the next literary device test. First 5 freshmen & seniors.

Discuss why you think McCain will be a better president than Obama or why you think Obama will be a better president than McCain. First 10 freshmen to comment, insightfully (which hasn’t been done truthfully),  will receive daily credit and first 5 seniors will receive daily credit.