Immediate Reactions to A Few Lines In Chapter 5

"That knowledge - linguists call it competence - enables us to understand sentences we've never heard or read before, sentences we may read or hear only once in a lifetime" (60).

WOAH BRO! THAT SHIT IS TRIPPY AS FUCK. So pretty much, we read a sentence that we've never read before and most likely will never read again. We understand the sequence of words because we understand basic rules on composing sentences as well as the definition of those words. So. as. you. read. this. you. are. subconsciously. understanding. what. I. am. saying. because. you. have. been. conditioned. to. understand.


"What right have we to force a particular language or dialect on speakers of other languages and dialects?" (61).

NO RIGHT! NO RIGHT AT ALL I SAY!!!


"We are social animals who depend on one another and spend a lifetime maintaining mutually sustaining relationships by sharing our experiences and ideas. Language is an important way of establishing contact, of realizing a psychological need to live in societies rather than as isolated individuals" (64).

WORD HOMIE WORD!!!!! I believe the meaning of life is human interaction. Lindemann FINALLY gets me and I FINALLY get Lindemann here. How beautiful, great, wonderful, powerful, magnificent, awesome is it that COMPOSITION is just another source of interaction amongst human beings? Also, goes to show that composition studies has a greater purpose than just teaching students to write to get jobs. Elbow - I got your back here.


"All grammars are theoretical" (83).

TRUTH!!! I admit I am the one who asked "How important is it to know grammar as an English professor?" I asked because I feel that all grammar is theoretical. Or more precisely subjective. I say all punctuation goes inside of the quotes, Amanda refuses to do so. I say you cannot use semi colons that way, another person says you can. How are we supposed to follow guidelines when the guidelines are ever in flux, are ever evolving, are ever changing, differing, altering, fucking with our minds?!