Shaggy Dog Stories

While analyzing story number 3 we came to the conclusion that an older crowd (30-40) would appreciate the joke rather than a younger crowd (18-29). Although the language of this joke is relatively simple and easy for teenagers to understand if you are not familiar with a setting at a bar you will not find this joke amusing or think it makes a lot of sense. This joke is also outdated. Judging from personal experience you do not see many people sitting alone at a bar anymore like you used to. They are usually accompanied by another person (2+). A person between the ages of 30-40 might read this joke and find it funny because they have avid experience in the bar scene and can relate the joke to all different kinds of people they have come across in their life. Someone of an older age might hear this joke and relate it to someone they saw at a bar that examined a similar personality to the string. An older person can relate to this joke a lot better than someone who is younger and does not have the same experiences as the older person.

Gee’s language tools that are relevant to this Shaggy Dog story are intertextuality, social language, discourse, and (C)onversation.

“A ________ walks into a bar” is a statement that we have all heard before. When we hear that statement we automatically assume a joke is going to follow. Gee states about intertextuality that “one text can be incorporated in another text in many different ways”. This statement falls into the category of bar jokes because there are hundreds of bar jokes out there. This quote can most likely be recognized by anyone.

“Bartender, gimme a beer" falls into social language because you normally would not make that statement if you were not at a bar. Being at a bar calls for a certain type of language that you would not exhibit if you were at for example; a five star restaurant. Judging from personal experience at a bar I can conclude that this language is very common when you enter a bar, but hearing someone say “Bartender, gimme a beer” at a another setting is just plain odd.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't serve strings here" is a type of biased statement that falls into the category of (C)onversation, because a bar is a particular social group that is supposed to serve everyone as long as you are 21+. In this particular joke the bartender is not startled by the fact that a string is talking, he just states simply “sorry we do not serve strings here.” If the string is the proper age why can’t he be served? Maybe it’s simply because he’s different.

"Tired and angry, the string walked outside to think. He was a hard-working string. He deserved a beer." When the string walked in the bar the first time he was calm but after a few let downs of not being served he became disappointed and angry. His "discourse" changed from being calm to disappointed and angry when he kept get denied the beer.

 The format of this joke is very repetitive, which is why I stated before that it was simple to understand. With that being said the simplicity of this joke will appeal to adults and young adults, but once the young adults read the joke they will find it boring while older adults would find it more amusing.  The use of intertextuality, social language, and (C)onversation work together to make a joke that is simple to understand and amusing for a crowd that understands the humor of that time

Analysis

To me analysis means breaking down information step-by-step to prove a point or to look at a particular subject closely. In previous experience with analysis I have taken something as simple as writing process and analyzed how the person started writing and what they did during the process of writing a paper. During this assignment and the previous assignment we did in class with the puzzle I found the answer that I was looking for by working inside out. What I mean by this is I figured out the smaller picture before I figured out the bigger picture. In anaylzing a students writing process I watched her prewrite and I took notes of the steps she took and even how she moved her pencil. This way of writing worked for her and because I took time to analyze her I figured out how her entire process works in order to create a piece of writing that is best for her.

By analyzing how people write on Facebook/Twitter and in school I plan on having a few interviews or even possibly posting my own Facebook status or tweet to see what different people have to say. I can also try to figure out why people write the way that they do. From personal experience I could say that writing a certain way on these websites become a force of habit but others may disagree. I think it will be interesting to see what my peers have to say about this analysis and how others people opinions differ from mine.

Writing Studies Research

There are many types of writing studies research that I find to be interesting; from how writing works in a retail setting to how writing has changed because of social media websites for example; Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. Last semester I did an analysis on my place of employment, Target, and how writing is used to benefit the company. As an employee I did not realize how important these aspects of the job were but after doing my observation and conducting my research I now understand the significance of this writing and now when I go to work I use these aspects of writing that I learned during this project to better myself during the job.

This time around I plan on taking a different approach. I always found interesting how social media websites influenced writing of today's generation. As an avid user of these websites I find myself wanting to write in slag while doing a college paper because that is how I am used to writing. However, I feel that aspects of Twitter have actually helped me when it came to school work. With the limit of 140 characters in a tweet it teaches you how to make a complete thought in a short amount of space thus minimizing run-on sentences. Despite what I said about wanting to use slag in my school essays I found that by having Facebook and Myspace it has caused me to be more creative in my writing. I find it easier to come up with ideas in my writing whether it is something I am interested in or not. 

In my research I want to find out how other people perceive these social media's and how it has helped/hurt them during their academic careers. I think it would also be interesting to find out if people use these social media sites to help them conduct some type of research. For example; I have used Facebook to get opinions from other people asking if cell phones should be allowed in public schools and received good feedback that helped me during my project.