Sports Jargon

      Okay, so it’s Super Bowl Sunday and you were just invited to one of the biggest parties in the neighborhood. You can’t wait for the endless bowls of chips and dip, the spicy taco dip, the grilled burgers and hotdogs, and the cookie cake decorated with the colors and logos of the teams competing in this year’s game on it. You have your game day attire on: your worn-out jersey, your lucky socks that you haven’t washed all season, and your lucky underwear that nobody knows about. Not to mention, you get there early to claim your spot for the day. The game starts and all you hear is that one person in the room asking everything from “What’s that yellow thing the ref’s throwing” to “What’s a QB?” Eventually, you get so annoyed by this person’s lack of understanding of the game that you grab the taco dip and run to the nearest department store’s TV section to the watch the rest of the game.

      Obviously the whole department store scenario is a little extreme, but I’m not going to judge… As it turns out, the person who ruined your entire game-day experience was not up to par on the football jargon. But let’s take a step back for a moment shall we… Jargon is the use of certain words and phrases by a specific group of people that only that group knows and understands. So obviously this certain person at the party did not get any of the jargon used by every football fan in the room. This happens all the time when it comes to sports and even life. Fans of one sport may or may not have any idea of what the terms of another sport mean and vice-versa. This can lead to confusion, misunderstanding, and not to mention embarrassment. By taking the time to observe and learn the language or jargon of another group, we can not only expand our knowledge and vocabulary, but also prevent the embarrassment of being that one annoying football “fan.” A good example of jargon can be found in this video showing the views of typical British teenagers’ knowledge about American football and the NFL.

(Skip to about 2:45 for the main point)
 

  

     Anyway, the entire point of the video was to show how the terminology in the game known as American Football is almost only known in America. It’s pretty obvious that our football is entirely different then what the British understand as football (aka soccer). Just by watching the video, the jargon used in the game of American football is not understood by those who do not watch the game. This video illustrates perfectly how people react to terms in which they have no idea what they mean. Just from this video, you can see just how important keeping an open mind to the jargon of other groups is in terms of becoming more knowledgeable about that group and its “language.”

    This next two videos are my personal favorites and show how knowing the jargon of a sport is crucial to being a fan of that sport…or a coach for that matter. Do not end up like this guy…
 

 

        The book Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, is a literary masterpiece that illustrates the idea of nature vs. nurture. Throughout the entire story, the reader sees how humans base their behavior on their own nature or the nurture they received from the time of their birth. When it comes to the idea of nature vs. nurture; however, nurture tends to play a much bigger role in our lives than nature.

       The story Lord of the Flies revolves around a group of private school boys who are stranded on an island when their plane crashes. Soon after the boys all find each other, they begin setting up their own “mini society.” This “mini society” contains rules to provide fairness, equality, leadership, and job distribution to ensure their survival. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the children did not come up with these aspects of society on their own. In the words of one of the main characters, Piggy, "How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?"
This is where the idea of nurture comes into play. Further examination of the boys would suggest that they were the product of at least middle-class parents with a private school education. With this in mind, it can be said that the boys had utilized the insight of their parents, teachers, and environment at home in order to come up with their own society on the island. Without the knowledge and views provided through the boy’s parents and education, it can be inferred that they would not be able to come up with the working society that they did. In fact, without nurture, would the boys even be able to survive?

       The answer to this question can be argued either way. It is possible that human nature could have kicked into high gear and turned the boys into savages and primitive beings (which it did by the end of the novel) or the boys could have suffered from a lack of knowledge and died much quicker and earlier in the novel. Furthermore, without the main characters, there would be no story. Thus, nurture is very important in our lives. Nurture is what causes us to be who we are as human beings and guides us to be the individuals that we eventually become. As far as writing goes, where would we be without the guidance of our teachers or the brilliant works of those before us? I know that my writing is a combination of every teacher and book I have read throughout my life. Although the idea of nurture is sometimes believed to be conforming, it is the pieces of knowledge that we choose to live by that make us individuals. We choose what we, as our own person, how we want to live through the nurture we receive. Thus, we choose who or what influences us the most in order to choose what we believe, think, and create in lives.