Thanksgiving Story

I never met my grandpa on my moms side, but every thanksgiving my mom likes to tell me, my brother, and my sister a little bit about him. He was born into a modest family in a small town in India. When he was around 16, his family fell into hard times because there was some disease spreading through the village. So my grandpa dug a big half hemisphere hole in the ground near his house and decided to grab his dad's motorcycle and take it for a ride. He then began doing tricks in the hole and made it an event. He charged admission for his show and, after a few years, turned his one act into a full blown circus that traveled all across India. Unfortunately he died when my mom was 13, but I always look forward to hearing stories about him on Thanksgiving.

Rhetorical Modes: Humor

            Humor is most easily recognized in a group. Something humorous will be said or done causing at least one person in the group to smile. Laughter can also be heard most of the time. Occasionally protest can be heard from a second person in the group. Also you may see some cover their mouth before giggling while others will nearly fall over laughing. The person who instigated the humor will usually be looking around the group hoping for approval of his or her comment.

            There are numerous examples of humor. Common children’s humor includes knock knock jokes and the pie in the face bit. Some specific instances of teen and adult humor are that’s what she said jokes and comedic reflection on an experience. Examples of humor that is effective regardless of ethnicity, age, or maturity level includes seeing someone run into objects, fall over objects, and seeing a man get hit in the groin.

            Humor is caused by the human need to fit in. One uses humor for the amusement of others so that others will find them fun to be around. Humor is often effective in situations where one is around unfamiliar people because by displaying humor others will see you as likeable and friendly resulting in familiarity. Humor is also caused by the need to be entertained. Often in boring or laborious situations one will attempt to use humor to calm his or herself.

In order to achieve humor one must master a few techniques: quick thinking, reflection, and timing. All three must be completed for a comment to be considered humorous. First one must make a humorous observation, usually a blatant contradiction. Then one must process the observation and reflect on why the observation was humorous in their head. Finally one must deliver the humorous reflection. This must be done effectively through precise pauses and timing in order to achieve the desired effect.

            There are varying degrees of humor. Slap stick humor is popular with young children. One example of this type of humor is Tom and Jerry in which a cat and a mouse are exceedingly cruel to each other performing constant physical comedy. There is also more “sophisticated” humor in satirical humor. An example of this would be politician cartoons in which the writer makes fun of politicians and policies by making the specific politician or policy seem ridiculous.

            Humor is a quality that causes amusement and laughter. The origin of the word comes from Greek humoral medicine. The Greeks studied humoral medicine because they believed there was a balance of fluids in the body that controlled both health and emotion. Everyone has both experienced and exhibited humor throughout their life because anytime you laugh or cause laughter you are exhibiting a sense of humor. There are some universally humorous acts or events however humor typically depends on maturity level and culture.

Visual Argument

Agent: Nike

Act: Nike will give you the "Will to Win"

Purpose: To sell Nike products

Scene: A basketball arena

Agency: It is a picture. Also the text "You will notice. You will scream. Because you want it to happen." Not only refers to Lebron's dunk, but also may be conveying to the audience that Nike products will make others notice you. Plus having Lebron in the picture forces the audience to associate Lebron with Nike.

Other Observations:

Having a picture of Lebron dunking rather then just running around was effective because it shows him in a more powerful state, expressed through the look of effort and concentration on his face, his flexed bicep, and his red jersey and shorts. Also by not showing Lebrons feet in the picture Nike is trying to make it look as if he is flying through the arena or maybe even night sky, given the fact that it is hard to tell if there is a roof above him. Nike is able to do this, advertising their own product without showing it, because their shoe ads have become so iconic that the viewer will automatically assume Lebron has Nikes on his feet.

X2 pg 113

1. -library
    -vacuum
    -beginning
For these I usually added too many or too few of some letter, or forgot to insert  a letter altogether.

2. It always tells me that I have spelled my name wrong. Also it doesn't detect context very well, except for common errors like their, they're, and there, so if you mistype something so badly that it becomes a different word it won't recognize the error.The computer guesses alternatives purely based on a group of similar letters in the beginning of the word.

3. If we all spelled we pleased their would be no uniform system to translate what anyone was saying so there would be a lot of confusion. Letters would constantly be misinterpreted and their would be know way of knowing the true meaning of a piece of writing unless you could speak to the author directly.

4. CHEEZ-ITS
    This is effective because we then see the companies logo as a symbol rather then a word, so the logo becomes more unique and recognizable.