RSP
ESL
ELL
ELD
all of these are terms that educators use to describe those who are learning English as a second language or have difficulty processing information. Is it possible to teach people to speak in acronyms? If it is possible it is much to the chagrin of my mother who is an English Language arts teacher of the seventh and eighth grades. In addition her career in teaching is new enough to her for acronyms that are churned out like Model-T's to catch her off guard.
I as a player of various tabletop games am aware of the mean of the phrase "so-and-so's PC has such a dex score that he can crit without rolling a nat 20." This jargon is formed from longer phrases that have been whittled down over decades of tabletop gaming. My favorites of the litany of tabletop games are first the stereotypical dungeons and dragons (Ironically my campaign included neither, but did include some hilarious goblin impersonations from a friend) and a lesser know strategy game whose official name is Warhammer 40,000 but is often shorted to warhammer 40K or even just 40k. (Both Links are to the TVtropes page on each, they tend to have good and brief explanation). The above phrase tells a tabletop gamer that the player character (PC) of a person has a dexterity score that allows that character to score critical hits that are double or triple damage without rolling a 20 on a 20 sided dice. Additionally Warhammer 40k has alpha level psykers, Chaos Marines, Reasonable Marines, Commissars(Whom you should fear more than the enemy!), and Baneblade tanks
. Many phrases from this discourse have transferred to the "Mainstream," the primary example is the word "Epic" to a savvy gamer it means a level 20 character who can no longer advance in that "class", which could be more accurately rendered as a trade. The reason it transferred is the success of role playing games of which World of Warcraft is arguably the most famous. Now the word epic has come to mean fantastic, wonderful, or brilliant. Additionally the process of shorting and making acronyms of phrases argueably orginated with tabletop and later video games as a few seconds in a game can be the difference between victory and defeat. Why everyone else is in such a hurry I have no clue.In contrast to this, the way in which I write and speak very differently from the previous two, I assume a poise and vocabulary more in keeping with academia. This I have learned from my parents and from my teachers. This allows me to seem as though I am cultured and refined person able to feign maturity when in certain situations such as the above mentioned tabletop games my strategy is similar to Kingpin, but my joy reverts that of an immature goblin.
My final discourse of which I feel I have a full grasp of is TV tropes website and by extension film and television as mediums. I knew even before watching The Graduate all about the connotations of the phrase "Mrs. Robinson." If one has the fortune to be named David and attempts something that for whatever reason cannot be done expect to hear the quote, "I'm sorry Dave I can't let you do that" Or if one is making a quick trip somewhere, "I'll be back" said in the lowest octave possible is another example of how we quote movies and how movies influence language. With all of these literacies I am better prepared to work in those discourses for my betterment or in some cases my detriment.
Oh and another literacy some will roll their eyes at Doctor who, the longest runnig speculative fiction program on TV, yes it's an escapist fantasy. Still, I can't wait to see what Stephen Moffat is writing now
