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Lauren

My professor modeled a grammar and linguistics lesson as an example of ways we can slip the boring English stuff into more exciting curriculum. She was specifically modeling a mini-lesson one could use in a secondary school that teaches the difference between denotation and connotation, using the refugee/evacuee debate that has been in news media this week. As I always do when contemporary politics are discussed in the classroom, I scanned the room to see my peers’ responses. I glanced over just in time to catch a guy turn to his friend and say

“Well, they told them to get out, so…”

He shrugged. Massive loss of human life and all he can muster is an “oh well” and a shrug. I don’t know what my face looked like at that moment, but he caught my glance for a second and likely registered my horror. He didn’t appear to care.

This aftermath of hurricane Katrina has left me feeling crazy. Livid. Violent. It was all I could do not to climb over those tables and strangle his cavalier, arrogant neck.

UPDATE:
Anne, a friend who also attends my university, is experiencing a different but no less removed debate in her classes:

It started on Friday in my social theory discussion group. Our graduate TA started the session by asking if any of us knew anyone involved in “the situation down in New Orleans”, or if anyone would like to say anything about “the situation.” A gal raised her hand. Her sister was on her way back to university, but had to turn around once the storm hit. She’ll probably attend a local college for this semester, maybe even next semester, too.

Another gal raised her hand. “I think that what is happening down there is horrible and totally unexcusable. Our government has totally failed.”

A guy raised his hand. “My major is emergency management, so I’ve been talking about this for a few days now. What people need to understand is that this isn’t an easy situation, and all that can be done is being done.”

Another guy: “Yeah. Plus, those people had what, a week’s notice that this storm was going to hit? They had plenty of time to leave.”

A gal: “Look. The government knew New Orleans was vulnerable because of the levees, but they never got repaired. Plus, all the response teams are in Iraq so there’s no one left to help these people.”

“There are response teams to help people; they just don’t want to leave. People have been shooting at the helicopters that are trying to bring food and water!”

A debate ensued between those who saw the situation as a failure at the government level and those who view it as a failure of the individual to leave when told. Many sat quiet. The discussion took up the entire meeting.

Yesterday, my history instructor started class by asking if anyone would like to say anything about “the situation in New Orleans.” A guy raised his hand.

“Well, this is certainly a bad thing that happened, but those people had what, a week’s notice to evacuate?”

Another guy added, “Two weeks.”

“Yeah, they had two week’s notice, and they didn’t leave.”

After the third person to talk echoed the same thought, the instructor said it is important for us to pay attention to what is really going on in New Orleans. Then he started his lecture.

21 thoughts on Raw

  2. I know what you mean – I’m at “zero tolerance” for these Republican sociopaths myself. They’re more reptile than human. I can’t believe we’ve let these selfish, smug, racist, elitist creeps take over our government.

  4. Quick explanation that doesn’t do it justice: D for dictionary meaning, C for contextual meaning. Connotation refers to everything implied by the name of the thing, and denotation refers to anything that could be named as the thing.

    Somebody stop me before I embarass myself.

  5. OR, you could say that the denotation is the first level of meaning for the thing (objective) and connotation is the second level of meaning for the thing (subjective).

    Chuck! Linguist! Where are you?!

  6. Some people just don’t get it. I actually had someone I had split with after college call me after 9/11 and say how she was sick of people “complaining” about the tragedy..it makes me nauseous to write that. I knew she was f*ked up, but I never knew it went that deep. Some people are so void of everything… understanding, empathy… it is sickening.

    And, maybe in your classmate’s case, there are those who will say anything to not admit fault of people or an administration they swear by in order to uphold their contrived and elitist view of reality. For shame.

  7. This of course leads me to the totally-irrelevant-to-this-post question: What is the difference between denotation and connotation?

    If I call someone a “Republican,” that is a denotation, in that I am applying to them a symbol or semantic representation. However, the connotation of my use of the word “Republican” implies (connotations, basically, are implications attached to a certain semiotic) a certain amount of greed and stupidity.

  9. I can sympathize with you Lauren. I’ve heard some horrid comments here at work that make me want to jump up and scream. But I am forced to keep quiet here in my cube. I tend to keep my politics to myself here in conservative Orange County, CA.

  10. If I call someone a “Republican,” that is a denotation, in that I am applying to them a symbol or semantic representation. However, the connotation of my use of the word “Republican” implies (connotations, basically, are implications attached to a certain semiotic) a certain amount of greed and stupidity.

    yes, but don’t the words themselves have implications independant of the intent of the person using them? That’s not clear in your example, and I’m not sure if I’m right about that, but that’s what my understanding was.

  12. yes, but don’t the words themselves have implications independant of the intent of the person using them? That’s not clear in your example, and I’m not sure if I’m right about that, but that’s what my understanding was.

    That’s a logical impossibility. Words are nothing but a) glyphs or b) phonemes. What you seem to be suggesting is that these phenomenon have some autonomous meaning, which they don’t. What I will grant you is that the implications of the speaker and the interpretation of the listener can be two different things. If I mean “Republican” and “greedy and stupid,” my mother would view it as “noble and trustworthy.”

    So, to append my previous statement, I will say now that connotation depends almost entirely upon audience. Here at Feministe, most commenters will take my aforementioned connotations as truth (with, perhaps, a caveat). TownHall readers, however, will not.

    In most cases, the connotations of words are not so muddled. Using “Republican” is a bad example in that the word itself is somewhat clinical. “Right wing” would perhaps be a better example, as would its counterpart “liberal” or “left wing,” in that these phrases are used as slurs in and of themselves.

  13. Thanks for the explanation Heliologue. Would it then be fair to say that, since connotation is almost entirely dependant upon the audience as you put it, that there are prevailing understandings of a word’s implications, independant of the intent of the person using the word to impute a connotation to it? And that connotation is that prevailing understanding of the word’s implications?

    I’m just thinking back to when I learned about connotation and denotation in the eighth grade and the example the teacher used, contrasting “thrifty” and “stingy.” I don’t have the advanced understanding of- what is it – linguistics? that you’ve been able to demonstrate, but am genuinely curious.

  14. If I call someone a “Republican,” that is a denotation, in that I am applying to them a symbol or semantic representation. However, the connotation of my use of the word “Republican” implies (connotations, basically, are implications attached to a certain semiotic) a certain amount of greed and stupidity.

    Sorry for the delay; the major essays that will allow me to actually be called a linguist someday are taking up wayyyyy to much of my blogging time 😉

    Yes, this quote above is a great explanation. To toss in my two cents:

    A denotation is what you’d find in a dictionary (see how they both start with ‘d’? It’s kind of mnemonic)

    A connotation factors in all the extra cultural or situational baggage a term or idea has (i.e., around these parts, “liberal” is good or friendly, and “conservative” is bullshittery. But on Fox News Channel, though, “liberal” is the root of all evil in this country; it infects your soul; it’s why we’re losing the war or whatever).

    Denotations are (generally) language- or field-specific and not open for rapid change within that context. Connotations are situational, political, emotional and are subject to very rapid change, like the name “Katrina”, which might have been connotation-free before last week, but now has a serious emotional charge.

  16. I just posted on my own blog about the great conversations I’ve had with my students so far– sorry you haven’t had similar ones yourself.

  18. I defer to Chuck: as a student of linguistics (as opposed to a hobbyist such as myself), he’s far more qualified than me.

    I find it so funny when I hear the people around me frame Katrina in bromides like “Well, they should have….” It’s a primitive reduction that fails to be valid coming from middle class whites in college. They have no idea what it’s like for the poor and homeless, and yet they act as if the same causal relationships still apply. Well, gee, Tim, maybe you would pack your Dave Matthews Band CDs in your ’01 Corolla and head north, but when the entirety of your assets is six bucks and a shopping cart full of old clothes, maybe that isn’t an option, hmm?

  19. When a clown in an auto dealership waiting room did something like that around me, I laughed and said “Keep making arguments like that.”

    Sadly this sounds like the fellow is headed for a teaching career. Talk about the poor quality of public schools! All grammar and spelling but no comprehension of ideas or critical thinking.

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