The Progression of Rolling - Essay Example

– I was slightly behind on this order due to unforeseen circumstances. I would greatly appreciate if you could add an extension to the original deadline so I will not be penalized for the difference. The completed document follows. Student name Instructor name Course name Date The Progression of Rolling The primary purpose of language is to communicate with others. The choice of words we use and the way in which we organize them influences our meaning as well as our perception of others. Language choice influences our meaning because all language is necessarily subjective. In other words, the meaning of specific words is considered to be different for those listening from those speaking – sometimes it can be a slight difference and sometimes a very large one, but it is certain that everyone has their own conceptions. Different people interpret the meanings of words based on many things such as age, culture or social groups. Making this even more complicated, language use also changes from one period of time to another. This means that the meaning of some words used in the 1800s for example might be completely different from the meanings that are assigned to these same words today. In many cases, determining the meaning of a word is almost completely based on discovering the context in which it is used. In attempting to define the word ‘rolling’, for example, all of these factors can be seen to come into play. The word ‘rolling’ can be used in a number of different ways and as different parts of speech, such as a verb, a noun or an adjective. Looking up the word ‘roll’, the root form of the word ‘rolling’ in the American Heritage Dictionary (2003) provides as many as 38 different definitions. In most cases, the word is suggested to mean something that is in the process of revolving and potentially moving along a given plane. In other words, it is typically considered to be something that turns around a central axis at the same time that it makes progress along a surface. In many cases, it is the revolving or spinning motion around the center that makes the forward motion along the plane possible. These definitions clarify that the word ‘rolling’ refers to a movement that can be illustrated by the image of a tire moving from the top of a hill to the bottom. It revolves around its central axis, the hub, with the force of gravity at the same time that it moves along a stable plane, the hillside. This would suggest the word is definitely a verb because it refers to an action. However, the word can also convey meaning when used as an adjective. In this context, the word generally is understood to refer to something, most often a landscape, which has as its primary characteristic a series of gently rising and falling slopes. This use of the word provides authors and poets with a strongly descriptive phrase that conveys a sense of peace and tranquility while still retaining a sense of vitality and motion. They use the word ‘rolling’ in their work to suggest this kind of gentle succession as in the ‘rolling clouds’ or ‘rolling hills.’ In this case, it is only in the context of the work that it is made clear whether the author intends to suggest stationary hills that gently rise in succession to the horizon or if the hills are actually moving like waves over the surface of the earth. It is suggestive language that requires an understanding of word order and related meanings in order to understand fully. By playing with context, the meaning of the word can be changed a great deal as new slang phrases continue to develop. Slang phrases are groupings of words that are not usually found in the dictionary but that contain a meaning all by themselves that speakers of the language will understand. This is not always the case when speakers have learned the language as a second or later language. However, even these meanings can be puzzled out with a basic idea of the root word because it is these meanings that often suggest the slang phrase to begin with. For example, the phrase ‘let’s get rolling’ plays on the verb form of ‘rolling’ which refers to the process of physically moving via a revolving motion around a center. The slang phrase refers to a group of people traveling from one place to another, usually using wheels as a primary mover, but sometimes just used to refer to making some progress in a given area, as in starting work on a massive paper project. The slang phrase also plays a little on the adjective meaning of ‘rolling’ referring to a gentle sway or rhythmic motion as the actual motion of the individuals within a wheeled conveyance, whether it was a buggy in the old days or a car in the new, is minimal with the car or buggy doing all of the work. In the case of paperwork, this has often meant the people push the buttons while the computers do all the work. Finally, the root word of the term, ‘roll’, can also be used as a noun. In this instance, it is generally intended to refer to something that has been bundled in some way. This could refer to a stack of hay that has been gathered together and bound or a group of dollar bills that have been curled around each other to create a thick, solid cylinder. Just as in the case of the verb and the adjective, though, this basic meaning of the term has taken on some significant slang expressions. One example of this is the phrase ‘a roll in the hay.’ This term is used to describe two people curled up in the cylindrical wrapping of the bed sheets while engaged in the act of sex. Again, while slang terms such as ‘let’s get rolling’ and ‘rolling in the hay’ have been around for many years and may be perfectly understandable to anyone who has grown up within the English language, they might not be so recognizable to an individual just approaching the language. Perhaps the best way to illustrate how culture limits understanding of terms seemingly as simple as the word ‘rolling’ might be to look at a specific and relatively limited social group such as the drug culture. Within this culture, phrases such as ‘rolling on ecstasy’ might be used. One doesn’t need to be a drug user to have heard the term ‘rolls’ on the street referring to the drug ecstasy. This particular drug evidently causes people to feel waves of euphoria that may become increasingly stronger as the drug takes effect and then ebb away, making the users claim they are ‘rolling’ when under the influence. Thus, it can be assumed that the drug acquired the name ‘roll’ from the descriptive form of ‘rolling’ that adequately illustrated what users feel when they take the drug. However, someone not living within or close to this culture may not have any real idea of what is being referred to when the term is used. Time also plays a role in how a specific term is used or defined. While older English-speakers might be very familiar with the phrase ‘let’s get rolling’, they may struggle a bit when hearing a teenager explain ‘that’s just how I roll.’ This term obviously builds on the noun form of the word that helps to illustrate the inner character of the individual, but it is most often used when speaking with other individuals of the same age group. This is because the way we speak to each other is often not the same based on the kind of relationship we have with them. The way we define ourselves to our parents is necessarily more complicated than the way we explain ourselves to our friends operating within the same communication system. As we use language in our everyday lives, it is important to remember how it can change according to context, culture and time. This does happen automatically to a certain degree because we automatically change the way we speak depending on who we’re talking to and the situation we find ourselves in, but this can also lead to miscommunications between people of differing ages, cultures and understandings. While the term ‘rolling’ can have a wide variety of meanings, though, it is usually relatively easy to determine what might be intended by the speaker by paying close attention to age and context. Works Cited “Roll.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th Ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Read More