Chapters 1 & 3

Chapter 1: Questions for Discussion and Further Research 

1.) When language is considered a "game", they are talking about how languages have rules and people have to follow those rules in order to speak a language, just like they have to follow certain rules to play games.

2.) I do not necessarily think that a conversation is a game just because language is considered a game. Yes, you have to follows certain rules for a language but during conversation, depending on who it is with, you don't always have to follow the rules of the language.

3.) Farb says that language "has the power to shape our perceptions of the world" and that using language is just conveying information, feelings, and other things.

4.) Language is what helps shape us. He says "It is language that is the cornerstone of culture, and it is words and the rules that ell us how to use them that shape, in varying degrees, our sense of ourselves and of our place in the universe." Without language, there wouldn't be much more to life because there would be minimal ways of expressing yourself.

5.) A game has rules just like language, and over time, as the game progresses, you will usually progress. As you grow up, you become more familiar with the language and it expands.

Chapter 3: Questions for Discussion and Further Research

1.) It would not be better to celebrate "unbirthdays" because then our birthdays would not be considered very special days.

2.) Humpty Dumpty was incorrect when he thought words could mean whatever he wanted them to mean.  This was wrong because if people want to use words to communicate, the words have to mean the same thing to people.

3.) Connotation is the secondary meaning of a word and denotation is the direct meaning of word.

4.) Dictionary makers could be considered the "masters" of what words mean just because they are the people who kind of set in stone the meanings of words.

5.) If words would mean whatever we wanted them to mean, we would not be able to communicate with others just like I said in number two.

Word that played an important role in the history of the US: Democracy

Word that played an important role in my life: Cottage

Word that has changed meaning through the years: Coke, screw, hoe, wicked