bL0wg6pOszxt 7: "Stereotype"

Have you ever experienced a moment wherein you just doing your stuff and suddenly, your head turn into a different direction making you to notice someone? Things start to build up in your mind, right? For a instance, what is the first thing that enters your mind when you see a Muslim man with his entire face covered with beard? A terrorist, right What about seeing an Indian? Immediately, you’ll think of the common terms such as “Bumbay”and “5-6”. Well how about seeing a Jejemon? 

I had done a survey among 10 people to know what their first impression is whenever they see or had an encounter with a Jejemon. Unsurprisingly, 9 out of 10 answered too much negative thing about them. Some of which include harsh words such as overacting (OA), “korni”, attention-seeker, arrogant, pride, boastful, “maangas”, off-fashion, immature, outdated, cheap, funny in a sarcastic way and irritating. One answered that she thinks Jejemons are cool since they are unique and colorful. Well this only shows that Jejemons have more negative impressions than positive.

Impressions lead to stereotyping. I feel pity for myself as I answered the activities found in Module One - Diversity in Employment: Disability Awareness, Lesson #1: Stereotypes and Perceptions in the site Empower Missouri Training Website. This site provides the activities to show how one’s impression affects perception and judgment. There are two activities, first is about the impression wherein you should guess what job the person has based on the picture given and the second one is about the impressions to people with disabilities. To be honest, I got the answers almost all wrong. Why? In my opinion, it is because in our nature to be judgmental and to stereotype people based on what you think they are based on our past experiences, exposure to media and family experiences.

What do we mean by stereotyping? From the article Stereotypes by Saul McLeod in the site SimplyPsychology, stereotype is defined as a general and fixed belief about a specific group of people. It is a subjective opinion in labeling people based on their looks, background or even the way they speak. The article also mentioned that stereotyping enables one to respond rapidly in situations since we already perceived it to most likely to happen. But on the other hand, it lets us ignore the differences between individuals since our mentality is already locked with what we think is “right”. Racial stereotyping also is a problem. This leads to the feeling of superiority or inferiority, and based on the articles, Americans are more likely to be stereotyped as industrious, progressive and ambitious while the African-Americans are lazy, ignorant and music people.

In the site Campus Times, an article entitled Stereotyping sometimes has its benefits written by Campus Times, somehow contradicted the notion that stereotyping is not a good idea. Because of stereotyping, those people categorized try their best to change the image embedded to them by the society. They also encourage people to fit into what they should be. In addition to that, stereotyping is considered an organizational tool because you tend to imagine what is likely to happen or what type of person someone is which saves you from a trouble you might go through.

For me, one’s impression is highly influenced by stereotyping since we tend to judge someone based on what we are seeing. Honestly, I view Americans as superior to us Filipinos but view Chinese people as heartless people because of their one-child policy which lets them to abort babies and sometimes feast on eating their fetus. Based on my experience, my perception about people is based on what I see. I never try to get myself involved with them and get to know them well. This is one of the problems I can see in my topic. People tend to discriminate Jejemons because they are regarded as people with low intelligence, being off-fashion, burgles, troublemakers and many other rude words. The reason is that people don’t know much about you. They knew only few and insignificant things which they think make you up. Because their impression for you is something not nice, they tend to stereotype you as someone you are not. And from there, you will be discriminated and in order for you to overcome discrimination, you try to put walls and pretend something you’re not or assert whatever people are labeling you. Because of that, the labels they are giving you which you prove you are not are the reason why people hate you.

In conclusion, people need to stop labeling or stereotyping because that is mainly one of the reasons why people don’t get to understand each other. They should use it in a good way not in a bad one. Let’s just be considerate enough and do our best to understand the differences we have. We should not judge other people by the way he/she dresses, speaks or acts. We never know what he/she is going through. We deserve equality.

bL0wg6pOszxt 6: "Fashion Meets Social Class"

If I wear something from Lacoste will I look like those from the higher societies? Or if I buy from Divisoria, am I considered that poor who can't even afford to buy from malls?

Well this sixth blogpost is a continuation of the latter ones since fashion really hooked me up. One reason maybe is that I like fashion, I like exploring its overall and I wanted to know more about it.

Difference between upper class and lower class
women during the Victorian era

In the site Sew in Season by megandefinney one of her blog posts entitled "Fashion vs. Class" tackled about how one’s class is determined by the way you dress. From her post she stated that from the book “Fashion and Its Social Agendas” by Diane Crane, since the Victorian era, ones clothing can determine their movements and more likely, the smaller their movements the upper the class they belong. It is because only those people with much wealth can afford to buy several pieces of clothes worn at the same time. Victorian fashion is also associated with wearing of several outfits per day. Different outfits for different occasions like visiting, dinner, riding and balls. Also doing those times, middle class women who desired to look like those of the higher class would sew their own garments and clothes which last for a long time. In addition to that, they would only wear simple dresses while the upper class who can afford to buy several pieces of clothes would wear elaborated and restrictive dresses. Compared to the new era of 21st century, one’s social class is depicted by the brands one I wearing. Examples of which are the Prada, Michael Kros, Coach, Dolce and Gabbana and other designer items. The article ended with her thought of why people would even care and pay dollars to portray an image others think they are.

Common ritual of how Victorian upper class women wear clothes

From the article, I realized that social stratification is highly expressed by the clothes one wears. Clothes became a nonverbal communication of someone to depict that he/she belongs to a certain group of people. One's clothing also creates an impression. Example, if you wear something smart casual when meeting someone for the first time, a good impression of you coming from a middle class will probably the case but if you wear something like street wear in meeting someone for the first time creates a bad impression and more likely to be judged as people coming from the lower class. And though sometimes people wear smart casual attire, brand names are what others are looking for. Well, for me branded stuff never matter though at some point I am guilty for buying astronomical priced items. But not everyone are fond of buying overpriced items, some celebs choose to buy from the nearest thrift shops rather than in boutiques. I remember my high school friend who's really bothered of the dress she will wear for the debut we will attend to. So we bought some lace dress which really looked good to her but she ended up not wearing that because her older sister told her that she looked Jejemon in her dress. Being called as Jejemon is really heart breaking. Does the price really matter? Does buying in stores without brands or tags really matter?

Celebrities fond of thrift shopping

From the article "$20 in my pocket: Celebs also hit the thrift shops" by Mesfin Fekadu in Yahoo! Music, some celebrities like Debbie Harry, lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie, would sometimes visit one of the thrift shops when deciding when to wear to an event or photo shoot. She describes that it’s like an adventure to hunt for the perfect one she would purchase. Another celeb is an international singer, Miguel who described that clothes from thrift shops are clothes with character. Elle Varner is also considered Thrift Queen. Also on the list is Ryan Teddy, OneRepublic singer, who uses his clothes which was brought in the thrift shops when he was still a teen. Last on the list is Janelle Monae, who shops in thrift shops because buying from those gets her one-of-a-kind stuff which others don’t have.

The article "The Pros and Cons of Resale Shopping" by Debbie Roes in the site Recovering Shopaholic supported the latter with the pros and cons of buying into thrift shops. The pros include a) sustainability where one can help our environmental issues because he/she buys a stuff that has been already used by other; b) style selection wherein one has a wide range of varieties and styles to choose from; c) designer styles at bargain prices; d) better quality pieces since the items sold here are already used and were made back then, its quality is way better than those produced now; and e) "treasure hunt" since you will be unearthing piles and racks of clothes and will feel satisfaction the moment you find the piece you wanted. Well of course the cons include a) impulse buying due to popular price; b) limited size selection because it's not a retail shop, what do we expect?; c) "this will do" since sizes are limited we ought to buy the clothes which is a little bit loose or tight; d) poor fitting room conditions or no fitting rooms at all; and e) final sale wherein returns are not an option meaning you can never give back the clothes and expect your money to be back. 

Tips from this articles are very helpful and through this I was convinced that buying from those consignment shops and other thrift shops are more likely not only to save my money but of course give adventures for me. It also gave me the idea that order to keep your wealth you should thrift shopping or go for things which are unbranded. Since whether it is branded or not, they have the same purpose, to clothe our body. I remember the comment I saw one time that some rich people do thrift their bucks to keep their wealth. Well the point of this blog post is to tell people that they should not stick to the notion that if you wear something like this, you would be like this; if you buy that, you will become like that. I remember during our Public Speaking 1 class, our professor, Mr. Jaime Daroy explained to us one marketing strategy. They would target a certain lower class and buying the item they are endorsing makes someone in the lower class feel or look like they are part of the higher ones. Well this is a notion everyone thinks, that if you buy something from Divisoria or local malls, which doesn't have any tags or trademark, you are already considered a Jejemon. You're considered poor. Simply because since Jejemons are mostly made up of those in the middle and working class, they would rather prefer imitation garments, footwear and accessories than those of the overpriced designer ones. Sometimes, thrift shops are they’re friends. 

For me, fashion is never determined by price. One is never fashionable just because he/she wears a thousand-worth tops or bottoms. We don't really need to spend much just to look good or feel great, confidence is what we really need. In my opinion, Jejemon fashion is very practical because they didn't bother to buy those branded ones and just settle for the cheap ones like those found in the streets of Divisoria and Baclaran. I, myself, is a great fan of those. I sometimes prefer quantity than quality but I make sure I get things I deserve. I pay for the quality not the brand. It's true fashion has become one's expression of lifestyle and status but not everyone. Some would prefer to wear simple casual attires than those of the elegant ones though the belong to the middle class. So next time you see a Jejemon, don't judge their clothes. Maybe the reason why they dress like that is that they wanted to save money or things which are more important than showing off an image you are not.

bL0wg6pOszxt 5: "Fashion Meets Music"

An ordinary afternoon in Alabang, polluted and dusty air, heavy traffic, men and women walking here and there, construction sites from left to right, I was on my way home when from the jeepney I was riding, I saw two young men wearing some sort of extra-large shirt and pants. I was wondering, aren't they feel weird about what they are wearing? Oh wait, could they possibly be?

 

As I was searching something new about Jejemons, it happened that these pictures caught my attention. both states the common things a Jejemon may wear. Let's enumerate it one by one. Cap, of course I already told you that their cap was a snapback one with vertical rainbow design at the back which is usually worn or should I say put at their head at different angles. Their crowning glory, hair, which is usually long side swept and dyed with mahogany or blonde. Shades or sun glasses which are optional. Oh what a nice way of wearing those, could you imagine them wearing shades just below their eyes? Hmm. Next is a fancy bandanna covering up mostly of their face. Face towel placed on their napes? Yes because Philippines is a tropical country. Oh yes, the overly-sized t-shirt or jersey tops which looks like they borrowed it from someone who’s a lot bigger than them. Looks like their shirt has double purpose, it’ll be a great jacket too, right? In some cases, some Jejemons wear bright colored shirts with Angry birds or other mainstream games as designs. And yes, their outfit would never be complete without the accessories. How can one forget those big blings worn in their necks and the baller or PowerBalance worn in their hands? In addition to that, weird, peculiar hand signs will never be left behind. What can be seen on their other hand? Of course, it’s none other than their weapon, mobile phones. For their bottoms, voluminous baggy pants shelter their limbs. Big buckled belts are optional, some want them as accessories but some prefer their pants to almost fell off and see their underpants. Matching their outfit is either an enormous shoes or Havaianas, Sandugo or Crocs Class A imitation slippers or sandals. It's their fashion.

Fashion is a great factor for us Filipinos, it is a social symbol. It declares one’s financial capabilities and lifestyle. Being too much curious of things, I started to dig things up. I wanted to know what fashion really states. What factors affects one’s fashion, and does fashion really is matters.

a) Season

b) Color

c) Media

An article entitled "Factors that Affect Fashion Trends" by Sarah Turner found in the site ArticleRich, states that one’s fashion is influenced by mainly three factors. First is the season wherein one considers the changes in weather. An example of which wearing a basic undershirt or muscle tee for a hot summer here in the Philippines. Next is the color where one should come up with variety of shades to match one’s structure and complexion, and of course, to win the people’s attention. Last on the list is the influence of the media. From celebrities’ pictures in the billboards, music videos, catalogs and such affects one’s perception of what look goods and what is not. This article also states that everyone wants to look great and make statement and should take advantage of combining things to achieve near perfection.

Having read the article I realized that my topic, Jejemons, is not a part of those people who consider the second factor. Basically, because they wear varsity jackets or sweater during the days of summer here in the Philippines. They would wear such stuff and suffer from the hotness of the sun rather than wearing muscle tees which are more comfortable. But since I’m not that interested in the second point, I focused my attention to the last factor, influence.

From the site philStar.com Lifestyle section, an article "Fashion. Youth. Philippines." written by Nik Juban talked about the fashion trends of the Filipino youth during the year of 2008 wherein people start those fashion trends such a wearing large shirts, gladiator shoes, baseball shirts and such. Based on his article, fashion of the Filipino teens is highly influenced by media especially its music. Young adults exposed to this are subject to wear fashion by those icons such as the Western celebrities. According to the article, it is the reason why young men wear jacket or sweater at summer and so as the young women wearing too much skin-showing clothes like Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears. And the young would choose to wear like this because they wanted to be noticed. They wanted to be different. They wanted to show others that they stand out. It is because fashion is the way to show one’s personality. It shows one’s creativity and personal sense of style. The article also gave tips what to clothes wear and what to keep in one’s closet since fashion is changing fast paced.

Getting the gist of the articles, I, myself, consider it the greatest factor and found myself a victim of influence. I remember the years 2008 up to 2010 were the years wherein emo fashion was viral. It is because during those years when the emo genre, those of the acoustic and mellow songs are also viral. I once wore those overly large black shirts and of course I had my bangs cut back then. Those geeky glasses for ornament and sometimes wearing my white gladiator shoes were the proof. I never realized that having those made me part of the mainstream fashion. I remember I would listen to Secondhand Serenade and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus songs played by my cousins and friends which somehow influenced me. Black shirts mostly made up my closet because John Vesely, Secondhand Serenade’s lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist, would wore always especially in his music videos. Because time flies and everything changes, emo fashion was sort of fading from my closet, because currently I would imitate the Pretty Little Liars star, Lucy Hale, since I found her fashion sense casual yet sophisticated. I also realized that it is greatly affected by the environment we are exposed to. And yes it matters. Hence, both articles only suggest that fashion is very subjective; it’s an expression of our internal feelings so as music we are listening to.

Since Jejemusic is a complex whole of emo, punk, pop, rock and hiphop genres their fashion are more likely to be mixed. Their side swept, sometimes dyed, hair is excerpt of an Emo phenomenon, their tops can either be from emo, punk or pop and their bottoms are either from hiphop or thug's. I just realized that wearing voluminous pants are awesome since my legs can move freely unlike wearing too tight ones. Dyed hair isn't also a big deal since I got mine dyed too and it makes m personality bolder. Shouldn't we be proud of the Jejemons since they were able to combine different things into a single one? Well, their creativity for me is big thumbs up. Fashion is about being creative and comfortable. So stop the hate. If being Jejemon is wearing a cute bright colored Angry bird tee, I'd consider myself one.

bL0wg6pOszxt 4: "L33t Sp34k"

Mind reading this?

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If you read a word or a sentence from it, congrats you're probably a gamer! A pro! U pwned it! For those who can't recognize even a letter and had a headache trying to configure whatever is written there, well let me decrypt it for you.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

People call this l33t sp34k. I remembered this word since I saw my brother one time and he reminded me of his Jejedays where he managed a page named”Jeje Monsters” and whenever he updates the fan page, he would use a l33t translator. And since my topic is about Jejemon, I became interested with l33t. To start off, what is l33t? Are they related with Jejemon?

An article written by Tdol from UsingElish.Com entitled "Leetspeak- 4 wr1tt3n 4nti-l4ngua4g3", explained what Leetspeak is all about. According to this article, it is a written anti-language found in forums and BBSs using mostly numbers or characters in place of letters to talk about software piracy, hacks and cracks. Because of the unusual way of writing, those outsiders would never get the chance to understand the thread. L33t doesn’t only restrict to numbers as letters, but they also use symbols which bear little resemblance to the letter they represent. The article also provided samples of leetification.

• 10% Leetification - Fourscor3 and s3v3n y3ars ago our fath3rs brought forth on this contin3nt a n3w nation, conc3iv3d in lib3rty and d3dicat3d to th3 proposition that all m3n ar3 cr3at3d 3qual.

• 50% Leetification - ƒ0µr$(0r3 4n�? $3v3n ¥34r$ 490 0µr ƒ47h3r$ br0µ9h7 ƒ0r7h 0n 7h1$ (0n71n3n7 4 n3w n4710n, (0n(31v3�? 1n £1b3r7¥ 4n�? �?3�?1(473�? 70 7h3 pr0p0$1710n 7h47 4££ m3n 4r3 (r3473�? 3qµ4£.

• 100% Leetification - ƒ0µ®$(0®3 4|\|�? $3\/3|\| ¥34®$ 490 0µ® ƒ47|-|3®$ ß®0µ9|-|7 ƒ0®7|-| 0|\| 7|-|1$ (0|\|71|\|3|\|7 4 |\|3\/\/ |\|4710|\|, (0|\|(31\/3�? 1|\| £1ß3®7¥ 4|\|�? �?3�?1(473�? 70 7|-|3 p®0p0$1710|\| 7|-|47 4££ |\/|3|\| 4®3 (®3473�? 3¶µ4£.

(Translations made using the AlibinoBlackSheep.com Leet Translator)

As seen above, at 10%, one can still read it for only the letter E was replaced by 3. At 50% more letters are replaced by symbols and by 100% it’s already impossible for one to recognize what is the letter represented by the symbols.

Excerpt from Megatokyo

Another article written by Thrid entitled "An Explanation of l33t Speak" from H2G2 site supported the previous.  This stated the history of the language. Conferring to the article, it was during the 1980s when hackers started using numbers to replace letters. Only few knew the language and those who knew it would mock others saying they are “elites” which was spelled as “3l33t” and was later on became “l33t”; hence the name came from. But this later on faded because it takes too much time to type and from being amusing it became annoying. It once hit the spotlight when a widespread web comic Megatokya used it. Later on it was used by mostly gamers. The article also gave examples of common l33t wherein vowels are replaced by numbers such as A = 4, E = 3, I = 1and O = 0. Others however are more creative, O = (), U = |_|, T = 7, D = |), W = \/\/ and S = $. They also use -0r in place of -ed or –er as in 0wnz0r! (Owned), Z for S, PH for F, 00 for O and punctuation marks are often omitted.  In addition to that, the said article also provided common l33t vocabularies such as:

 

• ·0w|\| or 0wn3d - One of the most popular l33t words it is very loosely defined as beaten or can simply be an expression of awe, for example, 'I 0wn3d you' means 'I have beaten you in a very humiliating fashion', or '0wn4ge!' which means 'That was (or is) very nifty'.
• ·w00t - Derived from 'hoot', this is defined as 'yay', it can be used, for example, upon victory or, possibly, the release and procurement of a new video card.
• ·13wt - Treasure, good merchandise, possessions, a misspelling of loot. Most commonly referring to pirated software, items in a game or promotional giveaways.
• ·h4x0r - Hacker, can be used for a real hacker or simply a very skillful person. This is the most common occurrence of the -0r clause.
• ·ph33r - Fear, most commonly used in such phrases as, 'Ph33r m3!' or 'Ph33r |\/|y 1337 sk1llz!' It can also be written as, 'ph34r'.
• ·sk1llz - Obviously derived from 'skill', referring to skill in some type of online game, programming or hacking. Many times used in conjunction with 'm4d'. As a general rule, if one has sk1llz, one is to be ph33r3d.
• ·m4d - Mad, mostly used as a descriptive term meaning great, for example, 'h3s g0t m4d sk1llz'.
• ·j00 - You, commonly used in such phrases as, 'j00 d34d f00'.
• ·f00 - Fool, one who isn't very bright or skillful.
• ·j0 - Yo, as in the greeting.
• ·d00d - Dude; an expression of comrade, or just used to address a random person online.
• ·sux0r - Sucks, as in '7h1s sux0r', one of the few common examples of the -0r clause.
• ·l4m3r - Lamer, someone who is lame, someone who uses an unfair tactic or generally makes the things around him or her less fun.
• ·n00b - Short for noobie, misspelling of newbie; someone who is new to something, or just not very good at it.

Aren’t satisfied of the words? L33t speak in the site DataGenetics also gave some letters replaced by numbers like L = 1, Z = 2. S = 5, G = 9 T= 7 and I = 1. Also, the site provided you words using l33t. From three-lettered words to 16 lettered word.

Both articles supported my hypothesis that Jejemon and l33tsp34k are somehow similar.  Both are hard to decode and understand. Both are used by only those who understand the nature of language. Both use characters to replace a letter. Both uses misspelled words. Both are used in social media. Both have the levels of being an l33t and being a Jejemon. Both are viral. The only difference is that l33t is accepted, Jejemon isn’t. Isn’t it unfair seeing both have the same purpose and almost the same format and one is accepted and the other is not? It’s like saying you one can make a coffee drink using warm water but not using cold one. It has the same purpose, to be mixed with water and make some refreshment, but the cold one is not accepted? Can you see the resemblance? L33t is accepted and Jejemon is not. In my opinion, they should be both accepted since it seems like Jejemon came from the l33t, it’s just that Jejemons uses sticky caps wherein l33t doesn’t. Maybe the reason why, is that people think using Jejemon is humiliating, it’s only for those lame people, it’s degrading while using l33t makes you feel like a pro, feel like superior to the newbies and those who can't decipher the code.

bL0wg6pOszxt 3: "Its Just Gramar an Speling Aftre All.."

One of the characteristic a Filipino will surely possess is being stingy in nature. We love to recycle like using the cooking oil more than seven times or until the color is nearly dark brown. We are fond of those sales, thrift shops and imported secondhand RTWs. We love those free tastes food found in the supermarkets and the freebies given away. And of course would I forget how we love buying things little by little? Like those of shampoos in sachets, condiments in sachets rather in bottles or plastic containers and even water can be bought in sachet! In addition to that, we also prefer texting than calling because of its convenience and lower rates.

Texting is one of the communications we use every day. With just few strokes of our fingers words are typed and sent directly to our receiver. Texting from being a necessity becomes a hobby then an addiction. From the article “Texting addiction: 10 Signs your teen is addicted to texting” by Sue Scheff from the site Examiner.com, she came up with the possible signs to determine one as a text-addict:

• · Calluses on thumbs or experiencing pain or cramps because of excessive strokes done by the fingers.
• · Runs into things where kids hurry things just to do text messaging.
• · Deformed neck because of hours and hours of bowed head.
• · Speaks in acronyms like saying BTW instead of by the way, OMG for expression and the like.
• · Attached to phone wherein kids can never go anywhere without phone on one’s hand.
• · Unaware of surroundings and less focused on whatever is happening around him/her.
• · Takes phone to bed and sometimes sneaks and stay late nights just to continue conversing with their peers
• · Panics attacks whenever they are separated with their phones or whenever the phone is unseen.
• · Unable to function without the phone
• · Combative behavior whenever parents confront them about their “hobby”

This article suggests that parents should intervene if ever they saw these signs and remind their child that there is still a world outside aside from their texting world. Reading this article, I noticed that it is also a sign if someone does not give any attention to grammar and spelling of words. But texting is limited hence; we tend to shorten the words and use numbers or other signs in order to send the message. But in a technological world, does spelling and grammar really matter?

From the site livescience, an article, “Texting May Lead to Bad Grammar”, written by Megan Gannon proved that because of frequent texting, teenagers develop inappropriate grammar. And one of the reasons is the influence of their family or friends who they frequently interact and send grammatically incorrect text messages. Because of this, they tend to switch techspeak and the prescribed words when doing formal writing.

 “Do grammar and spelling matter?” by James Adonis in the site The Sydney Morning Herald stated some common errors such as the apostrophes for its and it’s, the use of article a and an before the letter H, mixing up different words such as affect and effect, complimentary and complementary, lead and led and of course you’re and your. The article’s gist is that communication is interrupted because of these flows which lessen ones credibility and professionalism.

From the article “Does Spelling Matter?” by Harvey Morris in the site IHT Rendezvous, Simon Horobin of Magdalen College, gave his insights about the accepting the change in word spellings. He also pointed out that knowing the standard spelling should not be confused with one’s intelligence. Simon Heffer, a newspaper columnist, agreed with him and stated that there are truly inane people who can spell perfectly and some apparently brilliant ones who can’t. Another article, “In An Autocorrect Generation, Does Spelling Still Matter?” found in Here & Now, with Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson supported this. It is about Connecticut eighth-grader Thomas Hurley who was a “Kids Jeopardy” contestant made it all the way to the Final Jeopardy round and even got the right answer but misspelled it. Again, Horobin insisted that spelling is important but because of technology we should be more acceptable of the changes it does to the words.

Reading the articles gave me assumptions that spelling and grammar depends on your receiver and the situation. The first article gave me the assumption that one can be less conscious about grammar and spelling when conversing with people close to you. You can use shortcut of words, may occasionally mistype some words without correcting it or even commit some grammatical flows since it is an informal conversation. On the other hand, one should be very cognizant about it when conversing formally because this affects the impression you’re leaving to the person whom you’re talking to. Or when you are in formal occasions, you should be very keen in discerning your grammar and spelling.