Word Report

Dainty>dignity 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the words dainty and dignity have the following definitions:

Dainty- 

(n.)

1. Estimation, honour, favor (in which anything is held); esteem, regard; affection, love
2. Liking or fondness to do or see anything; delight, pleasure, joy
3. Delightful or choice quality; sumptuousness
4. Daintiness; fastidiousness
5. Anything estimable, choice, fine, pleasing or delightful; hence occas., a luxury, rarity
6. Anything pleasing or delicious to the palate; a choice viand, a delicacy
7. Phrase. To set great store by; hense, to be sparing or chary of, to be chary or loth, to scruple
8. As an asseveration: By God's dignity, or honour

(adj.) 

1. Valuable, fine, handsome; choice, excellent; pleasant, delightful
2. Precious; hence, rare, scarce
3. Pleasing to the palate, choice, delicate
4. Of delicate or tender beauty or grace; delicately pretty; made with delicate taste
5. Of persons, etc.: Possessing or displaying delicate taste, perception or sensibility; nice, fastidious, particular; sometimes, over-nice
6. Nice or particular as to the quality of food, comforts, etc.; luxurious 
7. Delicate (in health or constitution)
8. Daintily
9. (as a verb) To pamper or indulge with dainties

Dignity-

1. The quality of being worthy or honourable; worthiness, worth, nobleness, excellence
2. Honourable or high estate, position, or estimation; honour; degree of estimation, rand
3. An honourable office, rank, or title; a high official or titular position
4. Nobility of befitting elevation of aspect, manner, or style; becoming or fit stateliness, gravity
5. A situation of a planet in which its influence is heightened, either by its position in the zodiac, or by its aspects with other planets
6. The term for a 'company' of canons
7. Power
8. A self-evident theorem, an axiom 

The word "dainty" first derived in c. 1225 and continued to develop until 1816. It has origins from Old French "deintie" and Latin "dignitatem". Dainty as an adjective sprouted from the noun and the meaning evolved in Middle English to "choice, excellent" to "delicately pretty". On the other hand, "dignity" also arose in 1225 and expanded until 1891. This word came from Old French "dignite" as well as Latin "dignitatem". These two words relate to one another by the similarities of their definitions. They both have meaning that deals with words such as "honour" and they both seem to be favorable words. In both cases, the words are used with positive meaning and deal with luxury- whether it is something luxurious or a luxurious position. 

"The N-word on the 4th of July"

Through her article, "The N-word on the 4th of July," Brittney Cooper explains to her readers the pain, humiliation, embarrassment, and anger that she endured through her experiences with racial slurs. She speaks of two particular instances in which she was put down and called the N-word by those of opposite races. The first time she was ever called this hateful word was when she was just a little girl, then again while she was onboard a plane heading home on the 4th of July. After overseeing a text message being sent by her neighbor on the plane regarding her as a "fat nigger," Cooper was distraught. The woman sending the text message was a middle-aged white woman with a family, whom Cooper had never met nor spoke with. After seeing the message, Cooper's past emotions emerged and in her article she writes about feelings that she was once again experiencing, "...the foreboding sense that something was wrong not with anything I had said or done, but simply with me. Immediately I was hyper-aware – looking around, feeling marked, wondering if others find my large, dark-skinned body as distasteful as my seatmate did". 

The main purpose of this article was to address the issue of racism and how hurtful such words can be to those of any age or size. Cooper knew she had to speak out, not only for her own sake, but in order for others (the woman's children included) to recognize how ignorant it is to use racial slurs. She then took action into her own hands and confronted the woman by telling her how cruel her words were. We can only hope, after reading this article, that individuals will be given insight into the lives of others and become more respectful and courteous of those around them. 

"The Million Word March"

"...The gap between the words people use and the words that appear in dictionaries might be on the rise." This is the main claim that author Anika Gupta makes in her article, "The Million Word March." She speaks of how the English language consists of over a million different words and is still continuing to grow, however, most standard dictionaries contain a mere 200,000 words. This is because, as Gupta explains, the dictionaries of our generation disregard words for being either too technical, too young, or even popular brand names as well as foreign words and phrases. In her article, Gupta quotes Paul JJ Payack when he says that a word is defined as, "a thought spoken," and therefore, if an individual speaks a word out loud, then it is technically considered to be a real word. Using the Monitor, Payack decided to track all kinds of words over the internet, even those that the dictionary rejects, in order to see the momentum or popularity of such words. What they ultimately found was that not only did the internet quickly add a wide range of new words to the English language, but it has also "taken existing words to new ears." Overall, the English language is endlessly growing and will never be entirely known or used by any individual.

"Scholarship Boy"

Shame, guilt, change, anxiety, separation. This are just a few of the feelings that Richard Rodriguez spoke of experiencing throughout his life in his article, "Scholarship Boy." Rodriguez grew up in a Spanish household with uneducated parents and a yearn for knowledge. Although he knew this knowledge would make him different from his family, he craved to resemble his intelligent teachers who had both authority and confidence. As he got older, Rodriguez spoke of the hardships he encountered between his two lives at home and at school. He struggled daily when he tried to focus on his reading and papers while living in a noisy household with people who simply did not understand him. He was both embarrassed and ashamed of his parent's lack of education and he felt that he could not be proud of his accomplishments at home. Rodriguez knew deep down that his education was becoming a fundamental change in both his life and that of his family. The separation between them was constantly growing and this gap was a perpetual reminder of what his old life used to be. His devotion to his studies would bring him far in life, but there was a certain price he had to pay. Ultimately, he was thankful for everything his parents had done for him, yet their lives were slowly and surely drifting apart.

"Disliking Books at an Early Age"

In the article, "Disliking Books at an Early Age," the author Gerald Graff addresses the issue of how students in recent generations have been taught by their teachers to read and interpret books. Graff claims, in contrast with other teachers and philosophers, that becoming a critical reader who is fully consumed by their reading must not simply read the text as we assume the author wants it to be read, but instead we must also make our own arguments and have social debate and conversation. Effective arguments, Graff states, allows a reader to gain a sense of what other people are saying and in turn provides reading with stimulus and direction. Ultimately, Graff declares that we must disregard the commonly practiced primary and secondary reading processes, but rather relate ourselves to a community in which will make our literary experience both personal and intimate. Doing so will allow individuals to actually enjoy literature and formulate critical questions which will give reading a sense of purpose.

Graff certainly knows what he is talking about considering he graduated with both a B.A in English and a Ph. D. He was an english professor for 25 years and a fully invested author. He directs this article towards an audience in which he hopes will reconsider a way of teaching. He makes his main claims by addressing an issue which he supports with personal experience and quotes from other philosophers and then he provides an answer of how to solve these problems in today's world.