SOTU 2011

I watched/read the transcript of the 2011 State of the Union Address this morning. I am always struck by how the President is SO articulate. One of my favorite quotes:

‎"We are part of the American family. We believe in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people; that we share common hopes and a common creed; that the dreams of a little girl in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, and that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled."- President Barack Obama

I MISS EVERYONE !

CV's

Recently,  I began working on my "CV" which stands for "Curriculum Vitae"! In Latin this means "course of life" and (at first) I believed it is a synonym for the American word "resume". However after researching online and a discussion with some  friends I found out that there are some pretty significant differences.

Some people informed me that a complete CV requires some personal information. I was shocked! ONE extreme example: I found CV that revealed a person's martial status, age, health status, and hobbies.

This one is completely fictional:

D. Buckham
Contact:
Buckingham Palace, La, CA
db@gmail.com
900-092-9929
Nationality: English
Languages: English and conversational spanish
Marital Status: married
Birthday: 10/8/1970
Health: multiple knee injuries
Hobbies: watching Manchester U.  and designing purses with my wife

After speaking with another person (not from UK) I learned in some countries it is now common practice to add an image of yourself on your CV!

Hobbies can show off your desirable strengths or traits.  My fictional candidate's hobby could reveal an interest in the arts and creative ability.... (?) A picture helps employers remember a perspective employee's name/face after an interview.  In the states, there are very strict laws during the application and interview process.  Despite the some of the positive aspects of the detailed CV's, I think the costs might outweigh the benefits of this practice. This story just was in the news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12161045

Regardless, if I include my hobbies, I think my altered resume/cv has improved in 2011!

Abbreviations

Hi Everyone!
Sorry I am behind. However,  I am waiting for SOMEONE to send me some pictures so I can properly fill you in on my Christmas break!

I am working on responding to emails and procrastinating. One of the things I have realized recently is  that I have conflicting feelings about abbreviations. This is probably because my mother hated them so much. I was taught to say, "Yes" instead of "Ok" because that word was not "proper" English. What does OK even stand for? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okay] If the word "Whatev" came out of my mouth I would probably be grounded depending on the context and how I innotated.

This, of course, was all before the prevalence of the internet & before me or any of my friends had cell phones. In the year 2009 (...I am being generous) when my mom figured out how to text she has changed her stance on this issue.  For example, I receive "When R U coming home?" pretty frequently.

After being surrounded by people who are not native speakers of English (and English people for that matter!!) I am frequently exposed to abbreviations on a daily basis. Many of them I never knew existed!
When typing and texting I often have to consult friends to decipher the meaning of some responses I receive.

I have discovered two categories of abbreviations:

The first I consider to be Necessary Abbreviations. This is the style of abbreviations that I feel comfortable using. An example would be the text above, or many are acronyms. The main reason for using these would be to save time in a realtime chat (fbook, gchat), or maybe to simplify a fast text message.  I am not a fabulous writer, and I cannot spell!!!! The abbreviations have a purpose for making things easier and messaging more efficient. To me, there is a significant difference in typing "over the top" and simply putting OTT.

Some examples:
fb=facebook
brb= be right back
wtf= "welcome to facebook"
smh=shaking my head
ott=over the top  (This one is British! It's really fun to use, try it!)
omg= oh my gosh
bff=best friend forever (bf= is boyfriend , which is is why this is different)

Ones I use... but probably should not:
ppl= people
u=you

The second category are Unnecessary Abbreviations. They completely baffle me.
Some examples based on an anonymous & completely random messages I have received via text or Facebook.

1. miss ya loadz!, hpe u gud thoug!


-loadz- not an abbreviation, but WHY the z and not the s?
-hpe=hope*
-gud=good
-thoug=though*

Some more: 
ve=have
dem=them
da=the
ma=my
ya=you
wat=what

I have never heard anyone say "da" instead of "the".  It is just one letter short of the real word so why not just type "the"?  Changing "my" to "ma" doesn't really make sense to me either. Why not just put the correct letter? 


I suppose "ve" instead of "have" you are saving typing two characters. 

Can anyone explain this to me?

Well,  I am now off to a virtual group meeting via Skype. I am pretty excited to see how this works!

I miss everyone back home. xoxo