Assignments for 23rd, March class.

1) Answer the questions on the conversation prompt discussed in class.

 - Do you agree with these quotes?
    I agree with these texts but actually, I don't follow these social rules.

 - When is a rule really just a suggestion? And when do suggestions morph into rules?

    When I have to make my OWN decisions, rules are just a suggestion. However, if a majority of people suggest and insist of something, their suggestion becomes a rule.

 - What are the consequences -good or bad- of getting "off the prescribed path" (breaking the rules)?

    Well, I guess that a good consequence is that I can make my own creative ways without a disturbance by other people and I won't be a person who just think about things in sterotype.  On the other hand, a bad consequence is that the society will be chaostic if everyone in the society doesn't observe rules.

 - What happens to those who break the rules?


   Some people who break the rules will become outsiders of the society and other social members will point a finger at them.

2) Post an exampe of the 'herd'mentality in action

 Meaning of "herd mentality" : How people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items.
Examples of the herd mentality : the early adopters of high technology products became herd mentality. Like "iPhone" in these days, this little mechine became necessity of mordern society to the young and business men.

3) On this day the expression 'OK' entered into the American vernacular. what does it mean and who is credited as being the first person to use the expression publicly.

 There have been numerous attempts to explain the emergence of this expression, which seems to have swept into popular use in the US during the mid-19th century. Most of them are pure speculation. It does not seem at all likely, from the linguistic and historical evidence, that it comes from the Scots expression och aye, the Greek ola kala ('it is good'), the Choctaw Indian oke or okeh ('it is so'), the French aux Cayes ('from Cayes', a port in Haiti with a reputation for good rum) or au quai ('to the quay', as supposedly used by French-speaking dockers), or the initials of a railway freight agent called Obediah Kelly who is said to have written them on documents he had checked.
A more likely explanation is that the term originated as an abbreviation of orl korrekt , a jokey misspelling of 'all correct'  which was current in the US in the 1830s. The oldest written references result from its use as a slogan by the Democratic party during the American Presidential election of 1840. Their candidate, President Martin Van Buren, was nicknamed 'Old Kinderhook' (after his birthplace in New York State), and his supporters formed the 'OK Club'. This undoubtedly helped to popularize the term (though it did not get President Van Buren re-elected).
The only other theory with at least a degree of plausibility is that the term originated among Black slaves of West African origin, and represents a word meaning 'all right, yes indeed' in various West African languages. Unfortunately, historical evidence enabling the origin of this expression to be finally and firmly established may be hard to unearth.