"New exclamation mark rules – proof that The Man wants to penalise enthusiasm!"

http://www.theguardian.com/education/shortcuts/2016/mar/07/new-exclamation-mark-rules-proof-the-government-wants-to-penalise-enthusiasm

Feminism Article Analysis

Text A - http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2578625-Bluewater-and-Breitling-remove-your-offensive-display-now

Text B - http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/14/female-characters-should-be-more-than-athletic-but-sexy-28

Text A

·         Form – online forum, mumsnet e.g. social media links

·         Purpose – create discussion about sexualisation of women

·         Audience – mums, arguably older/middle aged women e.g. links relating to mothers such as “family meal planner”

·         Informal register – written as though spoken e.g “ugh”

·         “Overtly sexualised” – low frequency adverb which suggests intelligence

·         “Fucking” – taboo lexis which shows outrage. Also not a stereotypical aspect of women’s speech

·         “Wtaf?” – an acronym which relates to the online mode but is also a stereotypical feature of teenager speech – may have teenage children? Convergence?

·          “This is worth getting worked about” – this is showing opinion but it has some sarcasm which is disagreeing with the majority

·         “I believe the phrase is, “no shit Sherlock” – shows sarcasm

·         “This has no place in 2016” – short, simple syntax displays anger

·         “I was no. 53!” – exclamative which shows shock

·         “What is her function?” – interrogative which shows that they are questioning what the purpose of the display is

·         “I guess” – shows that the speaker is unsure of where to find the petition which suggests that she lacks confidence even with the safety of being an anonymous online user

·         “’historical reasons’” – the quotation marks show that the writer is questioning what the contribution is to society, it could also show that they are being sarcastic

·         The social media links down the side of the page show that the platform is online, however, it is common for children, mostly teenagers, to use

·         “Ugh” – is written how it is spoken which supports the informality

·         Turn taking between ‘SlowFJH’ and ‘BarefootAcrossHotLegoPieces’ – makes a part of the text more cohesive, relates to Schegloff’s theory

·         Mostly made up of incomplete syntax which means the text overall is not really cohesive which could show the informality

·         The picture of the display – shows readers what is meant by the description of the display, leaves less to the imagination

·         Adverts targeted at the audience – e.g. “Avon Anew Essential Youth Maximising Serum”

·         “Useful tools” e.g. “baby name finder” relates to mothers/expecting mother

Text B

·         Form – broadsheet newspaper article from The Guardian e.g. links at the side of page to more serious article e.g. “Jeremy Corbyn” (politics)

·         Purpose – to inform people about some depths of feminism

·         Audience – mostly older women, upper working class/lower middle class?

·         Formal register – e.g. adjectives such as “indistinguishable”

·         “Abysmal” – low frequency adjective

·         “Hypersexualised” – low frequency verb, shows intelligence which relates to Guardian readers and the type of articles it produces

·         “Rich Smith” – comments used by speakers support the credibility of the article

·         “See? Who said we still need feminism?” – interrogatives that show sarcasm since the writer’s message is strongly for feminism

·         Quotations e.g. “middle aged” – make it more reliable

·         Complex syntax – complex topic?

·         “It’s cumulative.” – short, simple syntax – shows anger?

·         “Tell better stories.” – simple syntax, abrupt ending. Maybe an order?

·         “Tell better stories.” – could show that people are believing what they read in the media instead of fully understanding the feminist message

·         “nooooooooooo!” – opinion, disagreeing, written as spoken language

·         “@femscriptintros” – relates to the online mode

·         “#OscarsSoWhite” – relates the online form and could maybe be used to intrigue a younger audience

·         Social media links – spreading the word via the internet?

Similarities

·         Both have some sarcastic content

·         There is underlying anger in the messages displayed in both texts

·         Use of interrogatives

·         Both include social media links which spread the message and promote their website

·         Similar audiences

Differences

·         Text A has an informal register whereas text B is formal

·         Text B is more cohesive than text A

·         More low frequency lexis in text B

·         Incomplete syntax in text A, more complex syntax in text B

·         Quotes are used in text B

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth - The Top 20 Words in English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06z2pmp

The most common word in English is "the". Among the top 20, there are no nouns, few verbs and mostly grammatical words. Although there are boring words such as "and", there are fundamental to the English language as they build our sentences. They are all old English lexis. From a gender perspective, there is no "she" within the top 25. The most popular noun is "time". 

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth - Slang

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wd268

This radio clip is generally about the history of slang.
In this audio there are talks about how slang has a bad reputation since it used to be associated with criminality. 
There appears to be different reasons for slang such as misogyny, abuse and sex. There is an absence of caring and friendly slang words.
Slang could be thought of as a "linguistic safety valve".
There are discussions about whether slang is mostly dominated by men, however, it is apparent that women use slang too.

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk/

"How to watch Netflix as a feminist"

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/14/netflix-feminist-emma-watson-book-club-our-shared-shelf

This article talks about Netflix shows which are good to watch for feminists. As many people use Netflix regularly, this is quite good to highlight shows which can be an "important social exercise".

"ICYMI, English language is changing faster than ever, says expert"

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/01/icymi-english-language-is-changing-faster-than-ever-says-expert

This article highlights the ever changing English language. It mentions the many neologisms that are often used by teenagers such as "fleek" and "bae".