Place-Names: Its Cultural Significance Among the Western Apache Essay

Between 1979 and 1984, Professor Keith Basso of he University of New Mexico conducted a study of Apache places and place-names. Specifically, this stud focused on the ways in which the Apache refer to their land, the legends behind these places, and the ways in which these place-names are used in everyday conversation. Basso’s ethnography can be considered as an attempt to correlate social landscape with culture. Basso attempted to examine the effects of landscape to the everyday social interaction of Apache men and women. The Western Apache construction of history is a ‘worn trail’ created by the tribe’s first ancestors. It was also the same path that several generations of Apache undertook. It was in these places that ‘special events’ took place. The ancestors gave names to landscapes based on the events that happened there. These place-names were passed down from one generation to another to serve as a bridge between the Apache and their ancestors. It was in every sense, a memorial of the past, a dedication to the ancestors. Even if the landscape changed, its name remained alive in Apache culture. Basso then examined the specifics of the language used by the Apache to refer to place-names. Basso found that the Apache usually manipulated language (with regard to place-names) in order to elicit acceptable behavior and moralistic values from the members of the tribe. It can be said that the creation of place-names tales was generally moralistic in nature. It was intended to influence patterns of social collectivity. Its purpose was multi-faceted: 1) to provide enlightenment, 2) to criticize, and 3) to warn. The general implied purpose of place-names was to promote the general interest and unity of the Apache tribe. This is the reason why place-names remained a central force in Apache cultural life. As in every tribe, a historical tale is intended to create a critical and remedial response to specific situations, mostly on the individual level. An individual ho committed crime would have to be judged based on its implied offense to the historical value of place-names. The Apache examined whether such offense created a gap between the individual and the place-names. The landscape, therefore, served as the moral guide of the Apache. It generally outlined the dos and don’ts of an ethical and moral living. It was in every sense, the Apache view of moral life (a reference to ancestral events that occurred in specific places). The place-names when spoken evoked moral truths. Those who spoke it must know its essence. By judging it to be morally relevant, an Apache was expected to proclaim it from the heart. The process of knowing the truth must be silent and critical. One need not study it. Only an invocation from the heart would provide images of the truth and serve as an infallible guide to moral life. This â€Å"evoking of images† provided a direct form of criticism or advice without so much linguistic references. Thus, it can be said that the value of place-names to Apache life is both direct and indirect. It is direct because it served as a guide to the ideal life. It is indirect because the individual understood it from the heart. It was, in every sense, a bridge not only between the individual and the past, but also between the individual and the society. For example, the place-names of ‘great dog mountain’, ‘pillar of fire’, and ‘hill of discontent’ provided the means by which the individual may connect to the past. The anchorage of his actions could not be independent of the ‘will’ of these places, since these places are the only ones which give meaning to life. For an Apache, the ‘pillar of fire’ signified the foundation of life and the solitude of existence. The Apache mind rested on the edifice of these place-names both as a testimony to the greatness of their ancestors as well as the worth of its society. Reference Basso, Keith. 1996. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.

3 Errors in Using Parentheses

3 Errors in Using Parentheses 3 Errors in Using Parentheses 3 Errors in Using Parentheses By Mark Nichol Parenthetical marks can cause difficulties for writers- and, as a result, for readers. In each of the following examples, parentheses are misused; discussion and revision of each sentence follow. 1. The act brings the United Kingdom into line with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) recommendations in dealing with bribery and corruption. One writing convention is to insert an acronym or initialism of a term in parentheses after that term is introduced, after which the abbreviation, rather than the full term, is used in subsequent references. However, it is awkward to introduce a term in this manner when it appears in possessive form, with an apostrophe followed by s. In such cases, it is best to replace the possessive form with a prepositional phrase so that the parenthesis immediately follows the term itself: â€Å"The act brings the United Kingdom into line with the recommendations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in dealing with bribery and corruption.† 2. Moving tangible and nontangible (for example, data files and intellectual property) assets is an option. Again, a parenthesis that provides more information should immediately follow the relevant word or phrase; in this case, the parenthetical refers not to â€Å"tangible and nontangible† but to assets: â€Å"Moving tangible and nontangible assets (for example, data files and intellectual property) is an option.† 3. This work does not cover all aspects of IT integration (those are laid out in a detailed IT integration plan that will take months to complete while parallel IT environments are operated). This treatment of a parenthesis is not strictly wrong, but when the parenthesis consists of a complete sentence, it is clearer to treat it as such, with the first letter of the first word capitalized and with a period preceding the close parenthesis mark (and terminal punctuation following the preceding sentence): â€Å"This work does not cover all aspects of IT integration. (Those are laid out in a detailed IT integration plan that will take months to complete while parallel IT environments are operated.)† If, however, a complete sentence in parentheses falls within another sentence, leave the first letter of the first word lowercase and omit the period. (Exception: A question mark or exclamation point at the end of the wording in parentheses should be retained regardless of where the parenthesis falls.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Good At, Good In, and Good WithTen Yiddish Expressions You Should KnowOne "L" or Two?

Embarrassing Moments While Learning Spanish

Embarrassing Moments While Learning Spanish Making mistakes comes with the territory of learning a foreign language. Most mistakes are benign, but when you make those mistakes in a different country or culture, some of them can be downright embarrassing. A forum that used to be part of this site featured a discussion on embarrassing moments in learning the language. Here are a few of the responses. Arbolito: While living in Madrid while getting my Masters degree, I went to the mercado, specifically to where they sold poultry. I very politely asked for two pechos. I had learned that pechos was the word for breast. Little did I know that there was a different word for chicken breasts, pechuga. So there I was, asking the man for 2 human breasts! And I also used the word coger in Argentina, even though I have known forever that it is an obscenity there. But in other places, it is just a common way to say to take. So I asked someone where I could coger el autobà ºs! Apodemus: On a Spanish course in Salamanca I met a Belgian girl. I asked her, in Spanish of course, whether she spoke Dutch or French. Her response was: En la oficina, hablo holandà ©s, pero en la cama hablo francà ©s. Suddenly the whole room was looking at her, she went bright red and stuttered En la casa, dije en la casa!! Rocer: In Chile, cabrito young kid, but in Peru, cabrito gay (or is it the other way around?) A friend of mine from the U.S. was in Chile, and he learned the word cabrito. People called him cabrito because he was young. He liked the word cabrito, so he called himself cabrito. Then he traveled to Peru, and some people asked him why he didnt get married with a Peruvian girl, he said Es que yo soy muy cabrito (he wanted to say the thing is that Im very young, and he ended up saying the thing is that Im very gay). People just looked at him very weird, and laughed at him. Later on, he returned to Chile, where people laughed like crazy when he told them his story. Hermanito: Lo siguiente no me pasà ³ a mà ­ sino a una amiga mà ­a, quien apenas comenzaba a aprender espaà ±ol. Esta entro a una tiendita mexicana y le preguntà ³ al dueà ±o si tenà ­a huevos, sin saber el sentido alternativo de la palabra. (The word huevos, which means eggs, is also a slang term for testicles.) El Tejano: In Mexico, ladies never order eggs - they always say blancos. Glenda: I have three stories. The first is from a friend here in San Miguel, who after eating a delicious meal, wanted to compliment the cook. She said, Compliments to the cocino. Cocino means a fat pig. She should have said compliments to the cocinero. Then, there is this story, from our local newspaper. A moderately experienced horsewoman comes to Mexico and is taking riding lessons from a Mexican male teacher. He doesnt realize how experienced she is, so he wants her to keep the horse roped. She is frustrated but complies and keeps a rope on the horse throughout her lesson. They are talking in Spanish about the next days lesson, making arrangements, and she finishes the conversation by saying, Sà ­, est bien ... pero maà ±ana, sin ropa. And finally, from my own experience. A local waiter in a restaurant we like is also an artist. My husband and I saw his work displayed in the restaurant and decided to buy it. He was overjoyed, and in return offered to pay for the slice of cake we had ordered for dessert - a very sweet gesture. At the end of the meal, I said, Gracias por la pastilla (the pill) instead of el pastel (the cake). I am sure that there have been many more embarrassing moments which I have caused ... but probably people here were so polite I never even knew. El Tejano: Twenty odd years ago, I was in a shoe store in Mexico buying a new pair of shoes. My Spanish was a lot worse than it is now and I couldnt remember the word for size. So I looked size up in my wimp dictionary (always a very risky practice) and the first entry was tamaà ±o. So I told the young lady that my tamaà ±o was 9. She was very young and I was about 50, and I heard her mutter, barely audibly under her breath, rabo verde. If you dont get it, Ill leave the details to someone else, otherwise youll be calling me rabo verde too. Heres another: Im a retired painting contractor from Houston and we had a big commercial job down in the Rio Grande Valley, which is indistinguishable from Mexico itself. A gringo painter on our crew wanted to ask an attractive chica who worked at the Wal-Mart in Carrizo Springs to have lunch with him. We told him to say, Seà ±orita, es posible que quisieras comer conmigo? But he got confused and substituted cojer for comer. The results were predictable! Spanish Expert:  One that comes to mind happened many years ago during a trip to Mexico when I needed to buy a razor. Not knowing the word for razor, I went in a small store and asked for algo para aceitar and got only strange looks. Sign language came in handy, and Im sure that they then figured out the word I meant. I had used the verb for to oil (aceitar) instead of the verb for to shave (afeitar). I didnt realize what I had said until later that evening. I traveled to Peru a few years ago with a then-teenage son, and he wanted to try using his minimal Spanish at an outdoor market. He decided to buy an alpaca blanket and asked how much it cost - quince soles was the answer, about $5 U.S. at the time. He thought that was a good deal, and promptly pulled cincuenta soles (about $18) from his wallet. He would have paid it if I hadnt caught his mistake. In order to save himself the embarrassment of handing the vendor way too much money, he decided the price was one he couldnt pass up and promptly decided to buy two instead. Donna B: We had cooked a turkey dinner for a Mexican exchange student, and my son, who was learning Spanish, told him we were having polvo for dinner instead of pavo. Our exchange student gave him a horrified look and refused to come down for dinner. We later realized he had told the exchange student we were having dust for dinner instead of turkey for dinner. TML: The first time I went to Madrid I was asked to go to the supermercado and buy some chicken (pollo). Well, I got a little tongue-tied and instead of asking the man for pollo, I asked for a specific part of his anatomy. Talk about an embarrassing moment! He finally figured out what I was asking for and I went home with some real chicken parts! The family I was staying with almost wet their pants laughing. I have since been back to Madrid 8 times and have learned a very important lesson ... We are the ones who put the burden on ourselves. Every person I met really wanted me to succeed, and they were extremely helpful. They didnt try to make me feel stupid - but were more touched by my desire to communicate with them - even in lieu of my grammatical errors. Lessons learned: If you are afraid to make mistakes, you will not learn. Years down the road you will have some funny and often wonderful memories of people you met and how you each helped one another out. Lily Su: I was looking up the word dulce in my excellent dictionary (which lists lots of ways to use words and phrases) wanting to see if it was used to say things like, oh thank you, that was sweet of you, etc., and not just that you preferred sweet desserts, for example. I was reading along and ran across the word boniato (sweet potato). I must not have been reading very carefully because I somehow got the idea that you could call someone a boniato as a term of endearment (maybe like we call someone sweetie). So I went around saying, hola, mi boniato to many of my Spanish friends, only one of which finally corrected me. It still cracks us all up when we remember that! Also heard about an American priest who commented at the Spanish mass that he loved los calzones bonitos (calzones is underpants) when he meant to say las canciones bonitas (the beautiful songs)! Patty: I was shopping for groceries in Los Angeles with a Spanish-speaking friend, and in attempt to help her choose her orange juice I asked her (in Spanish) if she wanted the one with pulp or without. It turned out to be one of those occasions that guessing at the word by adding an o at the end didnt work. Pulpo means octopus. Fortunately, I was close enough; the word is pulpa, so she was able to guess what I meant. AuPhinger: The phrase y pico was commonly used to mean and a little, or a little bit, as in ochenta pesos y pico for a little over eighty pesos. One of the fellows in my fathers office transferred to, if I remember correctly, Chile. He used the phrase - for a short while! Until one of the guys in the office pulled him aside and informed him that there, y pico meant a little bit of only one thing! Liza Joy: Once in a university night class I was teaching, a recently divorced middle-aged student decided to use the Spanish she learned in my class on a trip to Mexico. She wanted to get away from the tourist route and so went to a restaurant where no one appeared to speak English. She managed to order a delicious meal, but when it came time to ask for the bill, all she could think of to say was how much, which she translated literally as como mucho which means I eat a lot, instead of the correct cunto. This rather plump lady told me that she kept pointing at her dish and saying como mucho to the waiter, who looked embarrassed and kept saying, No, seà ±ora, usted no come mucho. Finally, she took out her credit card, and he suddenly understood. She didnt understand what the problem was until she got back to class after Easter break. Moral: Learn your question words! Russell: This didnt actually happen to me, but a colleague of mine told me this story that happened to her. She was working in South America with the Peace Corps. She was cleaning up some area among a group of a mixture of Peace Corps folks and natives. At some point, she looked around and found that everyone had left except one local man. Being friendly, she thought shed ask his name. She intended to say,  ¿Cà ³mo te llamas? but it came at comoteyamo, which meant he heard, Cà ³mo te amo (How I love you!). Not surprisingly, the man got a surprised look on his face and did the only logical thing. He ran away. Sierra Jenkins: I worked at an international center for Girl Scouts in Cuernavaca, Mexico, that hosted girls from around the world for two-week sessions. One of my co-workers was from England and didnt speak a lick of Spanish and was terribly worried about offending someone, but I finally talked her into trying out a bit. We went over to chat with a few girls from Argentina and my friend said, Id like to ask her how old she is. I told her to say,  ¿Cuntos aà ±os tienes? and she turned to the girl and said,  ¿Cuntos anos tienes? The girl busted a gut and replied, Solo uno,  ¡pero funciona muy bien! Needless to say, I never got my friend to speak Spanish again. Bamulum: When my wife (nicaragà ºense) and I (Tennesseean) married, we kept an English-Spanish dictionary between us at all times. It was only a short amount of time that I had learned just enough Spanish to get myself into trouble. I had been sick for a few days but had gotten a lot better. When asked by my mother-in-law how I was feeling, I responded by saying mucho mujeres instead of mucho mejor, and of course received quite a stern look from my suegra! Note: Most of the comments above have been edited for brevity, context and, in some cases, content, spelling or grammar. You can find the original discussion here.

Motivation and Management (Argentina Suites) Essay

Motivation and Management (Argentina Suites) - Essay Example ew of the case indicates that the primary cultural and social institutional challenges/problems confronting Argentina Suites is the absence of an organisational culture, as would promote both organisational commitment and ethical behaviors among employees, and a leadership vacuum. Arguing that Argentina Suites’ problem primarily stems from the absence, or nature of its organisational culture, necessitates the definition of the latter and an explanation of its importance. The concept of organizational culture is of singular importance within organizational framework, insofar as it embraces and articulates specific organization’s unique set of ethos. That ethos is the primary force shaping and directing the level of formality operative within an organization; the degree of loyalty employees exhibit towards it; and the ethical standards and behavioural norms that supposedly guide the actions of employees. Indeed, as MacMohan and Harvey (2007) contend, an organization’s culture simultaneously functions as the foundations upon which employees base their behavior and the environment within which organisational commitment and loyalty are born. As such, it is the framework within which an organisation’s social and institutional characteris tics are defined and, accordingly, can function to either motivate organisational success or determine failure (MacMohan and Harvey, 2007). In direct reference to Argentina Suites, the absence of an organisational culture is evident in the behavior of employees. Irrespective of the fact that the majority cannot seem to articulate the requirements and responsibilities of their job, the fact is that they do not even adhere to those responsibilities which they know to be an integral part of their job description. Hence, the front of the hotel is often left unattended and employees regularly leave their posts. Added to that, employee behaviors and decisions have, on occasions, been incontrovertibly unethical and have, as

Understanding the class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Understanding the class - Essay Example I prepared a few questions which I anticipated to be asked by the instructor so as to be o track during the class session. I tried as much to resist any distractions. I did this by sitting in a position of class where disruptive classmates are away from. I always put myself in the learning mood, focused on the instructor. I listened actively and took short notes in order for me to comprehend more. During the course of the semester, I shifted my position quite often for to remain alert during class time and tried not to distract myself by use of a phone or talking to my neighbor. During the class sessions, I learned that love involves feelings and emotions. It is a powerful affection of which makes one to be happy and show contentment. Knowing happiness means feeling cheerful and contentment in a manner that one feels satisfied. Love also is a form of human compassions and kindness. This explains how through it, we can feel the fullness of life. Love as a noun describes something adorable. Love as noun means that it is adoring feeling of deep affection between two people. It refers to another person as a beloved person involving desire. It can be something liked or showing affectionate concern toward others. Love as a verb is an action. This means that love expressing love towards another person or something. The action of showing love or showing affection explains love as a verb. As a verb, love can be used within the context of action whereby two people are involved in kissing or embracing each other. By attending class sessions, I understood that sexual identity is important for the development of an individual in terms of self-esteem and one’s self confidence. Sexual identity gives a person an opportunity to understand who they are and who they are sexually attracted to. Personal identity is defined by sexual identity of an individual. The two go hand in hand in that personal

Utilitarianism Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Utilitarianism - Coursework Example From this discussion it is clear that on utilitarian grounds, the individual should be tortured for the good and safety of others, which is noticeably ethical. For a terrorism free world, as a true utilitarian I would vote for the painful torture of the innocent individual. According to utilitarianism, the good of others should come first. Utilitarianism is a concept in normative ethics that views the best moral action as the one that maximises utility.   The best and valid action in this terrorism case is to save as many lives as possible. However, choosing the option of the innocent individual to be slowly and painfully tortured is not an easy decision to make and is not morally accepted.This paper discusses that the theory of utilitarianism is a basic view of consequences. For that reason, letting one individual die for the safety of the rest of the world is a justified, permissible, and an even obligatory action. The author takes on this situation can also be justified through the theory of doctrine of double effect. The doctrine suggests for an act to be morally permissible it has to fit certain criteria and the outcome should favour many. The doctrine also suggests the action is essential for ‘evil’ purpose if it results in beneficial good.   According to the school of thought established by Immanuel Kant ,believes that our sense of morality is connected to reason, therefore according   school of thought letting the individual face torture is worth if it saves many lives.  

National Office Machines Case Essay Example for Free

National Office Machines Case Essay 1. What factors contributed to Euro Disney’s poor performance during its first year of operation? What factors contributed to Hong Kong Disney’s poor performance during its first year?  The factors that led to Euro Disney’s poor performance were the lack of understanding of the French culture, mistaken assumptions, and ethnocentrism by the American management. Since the prices of the hotels and entrances were different and much higher in Europe, the park attendance was low. It was actually cheaper for European families to travel to Disney World in Orlando, FL than to EuroDisney. Eisner was a little arrogant when he assumed people from all over Europe would come to Paris, when there are many different cultures in Europe, each one expecting adaptation. It isn’t like the U.S. where the culture is much the same throughout. Each country has its own culture. The guest expectations weren’t up to par, and the customer service wasn’t as expected. There was a ban on alcohol when the French are the biggest wine drinking country and the poor and underestimated arrangement of breakfast didn’t settle well with the French. It failed in Hong Kong because its service standpoint was below standards. The cultural factors also added to the failure of the theme park they did not adapt to the Chinese culture. They have improved however culture isn’t everything the rides weren’t the quality that guests expected it to be. 2. To what degree do you consider that these two factors were (a) foreseeable and (b) controllable by EuroDisney, Hong Kong Disney, or the parent company, Disney? In terms of the foreseeable factors, they should have taken into consideration cross cultural differences, the Gulf War of 1991, 1980’s European recession, high interest rates and devaluation of several currencies, World Fair in Seville and the Olympics in Barcelona, and the ban on alcohol consumption. Controllable factors were mistaken assumptions, initial pricing, design and marketing policies, early advertising that was more expensive, poor and underestimated arrangement of breakfast, and arrogance of Disney’s management. 3. What role does ethnocentrism play in the story of EuroDisney’s launch? Ethnocentrism is the belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own culture, and all other cultures are measured in relation to it. This happened when the Disney management did not try and understand the French expectations or wishes, and went ahead and implemented the Disney Park as per their wishes. The French, of course did not accept this since they never wanted the Americanized entertainment. Disney management had the resources available to get a marketing opinion from European sources that would have saved them from failure. However, since they were profitable with the other Disney parks, the management did not see as this park being any different. If only they had consulted with European marketers, they could have avoided pricing mistakes, food and drink mistakes, and entertainment mistakes. 4. How do you assess the cross-cultural marketing skills of Disney? In the beginning Disney’s cross-cultural marketing skills were far below par. Simply put, they did not do their homework, but when failure crept up they realized their mistakes. Now they have hired European management, who has a better idea of what they are doing. They not only changed their marketing and pricing strategies, but they also changed the food and drink as well. Therefore, in the end, Disney’s cross-cultural skills have improved significantly. 5. Why did success in Tokyo predispose Disney management to be too optimistic in their expectations of success in France? Discuss. In Japan Disney park was a huge success due to the fact that the Japanese had a sentimental attachment to American cartoon characters. The Japanese tourists enjoyed themselves at the park because they could automatically relate to these characters. This resulted in a profit not only in the first year, but in the second year as well. There were 14 million people that visited Tokyo Disney Park the second year and 3/4th of them were repeat customers. With these high figures and profits, Disney management had high hopes while constructing the park in Paris. They didn’t feel the need to do any research since the Japanese adapted so well to the American customs and Disney management figured the French would be no different. However, this was completely the opposite of what happened. The French did not accept the American customers and a failure resulted in Paris. 6. Why do you think the experience in France didn’t help Disney avoid some of the problems in Hong Kong? First are the cultural differences. In Hong Kong, they only considered Chinese style in the park design. Also, they still overpriced the park. They didn’t take into consideration the actual price level of the country and blindly set prices high so that visitors could not afford, and moved on to other amusement parks. Last is the marketing. Disney management did not market its entertainment concept. Like France, Hong Kong has their own cartoon image and was not familiar with Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. 7. Now that Hong Kong Disney is up and running, will the Shanghai development benefit from the Hong Kong experience? Disney management will know exceptionally well that doing research is the first step. Familiarize the customer base with the characters first and foremost so that way when you â€Å"open the gates† it is a warm, relaxing feeling seeing familiar faces. They should also make sure and set prices at a fair level. Look into the income level of the population and make an educated decision. 8. Now that Disney has begun work on the new Hong Kong and Shanghai locations, where and when should it go next? Assume you are a consultant hired to give Disney advice on the issue of where and when to go next. Pick three locations and select the one you think will be the best new locations and select the one you think will be the best new location for Disneyland X, and discuss. India, Australia, and Brazil are three locations that I would advise Disney to consider next. I think the best location would be India. India is coming up as next big market is almost every field due to strong presence of customer base and more disposable income. American culture is already so popular in India. Hollywood became so popular that India created its own Bollywood. India also has the second largest population in the world, so financially Disney would excel with that customer base. Again Disney would have to be careful with the food choices and pricing. Australia would also be a great choice for obvious reasons. There location from other countries would be ideal since it would not cannibalize other locations’ attendance. Also, since they are an English speaking country there would not be a language barrier. Australia is such a compact nation that no matter where you placed the Disney park people would be able to easily access it. The third country I think would be ideal is Brazil. It is a powerful and emerging nature, and although they have a strong culture, with a lot of research could be very prosperous. They also have a very large population that would financially be beneficial to Disney. It would also be a good location to service Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. 9. Given your choice of locale X for the newest Disneyland, what are the operational implications of the history of EuroDisney and Disney Hong Kong for the new park? After the failed attempt at Disney Paris, Disney should have a lot of experience now in opening theme parks. I think with extensive research and a culturally intelligent management, Disney will excel in Disney India. This time the management will do their homework and find out the cultural differences, customs, traditions, food, drink, etc. Since there is a language barrier, they will also have a team of leaders who are fluent in the language to help the American team.