Monthly Archives: January 2018

Passé

Passé: (adjective): past one’s prime.

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pass%C3%A9

From “There Was Once” by Margaret Atwood:

“There was once a poor girl, as beautiful as she was good, who lived with her wicked stepmother in a house in the forest.”

“Forest? Forest is passé, I mean, I’ve had it with all this wilderness stuff. It’s not a right image of our society, today. Let’s have some urban for a change.”

As one can see, the listener in the story is criticizing the speaker for choosing to use a forest as a setting for the tale. Forests are settings that old tales took place, and therefore outdated, and a change of setting is needed. A much more modern one, that the listener can relate to.

“That hairstyle is so passé.”

 

 

“Deity”

Deity (plural)

Deity – A god or goddess.

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deity

I’ve encountered the word “Deity” on the reading called “I Always Write About My Mother When I Started to Write” written by author Bia Lowe. In the reading it is part of the sentences, “She was in every way my female deity.” This was found on the second paragraph, and on page 1 of the reading. After understanding what the word “Deity” means and refer to, I learn that the word was used in the reading to describe how much the author Bia Lowe respect, and loves her mother. “Deity” is a word to describe someone who is beautiful, strong, and powerful, resembling to a god or a goddess. Bia Lowe, believes that her mother beauty is beyond this world, and she emphasize that by describing her in details of how perfect, and beautiful her mother is. BY knowing that Bia Lowe describe her mother as a female “Deity”, this shows Bia obsession for her mother. Bia Lowe claiming “She was in every way my female deity.”, tells us that she is admiring her mother, as the perfect female figure upon all females. This is “Aphrodite” the goddess of “love” and “beauty”, this is what Bia would describe her mother to be.

Image result for goddess venus cartoon

 

Buoy

Buoy: (noun):  float 2; especially, nautical: a floating object moored to the bottom to mark a channel or something (such as a shoal) lying under the water.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buoy

The word is from, Bio Lowe: I Always Write About My Mother When I Start To Write.

“I wanted to lay them, breathtaking, at her feet, and by doing to bind her heart to mine, ever after to be buoyed up like a raft on a calmed ocean.”

In this sentence the author is trying to expalin how he/she wanted to feel their mother close to her/his heart by thinking of the love towards the mother in the calm ocean.

Gloss

Gloss: (verb): to provide a gloss for explaindefine

“By the end of the semester, you will have learned at least 15 words of your own choosing plus others your classmates have glossed for you (scroll down to the 4th instance of the word, definitions 1a and b).” (Blogging Project guidelines)

This means that by the end of the semester, everyone will have done 15 words, so we each benefit from the definitions and explanations our classmates provide on the site.

What is Fiction?

Today we introduced ourselves by sharing what have we read recently.

We also shared our thoughts on the questions:

What is Fiction? What do we think about when we think about fiction?

Answer in a word or a short phrase.

Here are your responses:

Fables
Stories
Imagination
Made-up
Not real
Creative thoughts
Imagination
Not real
Exaggerated
Fairy tale
Made-up
Imagination
Anything is possible
Unreal
Creativity
Believable
Not history
Not fact
Not real life
Drama
Conflict
Relatable
Made-up
Fairy tale
Not true
Based on real life
Imagination

Infinite potential
Creativity
Creativity
Alternate universe
Alternate reality
Fairy tales
Not based on real life
Not current events
Fairy tale
Creative imagination
Imagination
Pretty
Neat
Fun
Stories people come up with
Not real
Imagination
Fake
Imaginary
Mysteries
Made-up
Fantasy
Creative
Intangible
Unreal world
Ideas and emotions of writer act as life force

Fantasy
Mystical
Creative ideas
Fabricated
Educational
Teach morality
Made-up creatures
Paranormal
Fake people
More than books
Anything not real life
Knights
Magic
Dragons
Portal into another realm
Untrue stories
Ideal version of reality
Imagination
Imagination
Adventures
Fantasy
Murder!
Made up
Imagination
Creativity
Fantasy

 Represented a different way, here are your responses:
Wordle of "What is Fiction?" Graffiti-style font

www.wordle.net

 

Introductions

Although we introduced ourselves in class briefly, and will continue to get to know each other through our discussions in and writing for this class, please write an introduction here (as a comment to this post) as a way to help us get to know each other better. Aim to write 250-300 words. This is your chance to craft how we meet and know you, and with brilliance.

If you have successfully created an OpenLab account, log in before you comment so the system can recognize you. Otherwise, fill in the required information and get started!

Check back again and reply to at least a few of your classmates, asking questions or letting them know about shared interests.

Welcome to ENG 2001!

Welcome spelled with Scrabble tiles

Welcome by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

Welcome to ENG 2001, Introduction to Literature: Fiction. Please take some time to familiarize yourself with this OpenLab course site. Use the top navigation bar to explore different course materials and resources. As the course progresses, we will add new material throughout the site, making it a rich resource for the study of fiction.

So that we can get to know each other better before our second class meeting, you will need to create an OpenLab account (you can follow these instructions to create an account), add information such as an avatar and bio to your profile, and join our course. Remember that your username and display name can be pseudonyms, and your avatar does not need to be a picture of your face–just something that identifies you on the OpenLab. If you have any questions about the assignment, feel free to get in touch with me. If you need help on the OpenLab, you can consult the Help section–if you need more help, you can contact the OpenLab Community Team.