But I digress

I just had fun writing my blog "But I digress..." This is going to be a fun exercise to use with my students because there is so much we can talk about with it. To name just a few points:

1) Communication Myths. We can talk about the length of the sentences and correlate it to the chapter concept about communication myths. Specifically, the myth that more words will make a message more clear.
2) Tangents. This blog goes off on several tangents. My students sometimes have trouble with the term "tangential". This could help.
3) Acronyms. I use the acronym "TRF" which somepeople will know and others won't so we can talk about the importance of avoiding acronyms.
4) Knowing your audience and language choices. We can look at word choices like "ricer" which I'm assuming some people are not going to be able to visualize. We can also look at slang language. I don't use the word "hell" because I say I might have students read the blog. Yet I turn around and use "sh*thead" as if that's OK because I used an asterick.
5) The use or overuse of parantheses. I actually took it further and used a bracket within a parantheses too. So we can analyze when adding points that way helps and when it hinders the communication process.
6) Stereotypes. I talk about good scandinavians and good Lutherans.
7) Grammatical errors like ending sentences with prepositions. I struggle with this one myself. At least I know when I do it and if I'm typing I will correct it. It's harder for me when I'm talking. I notice many of my students are guilty of this as well, so can be one way we talk about catching our bad speaking habits.

These are just some of the ideas of how I can use that blog entry. I'm sure I'll be adding more to the list.

Side assignment: have students brainstorm a list of acronyms they have heard or personally use with the assumption others will understand