Slang Case Study Essay Example for Free

Slang Case Study Essay Words are a part of our daily lives. With words we can communicate with others and evoke our feelings. But not every word has the same meaning in various regions of the world. Words just like humans are shaped by the location and culture that they are introduced to. This is what makes slang words interesting. Depending on where you live, a slang word can have a completely different meaning. For this assignment I will define the slang word â€Å"swag.† I’ll be discussing the modern meaning, etymology, and correct usage. Swag is a common noun used today, mostly among teenagers. The word is used to describe a certain type of clothing that teenagers wear. The clothing resembles the style of modern hip-hop artists such as Lil Wayne, Big Sean, and Drake. The word can also be used to show off cool acts that teenagers perform. Like after jumping of a building, I cool kid would say something like â€Å"Bro, you can’t touch my swag!† According to urban dictionary â€Å"swag† is the â€Å"most used word in the world and is a word used to represent yourself based on the way you dress.† Swag has different meanings throughout the world. In Australia the term â€Å"swag† is used to refer to the dangling luggage that a homeless man carries. â€Å"Swag† is also used to describe home items such as â€Å"swag lamps† and â€Å"swag curtains†, which are basically dangling versions of the original lamp and curtains (Snopes). In America, many relate the word â€Å"swag† to â€Å"sway† which describes a certain motion of a bold, arrogant, and conceited person. So I think based on this information it’s easy to say that the word â€Å"swag† was introduced through old hip-hop, where loose clothing and sagging was the fashion and now has evolved through modern hip-hop to accommodate the newer fashion. The most common misconception about the word â€Å"swag† is that it’s often misunderstood as an acronym. Many people think that â€Å"swag† is an acronym for â€Å"Secretly We Are Gay†. The exact origin of the word â€Å"swag† is still a mystery. Some believe the first written usage of the word â€Å"swag† was first written by a Gilbertine Monk named Robert Mannyng in 1303. Mannyng in his poem says â€Å"there was a wycche, and made a bagge, A bely of lepyr, a grete swagge†. In this poem Mannyng refers to â€Å"swagge† as a bag. According to Oxford dictionary, â€Å"swag† is a verb derives from the Scandinavian word â€Å"svagga† which means to rock unsteadily or lurch. This idea is widely accepted due to the fact that â€Å"swag† sounds like it originated from the word â€Å"swagger†, which also means to sway. The word is said to have entered the English language around the 13th century meaning â€Å"hanging loosely† (Snopes). Other meanings of â€Å"swag† also include a sinkhole used to collect water, a shop that sold stolen goods, or stolen loots by either pirates or criminals. Some also say that â€Å"swag† was used in old English movies to describe criminal loots, leading to false accusations of acronyms such as â€Å"Stolen Without A Gun†, â€Å"Sold Without A Guarantee†, and â€Å"Souvenirs Wearable’s And Gifts†. Based on this it’s easy to connect â€Å"swag† to older or underground hip-hop where loose clothes and stealing was a common motto. The correct usage of the word â€Å"swag† is hard to define just because it’s a slang word and there is no exact definition. According to our culture and society, I would say â€Å"swag† is a term used to describe a person’s clothing and a part of his personality. It’s easy to infer a person’s personality by looking at his clothing. Different people have different personalities and some of it is shown through their dressing. This freedom of expression can show a person’s values, beliefs, and culture. So, in a sense a person’s â€Å"swag† can portray his character. â€Å"Swag† usually has a negative connotation due to the over usage of the word in the rap industry, but in my opinion â€Å"swag† is a general term that can be used by anyone. Just like the words â€Å"Boom, Whack, Blop, and Kaboom†, swag can be used at the end of a sentence to add emphasis and humor. In conclusion, â€Å"swag† is an old word that has its own history but has evolved through human influence to have a completely different meaning throughout different parts of the world. Even though the overuse of the word has completely dried its value, â€Å"swag† still has an interesting origin and is fun to use. Just like other words, slang words are interesting because they are influenced by human culture and society and change accordingly as time moves on. Today â€Å"swag† has a different meaning than what it originally was used for. So we can only imagine wh at â€Å"swag† would mean in the future. Work Cited Swag. Snopes.com: Etymology of Swag. N.p., 26 Sept. 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. Geyer, Jessica. Swag: An Etymology. YouTube. 03 May 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. Urban Dictionary: Swag. Urban Dictionary. N.p., July 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.

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Evidence of foreign aids ineffectiveness is easily seen by the fact that there are more than thirty six countries who have received more than ten percent of their Gross National Income from foreign aid for at least the last three decades. In this amount of time the goals of creating economic growth and self-sufficiency have yet to transpire. Historically aid has never lasted this long. The times where aid has been shown to be effective in meeting its goals, like the Marshall Plan, it only lasted a few years. Not only that, during times where aid was successful it never topped three percent of the recipient countries GDP. Historically when aid has been given for longer periods of time, like it was in the Cold War, it was slowly decreased until no longer needed. The foreign aid that is seen today has not only lasted longer but has also increased and grown larger over the past three decades. This ineffectiveness has not gone unnoticed. This is why programs like the Millennium Challenge Account have been created. The idea behind these programs is to be more selective with what countries aid is given to and to monitor the aids value in helping those countries (Clemens, Radelet, and Bhavani, 2004). It is important to understand that not all aid has been futile. There are many times where aid has been successful. As research done by the Center for Global Development has shown, the commonality found in its success stories is when aid is given with an objective (Levine, 2004). William Easterly cites in â€Å"CGD Working Paper 65† that both South Korea and Botswana as two examples of where aid was given to help local efforts financially temporarily and turned in long term success where institutions were formed that were self-propelling and fore... ...ry’s government having less of an incentive to tax because aid is a non-earned source of revenue. The idea is less taxation will open markets and cause more consuming and investing. This may be effective, but only as long as the aid is being given. During this process the lack of taxes causes the recipient country’s government’s institutions and administration to weaken because they lost their legitimacy. Taxes are the only way to assure that both a country’s government and its citizens are accountable to one another. Self-reliance is positively correlated with the integrity of a country’s sovereignty (Brautigam and Knack, 2004). Thus the more aid a recipient country receives, the less accountable the government and citizens are to one another, resulting in the less sovereignty which drives the need for more foreign aid and creates a dependency on donor countries.

Innovation Planning and Design

The ever-changing marketplace in the business world imposes greatchallenges for the company to maintain stability, productivity andprofitability in the industry. In order to keep track on the competitiveenvironment, every company should develop innovation to acquirecompetitive advantage. However, acquiring just a competitive advantage willonly be for the meantime due to the fast development of technology, totalmodernization of the market and rapid changes of customer preferences. Innovators shall foresee these factors to combat with its competitors for it tobe successful, making innovation an essential factor for company growth. Innovations do vary in many aspects. It may take the risk of combiningdifferent types of innovation. Determining businesses whether they are mayresult to hiding their significant distinctions. The most importantcategorizations one may consider among the many developed are aclassification according to innovation type, the innovation degree and courseof sustainability (Zakic, Jovanovic, & Stamatovic, 2008). Companies may decide which part of the businessdesign needsinnovatingsuch as products or processes or a combination of both. Single approach can be simple, less time consuming process compared to combinedapproach which is more involved, complicated and may be time consuming and requires substantial effort for it to be effective. Whatever process that is chosen, it will always create specialization which is advantageous to have specialized kind of innovation. Moderncompanies carefully apply options advised by experts that are suitable forits position and business model. Innovations shall be thoroughlyinvestigated and studied in order to achieve and meet the company’sobjective. Creating and developing their potentiality, designating theresources, and creating partnerships in accordance with this choice are vitalto success (Zakic, Jovanovic, & Stamatovic, 2008). In varying options comes difference between processes and productsinnovation. To be able to establish successful innovative strategies andstrategic planning, understanding the differences and influence of differentfactor and its effect in business leadership structure is important. It is of utmost importance to explore all possible options to acquire different inputs. This process will ensure the verification of certain conclusion to helpleadership identify the appropriate method to innovation (Almirall &Casadesus-Masanell, 2010). Innovation Systems Design Recent market concept on the business world has produced anuntamed environment. The company’s advantages do not last too long dueto tight competitions that never cease to advance and overcome the market. With these tight competitions, most businesses have created a sheer pricewar just to maintain and gain customers (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). It is therefore vital in the process for the companies to be aware of theefficient methods to design and use innovative efforts considering thesecurrent market situations. Remember that each product you serve in themarket, it goes with it your name. How customers perceive the product orservices is significant. Most customers often choose the products or servicesthat are appealing to their eyes. It also includes factors like product package,how the product is designed, and even POS system design. What messagesor ideas the product conveys to the customers are also factors. Image of thebrand and market share are determined by these factors. Discerning yourinnovative products and market perception to them is one important groundin determining business' success (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). With the tight competition in the business industry, each companyattempts to beat its competitors. Businesses are set forinnovation, however, they often lack focus on innovating their marketing designtechniques. This lack of focus is the reason for short time competitiveadvantage. Recent research reveals that a number of small to medium sizedcompanies in the electronics industry have received governmentgrants in order to promote growth in innovative techniques and processes. Some of these were successful. However this implies that most innovativeprocesses manage to be only temporary solution as most small businessesare unable to continue long term innovative processes (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). Innovative processes have to be executed and followed accordingly. Those innovation grants were able to magnify thebusiness with growth to those companies involved. However, it did not result with an increase in profits and productivity. Foreseeing these circumstances,innovation systems show that the entire company should be nvolved in theprocess and utilizing your assets to fully maximize your potential in makinginnovative products and management styles (Herrmann & Gunter, 2004). Steps to Innovative Process There certain steps needed during the innovative process when creating and implementing an innovation to any business. 1. Determine the Challenge: The start of innovation process isdetermining the challenge, problem, or goal that needs to be solved. 2. Teamwor k: This step utilizes your intellectual assets wherein all partiesparticipate in a brainstorming event to discuss and debate how to fix theinnovation challenge. Combination: All of these ideas discussed in the brainstorming eventare summarized. 4. Assessment: The summary of all the ideas are evaluated and the bestsolution will be chosen by the business leaders with the relevant businessexperience. 5. Research and Development: The chosen solutions undergoes researchand development to determine whether the processes are attainable and willyield a result favorable to the company like increase in profits, businessexpansion and market share. 6. Implementation: Executing the ideas into the team and bring them toreality. . Review: Consider the data generated from the feedback, leadership,and business results regarding how the process was working. 8. Recycle: New challenges are imposed by the review. Consider thesechallenges and start again with the process (now Europe, 2009). For the business to maintain on top, the company shall be in acontinuous process of innovating to maintain creative, business and leadership innovation. This is so recommended considering how the global economic marketplace dances to the tune of tightcompetition. The innovation must be part of the business’s system toprevent unstable progress and share losses. To counter the ever-changingmarketplace and customer demand, innovation must remainconstant (Barsh, Capozzi, & Davidson, 2008). Conclusion The concept of innovation hasbeen in the business system for centuries. However, today, it has become aprerequisite to business growth and prosperity. While in the past, a companydared to innovate just to make an edge to the industry, nowadays, it becamean essential factor in business design for the company to survive and profit. The company shall implement, maintain innovation, and make anenvironment that encourages innovation. The company's workforce is avaluable asset to allowing their process to happen and the use of theseassets is beneficial to the process in various ways. This approach is sosignificant that even those business that have been in the around fordecades and reshaping theirfundamental principles and business values to create an innovativeenvironment. If a company desires to survive today's market competition, it has to produce an innovation culture and use its assets to be competitive and maintain profitability.

The At The Rhode Island Parent Information Network

On June 11, 2016, I attended an event at the Rhode Island Parent Information Network (RIPIN) Center in Cranston, RI. The RIPIN Center helps families and children get the help they need to achieve health and education goals. There are different sessions that go on within the month for different needs; every second Saturday is the meeting specially geared to Deaf children and families. The meeting was held by Elsbeth, who is a mother of a child who is hard of hearing. This session in particular involved transitioning into college. A young boy had lost his hearing with age and he is going into his senior year of high school. He stated to the group that he was looking into colleges and his mom, who was also present, was afraid about his academic success. This student chooses to use hearing aids and lip-reading as a method of understanding what hearing individuals are saying. 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