ETEC 540 Momina Abid

11:44 Dr. Boroditsky mentions if you read and write in a language that goes from right to left, then you’ll also organize time from right to left

This is an interesting thought for me because I am a multilingual speaker which includes languages that read from both right to left and left to right. So when I am thinking in English, I think of timelines as right to left, but when I think in Urdu or Arabic, my timeline switches from left to right. 

13:25 Dr. Boroditsky mentions in mandarin the past is up and the future is down

The concept that time does not solely exist on a horizontal axis in all languages is very unique and eye-opening to me. I always thought this has nothing to do with language and just how people think but actually many languages differ in how they think of the past and future. It’s also almost disorienting for me to think that the future is backwards and the past is forwards when gesturing.

18:39 Dr. Boroditsky mentions language has causal power so you can change how people think by changing how they talk

Five minutes after I heard the previous concept and was still wondering how it’s possible, Dr. Boroditsky addressed my question by talking about how we know language is what’s causing people to think about time in different ways. So I realized it is not just language but also other aspects of culture that may be playing a part in this.

25:03 Dr. Boroditsky mentions that hurricanes are given female names because people underestimate their strength and do not evacuate

This was such an interesting fact that Dr. Boroditsky highlighted and even though it made me a little angry, I got to thinking if I do the same. And it’s true. In Urdu, everything has a gender and so whenever I have to describe something that has a female grammatical gender, I use feminine adjectives and vice versa. 

35:32 Dr. Boroditsky mentions that if you want eight potatoes, you say I want elbow potatoes

This was also very interesting to hear. You never stop and think that numbers may not exist in some languages or there may be a different way of describing them. It is obvious that other languages have different alphabetical scripts or letters but you almost never think about numbers. 

42:00 Dr. Boroditsky mentions that if you renamed prunes to plums, then young people would be more excited to buy them

This point really hit deep as it made me realize how deep-rooted some of our stereotypes are, relating to some words. And how products are marketed to make us want to buy them. A similar example would be ‘organic’. Ever since having a baby, I’ve been looking for more ‘organic’ options to buy but even those sometimes have a million things in their ingredients that I do not understand. This makes me think that sometimes just writing organic on the product packaging may push you to buy it when really it may have many preservatives and additives in it. 

References:

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Hi everyone. My name is Momina Abid and I am currently living in Toronto, ON. Presently, I am a stay at home mom to an almost 8 month old. Previously, I have worked in a wide range of roles, my most recent one being a Learning Designer and teaching coding to students and teachers across Canada. This is my last MET course. 

For this task, I chose the bag I have been carrying around everyday for nearly a decade now.

I’ve been carrying around this bag with pretty much the same items for years now. Even after going through major life changes such as graduating from college, getting a job, getting married, moving countries, and then having a baby, the contents have more or less remained the same. I find that this size and these contents work best for me when I am on the go, no matter what phase of life I am in.

For instance, having a hand cream has always been a constant because I have very dry hands which really irritate me. I am also a no-makeup person, so having a lipstick that I can apply during commute makes me look ready for the day. I also always keep a hairclip because I hate when my hair gets in my face. I also always keep some cash on me in case I need to use it. Even though almost everywhere you go now, you have the option to pay digitally but I still encounter people only accept cash transactions.

I have a cardholder which holds all of my important cards such as credit and debit card, Driver’s license, and health card. Even though all payments can now be done via phone, I still like to keep my cards handy in case my phone dies. After Covid-19, sanitizer became a common item in my bag. And I always keep a pad in case I start my period out of the blue and do not have access to one. The key is to a storage locker where my sister in law’s furniture is stored as she is in the process of moving. Not pictured here but usually in my bag are my own house keys as well as my phone and any receipts I may have acquired during the day. However, I clean out my bag regularly so you will not find any extras or things not needed in here.

The items in my bag have a lot of printed text on them giving them a name, identifying manufacturer, instructions of use among other things. There is a lot of text on the cards I carry as well. Especially my driver’s license which includes my current home address and other personal details. The hand creams and lipsticks were made in different countries, and bought from different countries around the world. They have text in different languages apart from English as well. And they all have a barcode as well. The cards I carry also have barcodes or microchips embedded into them. All of these things show that communication in today’s world is not limited to words only. It also takes place via numbers, patterns, and microprocessors. 

Since I am in my late twenties, this bag would not have existed 15 or 25 years ago. I only started carrying one, once I moved out of my parents’ home and started college. 

An archeologist would be able to identify that this bag belonged to a female, younger than the average age for menopause, and would know exactly where I lived and in which time period (probably post COVID-19). Also would be able to guess the languages I used to speak, my banking preferences, my ability to drive, and my obsession with hand creams.