Robert Dykes
Sojo University (Kumamoto city)
When not earning mad tendies Robert is usually doing something for JALT. Past research interests include L2 learner motivation, foreign language anxiety, and font design (with a focus on Sans Forgetica). Future projects include assessing commercial video games for use in ESL, and how ESL educators and professionals can use the grammar AI program, Grammerly, to improve their own writing as well as their students' writing.
Sessions
What are stonks? Please ELI5
TL;DR? Here is the ELI5: Language has always been fluid. The speed of language change has increased with each advance in communication technology: the printing press, radio, movies and TV. The internet has connected people worldwide and possibly has made the single largest single impact on English since Shakespeare added 1,700 common use words to the language. This presentation will cover some notable and curious changes in vocabulary propelled by the internet. Some changes in language, brought about by online gaming chat, tumblr, Facebook, and other popular sites have spread so far (and fast) that they surpass classification as slang and have become colloquialisms. This presentation will have a strong focus on vocabulary introduced into popular usage by Reddit (the world’s most popular social news aggregator website). Reddit has added dozens of words to popular usage but in January of 2021, the world may have witnessed the fastest ever changes and additions to the English language. Because of the GME (GameStop) and Wall Street saga going viral, literally overnight, millions of people worldwide began buying stonks and making tendies.