Post 12

When I think of the word rhetoric, to me it means being able to talk or write well. I think that if you can use words efficiently and be able to communicate with others, that is rhetoric. I guess what constitutes rhetoric is essentially the way a person speaks, but when you look more into detail it can be assumed if a person dresses well or holds themself together in a good manner because rhetoric is a way of communicating and if you have good communications skills you must be educated well. So, someone that has there stuff together could be assumed as rhetoric. I've never heard anyone just talk about rhetoric during everyday conversations, but it always seems to emphasized in English classes and speech classes. Well when you first hear the word rhetoric it is used in a postivive way, but when you hear it more and more and are maybe being critiqued on it a few years later, I would say it is negative because you should already be able to understand what the word means and how to use it. I definitely think that there is a rhetoric that comes with my subculture. If you don't know the rules of softball or the way that the game works, you're out of the loop. Another kind of rhetoric that the team itself has that not many people outside of the team know are signals. The coaches relay signals for what to do when they are up to bat and give signals to the catcher to give to the pitcher to relay what pitch to pitch. In my final parts in constructing my ethnography I think that I might need to give a little background on the rhetoric on the team. Meaning, if I find myself using certain words that might not make sense to outsiders I will give them a little definition off the side so that they understand what I am saying.