The Most Quotable Teacher Ever.

One of my favorite teachers of all time is Dr. Mark Honegger. I am currently taking his English 452 class, which is Sociolinguistics. The class is so interesting that I hardly mind that it's a night class. The intersection of language and culture is fascinating in itself. But Dr. Honegger takes it to a whole new level. He is as passionate as he is knowledgeable about what he teaches. Throughout the semester, I've been collecting some of the cool things he says, and I'd like to share them. I honestly think I'll remember some of these words for the rest of my life.

Nuggets of Goodness from Dr. Mark Honegger

"You take all these classes and read all these books... It kind of starts to blend together. But life is busy, life is crazy, life is messy. Five years from now, what will you actually remember? But this... This is worth learning and knowing and keeping with you for the rest of your life."

‎"Almost everything we will discuss in the class will have blurry boundaries and fuzzy meanings. That's just the nature of the study of language."

“Standard English is like Santa Claus- it’s kind of mythical. Just because we want it to exist doesn’t mean it does.”

"Language acquisition is so cool! It's like... Osmosis!" -Dr. Mark Honegger

“Vowels are loosey goosey! They’re not rigid and stiff, they move all over the place!”

“It’s important for us to be able to participate in the standard of English for all kinds of purposes, like education and business across boarders. But to say that the standard is above or better the variety someone is speaking… That’s certainly not fair. The way someone speaks is a part of who they are.” (FAVORITE!)

“If someone leaves off the -‘s of John’s hat, you don’t stop and wonder, ‘What, John hat? Is that his last name?’ ”

“I can’t explain to you the loss that happens when a language dies out. A language dying out is to a linguist what an animal becoming extinct is to a Biologist. It’s tragic and irrevocable.” (ANOTHER FAV!)

“There’s a tendency of humans to make rules for themselves, but an equally powerful tendency to make them as general as possible in case they need to be broken.” (LOVE THIS ONE TOO!)

“To be human is to experience conflict.”

“I don’t believe that anything in the world is culture-free. Everything we see, hear, touch, taste, and think is saturated with someone’s culture.”