Filial Piety

According to the Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, filial piety is one of the virtues to be cultivated in Confucian thought, a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors. What this means to me is obeying them, helping them around the house where I can, and taking care of my little brother when I can and trying to make him be a good kid until he can understand this concept as well. It also means being a good kid myself, and doing well in school so that they don't have to worry about me. Therefore, my parents will be tell my grandparents about how well I'm doing and not have to complain about their worries about me, and let my grandparents be proud of their two generations of descendants. I must do well in my studies, get a good job, and have a good salary so that I can support my parents in their old age as well. To me filial piety is simply making my parents happy, and being responsible for their well-being as they become older.

The Good Earth: Ch. 2

1. He cares about whether or not Olan likes him, and he takes the sign of her taking tea to him as a confirmation that she does.

2. His wife has really improved Wang Lung’s life and now; he can return home from the fields with a meal awaiting him, and his house is a lot cleaner.

3. After marrying, Olan immediately starts working like a slave and cleans everything in the house, works beside Wang Lung in the fields and enjoys no luxury.

4. Even thought she is pregnant, she is still working as hard as she always does until the moment she has to give birth, and even before that, she stops to cook a meal first.

5. Olan is a very independent and solitary person, as can be seen when she hardly ever says much and wants to go through labor on her own without the assistance of a midwife.

6. Why is Wang Lung proud of the fact that Olan fears him? Shouldn’t he want her to be close to him?

7. Why is Wang Lung ashamed of having curiosity and interest in Olan, who is his wife?

The Good Earth: Ch. 1

1. Wang Lung thinks about the bride more as a servant to do things for him than as a partner in life.

2. However, Wang Lung cares about how his bride sees him, and makes sure to shave, bathe, and wear his best clothes when he meets her.

3. The Old Mistress smokes opium all the time and she’s probably addicted to it.

4. They are very superstitious. They have earth gods to pray to and incense and robes for the god and goddess, and Wang believes that incense that has been broken is a bad omen.

5. They seem not to ever say what they really mean, as the father does not speak of his pride in having guests to show that he does not approve of spending money, and Wang says that the food is badly prepared when he himself thinks it is the best he has ever eaten.

6. Why does Wang Lung have to ask his father before he shaves off the braid?

7. Why does Wang Lung always speak gruffly and act as though he doesn’t care about Olan at all when he does?

Conflicts between Parents and Children

Conflicts often happen between parents and children. It might have to do with academics. The parents usually want their child to score higher and they use a reward or punishment system to motivate their child. The children however, really might already be doing his or her best and simply does not have the ability or skill to do better without extra assistance. Conflicts also occur around social activities. Parents might want their children to have tutors and classes outside of school, therefore taking away time for them to interact with peers and participate in afterschool activities. Another type of conflict that commonly occurs with teens is the type of friends they have. Parents like to know who they are hanging out with and, depending on rumors they hear from other parents, might even forbid them to be friends with certain people in the school in fear that they might be exposed to negative influence and pick up bad ideas or habits. Finally, there is the issue of curfew or bedtime. You must be home by 6:00 on school days! or You must go to bed by 9:00! As children grow older however, there are more and more activities that they might want to participate in but might force them to return home later, or the homework load might force them to sleep later. The children really need to speak up to their parents and communicate so that they can negotiate and a compromise can be made, or else the parents might receive the message that their children do not respect them and the children feel that their parents do not understand them.

My Name

I have three names in all and each represent a different aspect of me. Tong Kar Chun is my Cantonese name. I think my grandfather chose this name for me, and I’m pretty sure it has some sort of symbolism to it, but all I know about it is that Tong, my last name, sounds a lot like sugar and looks like the character too in both Cantonese and Mandarin. It represents my true heritage even though much of my life has been influenced by the western culture. I don’t usually get called by this name except by my grandparents and when I was in Mandarin class. However, when my parents get mad at me, they shout “JASON TONG!”, so hearing my last name is usually not a good sign.

Jason is my preferred name. I like this name for three reasons. Firstly, it’s a lot easier and faster to write. It’s only nine letters, compared to the thirty something strokes in my Cantonese name. Secondly, it represents the American in me, even though I only have Hong Kong blood and I am only an American citizen because I was born there. Thirdly, I found out that my name is an acronym for the five consecutive months starting from July. Plus, it’s pretty cool to have a Greek hero named after you. I like how my name makes me fit in, since Jason is such a common name at our school. I remember that in sixth grade there were five Jason’s!

Spanish class gave me new skills and a new name too. My third name is Javier, which my Spanish teacher gave me. This one represents my uniqueness since nobody else has it. I like this name because of its interesting pronunciation; rather than starting with the normal ‘j’ sound, in Spanish, ‘j’ is pronounced with an ‘h’ sound. That’s why my friends often joked that when I introduce myself, I’d say: “Hey, I’m heavier.” What a great way to greet someone who was over-weight. That’s why I still prefer Jason. Nobody teases me about that name.

Coinages

1. coolsome- adj. a portmanteau word meaning cool and awesome.

For once, the class assignment was so coolsome that every single student was enthusiastically participating.

2. brunner- n. a single meal combining breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Rather have three meals, I just ate brunner yesterday.

3. helioctacles- n. sunglasses that specifically block out harmful sunrays such as UV rays.

With their helioctacles on, the kids were free to look straight up at the sun as the moon covered it, leaving only corona visible during the total eclipse.

Spoonerism

1. spoonerism (noun)
2. spoonerisms
3. spoonerism: An accidental but humorous distortion of the words in a phrase formed by interchanging the initial sounds. (Vocabulary for Achievement)
4. Like malapropisms, spoonerisms can create terrible miscommunication and some phrases, when the initial consonants are switched, can become horrible insults.

5. It is said that Reverend Spooner, after whom 'spoonerisms' is named after, once said "May I sew you another sheet?" when he meant "May I show you another seat?"

Simile

1. simile (noun)
2. similes
3. simile: A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. (Vocabulary for Achievement)
4. "The blood on the ground was as fresh as the morning dew dripping from the grass." is a simile that does not work well at all due to the extreme contrast in atmosphere.

5. One of the classic examples of similes is 'fresh as a daisy' and other than because it is overused, the image of the daisy below should also explain why it is not a good simile to use.

Portmanteau Word

1. portmanteau word(noun)
2. portmanteau words
3. portmanteau word: A word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words; blend. (Vocabulary for Achievement)
4. When in Spanish class we have difficulties remembering a word, we often combine the English word with Spanish affixes, creating portmaneau words, which are part of a 'language' humorously named Spanglish, a portmanteau word from Spanish and English.

5. A camcorder is a portmanteau word created from camera and recorder.

Palindrome

1. palindrome (noun)
2. palindromes, palindromic
3. palindrome: A word, phrase, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. (Vocabulary for Achievement)
4. Palindromes, which include mom, dad, radar, level and racecar, are difficult to find or create as they don't sound different from other phrases.

5. One of the most famous palindromic phrases is "a man, a plan, a canal... Panama!"

Onopatopoeia

1. onomatopoeia (noun)
2. onomatopoetic
3. onomatopoeia: The formation or use of a word that imitates or resembles what it stands for. (Vocabulary for Achievement)
4. To make the fast-paced combat scene more interesting, Tom added onomatopoeia like 'bam', 'boom', and 'kapow' in between commentary on how each character was faring in the fight.
5. Bang is an example of onomatopoeia.

Malapropism

1. malapropism (noun)
2. malapropisms
3. malapropism: The use of a word souding somewhat like the one intended but humorously wrong in the context. (Vocabulary for Achievement)
4. Malapropisms often occur in conversations and can cause ridiculous misunderstandings; fortunately, most people confirm with the speaker when the phrase seems out of context and the confusion is cleared.
5. Malapropisms can really alter the entire meaning of the text in a hilarious way.

Colloquial

1. colloquial (noun)
2. colloquialism, colloquially
3. colloquial: a. Used in or suitable in spoken language or to writing that imitates speech; conversational. b. Informal in style of expression.(Vocabulary for Achievement)
4. Colloquialism is common between student conversations, but a whole other set of words are usually used when communicating with teachers.
5. What's up dude, is a common colloquialism used as a greeting.

Coinage

1. coinage (noun)
2. coinages, coin

3. coinage: n. a. The invention of new words. b. An invented word or phrase. c. The process of making coins. (Vocabulary for Achievement)

4. Each year, new coinages are created, so dictionaries are frequently updated to include these new words.

5. Ginormous, a combination of gigantic and enormous , is a coinage that was added to the Merriam Webster Dictionary last year.

Affix

1. affix (noun, verb)

2. affixes, affixed, affixing, affixment, affixer, affixiable

3.affix: n. a. A word element, such as a prefix or suffix, that is attached to a base, stem, or root. b. Something that is attached joined, or added. v. a. To secure (an object) to another; attach b. To place at the end. (Vocabulary for Achievement)

4. Affixes can often tell a lot about the word; for example, words with prefixes in-, un- or im- often imply the opposite of the root, and the suffixes -ment, -ance, or - tion, are usually the noun form of the root.
5. John Hancock's signature is one of the most famous affixments on the Declaration of Independence.

Acronym

1. acronym (noun)

2. acronyms

3. acronym: A word formed from the initial letters of a name of by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words. (Vocabulary for Achievement)

4. The English language has slowly evolved to include some acronyms such as 'omg', or 'lol' in casual dialogue that were previously used only in texting or instant messaging.

5. NBA is an acronym standing for National Basketball Association.

The Atom

The atom, the fundamental building blocks of matter, links to me bacause I like physics and chemistry, in which atomic motion and properties are studied respectively!