Poster: A snowHead
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I am writing a English 1 college paper on the discourse community (or group) of skiers.
1. In particular I need to know what are some insider's terms (or specialized vocabulary) that skiers use (like heliskiing or double black diamond).
2. Also I would like to know some common speech acts (or ways of using words, such as greeting or complaining.)
3. Do you all believe that there are certain values, beliefs, and interests that are common among skiers?
4. What are some reasons why you ski?
Also I would appreciate it if anybody would be willing to let me interview them for a bit through AIM, MSN messenger or I could set up a chat room.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sounds like you should do some basic research before going much further. If you interview people to ask about the meaning of simple terms (I quote) "like heliskiing or double black diamond" you may get abrupt answers. Are you excluding snowboarders? Is your target community recreational skiers and snowboarders? Or, are you looking for (semi-)professional snowsports athletes?
My experience of skiers and snowboarders is that they come from a vast range of backgrounds and their use of language is governed more by their background than by snowsports. Their use of snow-related vocabulary is technical, just as is needed for any other area of interest. Parts of the community and their language may have parallels with other sports such as skateboarding and BMX cycling, but that is due to people doing both sorts of activity.
Please get some basic books on skiing and snowboarding techhnique, read them particularly their glossaries and then think again about your project.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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knarf135, welcome to snowHeads .
With regard to questions 1 & 2, I would suggest you should indicate whether you are studying US skiers or UK skiers (e.g. US 'trail' vs UK 'piste' (which comes from the Frnech)). This message board is predominantly, but not exclusively, made up of UK skiers, by the way.
3: No, other than skiing.
4: Fresh air, exercise, adrenalin, the views, getting away from it all, ....
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Why not run a content analysis of threads rather than speech? You'll have more material and there will be less scope for researcher intervention.
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