Tricky Situations

In my previous post, I discussed the class's introduction to rhetoric and mentioned a task we had used to aid our learning process. Having already explained its purpose, I will now further share details on the task itself.

We were presented with three rhetorical situations: job interview, date, roommate searching. The objective to point out adjectives to describe ourselves within them. The true crux was the contrast between how we would handle ourselves in each situation. The job interview was more professional, using terms like determined or loyal. The date was significantly more intimate, carrying more personal adjectives such as sweet and funny. Lastly, the roommate search held intimacy like the date, but illuminated traits that were more specific to a roommate than a lover, such as relaxed and clean. The interview appeared to be the easiest to sort, with the roommate and date situations being often confused due to their sharing of intimacy. I feel like this was especially prominent because, though a date is more intimate than a roommate search, many students were too uncomfortable to reveal more personal details of themselves and thus the depth reduced to that of the roommate.

This task was something I was very familiar with. Having taken rhetoric in seventh grade, pursued many years of english following that (including AP English), and even participated in my high schools speech and debate club, rhetorical devices were far from alien.

My diction varies throughout many of the situations I find myself in. I feel the best is when I am leaving a message on the phone, where I take a much more professional tone. Though I am usually a very laid back and simple spoken person, my word choice, sentence structure, and even voice clarity elevate. Rather than giving my characteristic "hey", I greet the automated voice with, "hello, this is Massimo Pascale." The message that follows includes a detailed explanation of my purpose as well as intelligent wording to increase credibility and provide clarity. To this extent, I am better able to demonstrate my purpose to the recipient, making to more inclined to return my call as well as even aid in my purpose. This is especially effective with work related calls, where the call's appeal to ethos usually allows me to snag clients or get job offers. Nobody acts the same way in every situation, and if they do they are not taking advantage of what the English language has gifted them with - rhetoric.