Blog Post #2

Kayla Possehl

September 26^th, 2017

Comm 160

Christina Ivey

Blog Post #2

This past month I have taken away a variety of concepts from our Communication and Culture course but something that stood out to me most was the way we use language and symbols. In class we went over the three different cultures this includes which are rhetorical, mediated, and inclusive. I think this was something I found to be fascinating because of how much this is present in our everyday life. In class we discussed how sports teams use symbols in all different forms from their mascots to the hand gestures they use in order to get a particular message across to other individuals. This is something that we never really think twice about in our everyday life but the truth is the use of symbols is everywhere. A perfect example that came to mind during this lecture last week in class was when working at Disneyland we had a variety of gestures learned that all cast members learned in training to stay in unison. Something that we really focused on was making sure when we point we use two fingers or our entire hand because if you point with one finger it can be very offensive to other cultures. This is especially crucial with a place such a Disneyland since we have individuals visiting from all different cultures. I think why I choose to write my blog on this specific topic is because it has made me become more aware of how symbols and gestures are a huge part of the way we communicate with others. Obviously most of communication is verbal but also our nonverbal play a huge role as well. If found a great way symbols to be defined “are representations of an event, action, object, person, or place that can be used to communicate about the event, action, object, person, or place” which shows how large of a role they play in our everyday communication.