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FW: Geekonics spoken here.

>
>>Subject: 	FW: Geekonics spoken here.
>>
>>>>'GEEKONICS' IS JUST A BEGINNING
>>>>by John Woestendiek
>>>>Philadelphia Inquirer
>>>>Wed., January 8, 1997
>>>>*****************************
>>>>
>>>>NEWS BULLETIN: Saying it will improve the education of children who have
>>>>grown up immersed in computer lingo, the school board in San Jose, Calif.,
>>>>has officially designated computer English, or "Geekonics", as a second
>>>>language.
>>>>
>>>>The historic vote on Geekonics - a combination of the word "geek" and the
>>>>word "phonics" - came just weeks after the Oakland school board recognized
>>>>black English, or Ebonics, as a distinct language.
>>>>
>>>>"This entirely reconfigures our parameters," Milton "Floppy" Macintosh,
>>>>chairman of Geekonics Unlimited, said after the school board became the
>>>>first in the nation to recognize Geekonics.
>>>>
>>>>"No longer are we preformatted for failure," Macintosh said during a
>>>>celebration that saw many Geekonics backers come dangerously close to
>>>>smiling. "Today, we are rebooting, implementing a program to process the
>>>>data we need to interface with all units of humanity."
>>>>
>>>>Controversial and widely misunderstood, the Geekonics movement was spawned
>>>>in California's Silicon Valley, where many children have grown up in
>>>>households headed by computer technicians, programmers, engineers and
>>>>scientists who have lost ability to speak plain English and have
>>>>inadvertently passed on their high-tech vernacular to their children.
>>>>
>>>>HELPING THE TRANSITION
>>>>
>>>>While schools will not teach the language, increased teacher awareness of
>>>>Geekonics, proponents say, will help children make the transition to
>>>>standard English. Those students, in turn, could possibly help their
>>>>parents
>>>>learn to speak in a manner that would lead listeners to believe that they
>>>>have actual blood coursing through their veins.
>>>>
>>>>"Bit by bit, byte by byte, with the proper system development, with
>>>>nonpreemptive multitasking, I see no reason why we can't download the data
>>>>we need to modulate our oral output," Macintosh said.
>>>>
>>>>The designation of Ebonics and Geekonics as languages reflects a growing
>>>>awareness of our nation's lingual diversity, experts say.
>>>>
>>>>Other groups pushing for their own languages and/or vernaculars to be
>>>>declared official viewed the Geekonics vote as a step in the right
>>>>direction.
>>>>
>>>>"This is just, like, OK, you know, the most totally kewl thing, like,
>>>>ever,"
>>>>said Jennifer Notat-Albright, chairwoman of the Committee for the
>>>>Advancement of Valleyonics, headquartered in Southern California. "I mean,
>>>>like, you know?" she added.
>>>>
>>>>THEY'RE HAPPY IN DIXIE
>>>>
>>>>"Yeee-hah," said Buford "Kudzu" Davis, president of the Dixionics
>>>>Coalition.
>>>>"Y'all gotta know I'm as happy as a tick on a sleeping bloodhound about
>>>>this."
>>>>
>>>>Spokesmen for several subchapters of Dixionics - including Alabonics,
>>>>Tennesonics and Louisionics - also said they approved of the decision.
>>>>
>>>>Bill Flack, public information officer for the Blue Ribbon Task Force on
>>>>Bureaucratonics said that his organization would not comment on the San
>>>>Jose
>>>>vote until it convened a summit meeting, studied the impact, assessed the
>>>>feasibility, finalized a report and drafted a comprehensive action plan,
>>>>which, once it clears the appropriate subcommittees and is voted on, will
>>>>be
>>>>made public to those who submit the proper information-request forms.
>>>>
>>>>Proponents of Ebonics heartily endorsed the designation of Geekonics as an
>>>>official language.
>>>>
>>>>"I ain't got no problem wif it," said Earl E. Byrd, president of the
>>>>Ebonics
>>>>Institute. "You ever try talkin' wif wunna dem computer dudes? Don't matter
>>>>if it be a white computer dude or a black computer dude; it's like you be
>>>>talkin' to a robot - RAM, DOS, undelete, MegaHertZ. Ain't nobody
>>>>understands. But dey keep talkin' anyway. 'Sup wif dat?"
>>>>
>>>>Those involved in the lingual diversity movement believe that only by
>>>>enacting many different English languages, in addition to all the foreign
>>>>ones practiced here, can we all end up happily speaking the same boring
>>>>one,
>>>>becoming a nation that is both unified in its diversity, and diversified in
>>>>its unity.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Others say that makes no sense at all. In any language.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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