Allie Wyman English 1103 Section 16 Speech Community Essay 11 November 2013 Speech community.

Speech combined with community. What is considered speech?- The faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express ones thoughts and emotions by speech and gesture. What is entailed when it comes to a community?- Social groups of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. Now putting them together, a speech community is the ability to express ones thoughts and emotions by speech and gesture where members reside in a specific locality, often having common heritage. When I was first prompted about what speech community I belonged to I was in utter confusion thinking to myself that I belonged to absolutely no speech community. Questions such as, Am I that boring of a person that I do not belong to anything? What do I do if I do not belong to a speech community? Is this going to be the hardest thing I have had to do all semester long? Diving into exactly what a speech community throughout classes has enlightened a pathway to finding a speech community I am happily involved in and take much pride being apart of. However, the process of determining a speech community I feel heavily about took me through a roller coaster of emotions. Writing in the daybooks helped me configure what it entails to be a speech community, what it means to be apart of that speech community, and how to express that I am in that particular speech community. Writing the entry where I had to graph out different aspects of my life such as school, family, friends, and work helped me pin point different speech communities I am apart of when I originally thought I was not apart of any. However, listing family, friends, and school I did not feel as though it was challenging enough to dig into because I felt other students would be doing the same general speech communities and how it affects him/her. I wanted to think of something outside of the box that no one else would do and in turn enlighten others on a speech community he/she may not have known to be considered a speech community before learning about it. So, as I looked through the daybook multiple of times to see repeated speech communities I may or may not be involved in, the work section of my daybook intrigued me. I knew it would be something challenging for me to demonstrate the aspects of the speech community, and it would be interesting to me to actually study what it truly consists of to be apart of the speech community. Sequentially, the next step to my curiosity dove into picking a speech community I am dedicated to- the server speech community. As the clock was ticking in class I immediately started questioning myself how being a server has to do with a speech community, would it be considered one, is this stupid to do, am I not thinking correctly? This summer I started working at Duckworths Grill and Taphouse fulltime. While working full time I stepped into what I now classify as the server speech community. Going through training there were quizzes, tests, terms to know, and specific ways to greet and dismiss our customers. Having to pass the quizzes with server vocabulary, tests that listed every menu item and then a blank to fill out everything that comes on and with that menu item, and a mock run to our managers demonstrated that I was ready to be

apart of the server speech community. I had to know the four-page menu by heart as well as 144 beers that were on tap. The 144 beers itself is a speech community within the server speech community. However, it was essential to know the beers to be apart of the server speech community all together. I had to know terms such as 86 (out of an item), In the weeds (server is double or triple seated and needs help), Alley (where our meetings are held), Expo (where food sits under a heated light until all meals in a party are done), Food runner (employees who bring food out to the tables), shorthand orders on our pads, terms that only a server would understand its position in the industry and restaurant. At first I felt uncomfortable using these terms because I was just entering this speech community, but after working full time all summer I became more and more adapted to the terms and started using them myself, emerging into the speech community. After discovering my active membership in the server speech community it was interesting to have to make the Wiki Readers Guide webpage. The reason being so because it demonstrated that being apart of the Duckworths community was not much different than other peoples blogs I found. Although the atmosphere and type of restaurant can differ, it is still the same concept when it comes to being apart of the server speech community. Everyones main goal is to satisfy the customers wants and needs. That raised a question in and of itself when I discovered that aspect to the speech community- Is this community isolated within itself? After further inquiry through the Wiki Readers Guide I came to a realization that being in the server speech community is indeed isolated between the employees. When I read blogs dealing with server shorthand I realized they were all different but in the end they all consisted of the same concept of shortening words to write quicker in order to follow the customers wants. Our customers do not hear our special terms that mean so much to us because they are not spoken directly to them; they are directed towards us in an alley meeting or by word of mouth between employees. Customers also do not know minute details about 144 beers that range from stouts to IPAs to porters, etc. Being a server may seem to be something anyone and everyone could do, but I promise that there is a lot of behind the scenes that customers do not know about when it comes to serving. Being a member of the Duckworths Grill and Taphouse server speech community is something I am very proud of. This restaurant is a family owned restaurant that is very successful and has wonderful managers that would not let you down for anything. Being in this speech community has opened up opportunities for me that I never knew were possible-such as serving. I was originally intended to be a food runner, but my manager insisted I served because she though it was the right thing for me. I however, was panicking because I am a shy individual who does not do well speaking and being the center of attention in front of others. As I entered the server speech community it opened up a pathway for me to feel comfortable speaking in front of others and boosted my self-esteem. I am able to feel confident about myself while raising my language awareness as a server with all the knowledge I have had to learn throughout this past summer. I also learn how to interact with the public serving all sorts of customers. As expressed in the beginning I was initially struggling with what a speech community was in the first place and now through inquiry along with curiosity I am a proud, active member of what I have classified as a server speech community.