Therealbevincampbell

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negro vs. African American

<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=negro%2CAfrican+American&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cnegro%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CAfrican%20American%3B%2Cc0" width=900 height=500 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no></iframe>

This graph shows a cross over in the usage of terms for people of African descent at around 1990. This indicates that before 1990, the term ‘negro’ was considered appropriate to distinguish black people. In 1988, an American named Jesse Jackson was influential in changing the terminology from the now offensive ‘negro’ to African American. As such, the usage of the word ‘negro’ dropped significantly and the the usage of ‘African American’ was on the rise.

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lions and tigers and *

<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=lions+and+tigers+and+*&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Clions%20and%20tigers%20and%20%2A%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20other%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20bears%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20leopards%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20elephants%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20panthers%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20wolves%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20the%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20wild%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20monkeys%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blions%20and%20tigers%20and%20snakes%3B%2Cc0" width=900 height=500 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no></iframe>

The phrase ‘lions and tigers and bears’ typically brings to mind the Wizard of Oz. The initial publishing date of the book was in 1900, and the chart appropriately shows a spike in this phrase between 1900 and 1905. The first screen adaptation of the Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, and though this information predicts a higher frequency of the term, it is not indicated on the graph. In the late 1970s the term ‘lions and tigers and bears’ was much more frequent than the other phrases on the graph, but I cannot find a correlation as to why this would be the case. As for the large spike in the phrase ‘lions and tigers and leopards’: this spike occurred at around 1902 which I believe has a correlation with colonialism and various African expeditions which were going on at the time, which were romanticized about back in the colonizing country, in this case likely England (because this search was conducted using English words).

Bold textInflection Search:

running_INF with the bulls

<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=running_INF+with+the+bulls&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t3%3B%2Crunning_INF%20with%20the%20bulls%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Brun%20with%20the%20bulls%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Brunning%20with%20the%20bulls%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bran%20with%20the%20bulls%3B%2Cc0" width=900 height=500 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no></iframe>

I think this graph is interesting as it indicates three tenses of the verb to run. The most frequent instance is the present simple tense of ‘run’ which indicates a hopefulness and not yet achievement of the action, in my opinion; if I write ‘run with the bulls’ in my journal, it is as a goal. The second most common tense is the present continuous of ‘running’ which shows more commitment; if i write ‘running with the bulls’ in my journal, it indicates an actual plan, perhaps with a date set. The least common tense is the past tense of ‘ran.’ This is least common because it occurs the least. Few people can say they have done this.

running with the bulls_INF

<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=running+with+the+bulls_INF&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Crunning%20with%20the%20bulls%3B%2Cc0" width=900 height=500 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no></iframe>

There are no inflection changes with the noun bulls. I think this is just indicative of the fact that when referring to Pamplona and the running of the bulls there, nobody ever speaks of just one bull; the tradition is to be chased by multiple bulls, so regardless of tense or subject, the object bulls remains the same.

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play_NOUN vs play_VERB

<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=play_NOUN%2Cplay_VERB&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cplay_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cplay_VERB%3B%2Cc0" width=900 height=500 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no></iframe>

Bold textSearch for Parts of Speech (not a specific word):

• _NOUN

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• _VERB

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