Discourse communities

Two discourse communities that I’m a part of are at work and among my family. To begin with, a discourse community is a group of people who share certain language-using practices. Working at Chick Fil A has pushed me into becoming part of a discourse community without even trying to. For example, a thing that my coworkers and I are supposed to say all the time is “my pleasure”. And although that is a courteous thing to say even outside of work, it’s something only part of my discourse community at work. Another good example of a type of language we use at work is a elbow. Giving someone an elbow is pretty much like giving them a high five or a handshake, most of the time you say “hey” and follow it with an elbow handshake. Finally, the second discourse community I am a part of is in my family. We all have different nicknames for most of the people in our family, for example my sister is “Sissa”, my dad’s good friend is “El Pollo”, my dad is “Zarco”, and my aunt and her husband are “El Burro/Burra. Different nicknames and words make my family a discourse community. Overall, these two discourse communities are not the only ones I’m a part of, they all shape the person I am.