Shopping at a Mall or Shopping Online Essays

Shopping at a Mall or Shopping Online Essays Shopping at a Mall or Shopping Online Essay Shopping at a Mall or Shopping Online Essay Shoppers often wonder if there is enough time during the day to accomplish all the tasks that remain and need to be accomplished. Shoppers often feel overwhelmed by all the chores set during the day that leaves one with no time go to the mall with friends and relax or buy necessary items for themselves. Some office people find that they do not have time to get to the mall before it closes in order to complete necessary personal errands.   These are the people who find tremendous benefits that come from online shopping. But, there are also various social sectors with opinions that both support or oppose online shopping in favor of mall shopping.There is a big difference between shopping online and seeing a PhotoShop picture of the product he or she is interested in and actually going to the mall and getting a chance to try the product and compare product quality. Mall shopping has a more personal feel to purchasing items because he or she actually gets to tal k to a real live person and inquire about the product that interests him. There is also the instant gratification of being able to return home the same day or night with the much-needed product on hand. One must not forget that it is also easier for shoppers to bring the item back to the mall for replacement when necessary.There are also health benefits involved with mall shopping. Doctors often recommend that the elderly or people with heart ailments go to the mall and shop in order to gain some much-needed exercise without really exercising. They believe that mall shopping is the best method of exercise as shoppers rarely notice the time they have spent walking and climbing the mall using stairs, escalators, and elevators while they shop. Hence the term shop till you drop. Dont forget that there are also certain specialty stores that like to keep their exclusivity by not having an online counterpart. But perhaps the most notable benefit of shopping the mall is the social interacti on involved that allows relationships and bonds between friends and family to prosper.In the meantime, it must also be pointed out that online shopping provides major benefits for shoppers. It is much more convenient to shop online because their stores are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They accommodate the shopping schedule of the buyers instead of the buyers accommodating their store hours. The online stores also carry all sizes in stock therefore getting the correct size is never a problem for their buyers. There are even auction sites where they can search and compare prices in order to get the best deals on certain items.Online shopping also has its own drawbacks that limits the shopping pleasure people can derive from it. For example, the online shoppers are limited buying items in blind faith because they cannot touch or feel the item that they want to buy. There is no immediate gratification found in purchasing an item because the buyer has to wait for the item to b e shipped to him. The buyer also has to pay extra for shipping fees most of the time. From the economic point of view, online shopping saves the shoppers the cost of gasoline and parking. It also limits the buying power of their clientele because they will not allow people to pay with cash. These stores often require credit cards, debit cards or electronic cash payments such as PayPal.It is very important to consider all these factors in order to decide upon which shopping method will best suit the situation and need of the shoppers. There will also be times when shoppers will end up combining both shopping styles in order to accomplish a task. Mall shopping has more social benefits when compared to online shopping. Online shopping seems to be the more expensive shopping method because of the shipping fees involved. In the end, they will have to decide on the proper shopping method for themselves.

Definition and Examples of Platitudes in English

Definition and Examples of Platitudes in English Definition A platitude is a trite and obvious observation, in particular, one thats expressed as if it were fresh and significant. Adjectives: platitudinous and platitudinal. Verb: platitudinize. A person who habitually uses platitudes- or clichà ©s- is (among other things) a platitudinarian. Platitudes can be instruments of gentle criticism, says Karen Tracy. Platitudes are  especially useful in the context of public argument, for they promote the sense that a speaker is addressing a policy concern rather than actually criticizing or attacking a person (Challenges of Ordinary Democracy, 2010). Etymology: From Old French, flat, dull Pronunciation: PLAT-i-tood Related Concepts Platitudes are similar to some other terms, but can also be mixed up with some of these terms. Some of the related concepts and language terms are: CatchphraseChunkClichà ©CollocationDead MetaphorIdiomPet PhraseProverb Examples of Platitudes Youre as young as you feel.Crime does pay.It doesnt matter what youre doing, as long as youre having fun.Love will always get you through.Crime doesnt pay.He/she who laughs last, laughs best.Everybody needs somebody.Alls well that ends well.Honesty is the best policy.Life begins at 50 (or 60).Its okay to be silly.You have to act your age.Acting your age is for old people.Love what you do.Do what you love.The secret to a long life is doing what you love.Who cares what other people say? Observations About Platitudes There are already some four-star platitudes on the list, some old sayings, some repeats, and a few opposing ideas. (Jay Douglas, Stalking the Story. Alpha Books, 2011)His subjects are intriguing, but Coles is embarrassingly conventional and unreflective. He writes in platitudes (about lifes ironies, the dilemmas of our time, the richest nation in the world, peoples darker side, Freuds superior cast of mind, etc.). (William White, The Library Journal Book Review, 1975)He was fond of thinking in platitudes- but to him, all platitudes were profound and had the freshness and vigor of original thought.Like bubbles, he said to himself, human life is as momentary as a bubble.(Khushwant Singh, Posthumous. Not A Nice Man To Know: The Best of Khushwant Singh. Penguin, 2000)Everybody can repeat the platitude that the mob can be the greatest of all tyrants. But few realize or remember the corresponding truth which goes along with it- that the mob is the only permanent and unassailable high pries t. (G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens: A Critical Study, 1906) Anti-Intellectualism in Politics: Inspirational Platitudes and Partisan Punch Lines Instead of bringing arguments to the public deliberative sphere, [American] presidents are increasingly inclined to declare and assert, offering us a predictable inventory of inspirational platitudes and partisan punch lines. I turn first to George W. Bush and his use of inspirational platitudes as an instance of argument by declaration, then to Bill Clinton and his use of partisan punch lines as an instance of argument by assertion. It may appear at first glance that these two anti-intellectual strategies are polar opposites of each other. Platitudes articulate the obvious and are therefore assumed to be universal, while partisan punch lines are strategically one-sided and therefore particular. Both, however, are united by their rejection of the weighing and judging of reasons. Both are proffered as foundational beliefs that cannot be argued for or against. Self-evident truths can be declared without justification, just like partisan punch lines are asserted strategically to preempt consideration of the other side. Both paradoxically transmit ambiguous meaning in categorical language. Indeed, that is why partisan punch lines are often dressed up in the ambiguous language of platitudes. Phrases such as liberty, support our troops, and freedom in Iraq are often deployed as coded conservative punch lines delivered as creedal platitudes that cannot be denied, while fairness, universal health care, equal employment opportunity are the liberal analogs of projects that are self-evidently unobjectionable. (Elvin T. Lim, The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from George Washington to George W. Bush. Oxford University Press, 2008) The New Rhetoric of Civility The new rhetoric of civility misunderstands the role of argument as a social and socializing process. In so doing, it dissuades the public from embracing and refining argument as a means to achieve civility. In seeking a cure to incivility, todays discussions have characterized argument as a disease, when its cultivation might actually offer the most efficacious cure...If we fail to redeem ourselves through rhetoric, we condemn ourselves to recycling platitudes about civility. And through those platitudes, the new rhetoric of civility will continue to perpetuate the very stereotype about argument that, ironically, have led to todays calls for civility.(Rolf Norgaard, The Rhetoric of Civility and the Fate of Argument. Rhetoric, the Polis, and the Global Village: Selected Papers From the 1998 Thirtieth Anniversary Rhetoric Society of America Conference, ed. by C. Jan Swearingen and Dave Pruett. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999) Platitudes in Drama That an idea is not available dramatically until it has become a platitude is itself one of the most platitudinous of dramatic platitudes. But there is a considerable difference in the mere availability of a platitude and the conversion of the platitude into lively and engaging drama. Good drama, in point of fact, consists in so veiling a basic platitude with the vari-colored gauzes of imaginative beauty that it shall be but vaguely perceptible to those who give it eye and ear. The greater the dramatist, the more successful he is in deceiving his audiences as to the existence in his work of the platitude. He is, in a way of speaking, a prestidigitator of platitudes: one whose infinite legerdemain of metaphor, fancy, wit, and surface originality is successful constantly in making the ever-present platitude seem to disappear. (George Jean Nathan, Materia Critica. Alfred A. Knopf, 1924)