How Closed Captioning Bumped Me Up a Step on the Literacy Ladder
Let me just preface this by saying... if you're in a hurry, or have other important things to do, this post will probably just waste your time. And I don't watch that much TV.
I think I'm addicted to Closed Captions. The need for them came about when we realized that just as something important was being said on TV, someone under the age of 5 would, invariably, squawk. At which point, John and I would both ask "What did he/she say?". What follows would be a scramble for the DVR remote, which had ALWAYS fallen in between couch cushions, despite having been in hand moments earlier. By the time we find the scene again, we forget why it's pertinent. By the time the show is over, we're an hour behind real time. ( I KNOW we're not the only ones out there who struggle with this...)
We found the captions to be helpful about a year ago, and now TV is not complete without black and white words covering half the screen. Sometimes, I'll get through an entire program without looking at the actor's faces. Unimportant, I guess, when you are reading every single word that is said. Sometimes phonetically, which has taught me a little about how they're written. Now the only scrambling is to get a child out of the way, if they happen to wander in front of the screen, which happens a lot less than squawking. ( I just love onomatopoeias, they just say so much, don't they?) The funny thing, is that I'll hear John laughing at jokes before they're said, because the captions are running a second early. Or, when I'm watching alone, I'll catch myself, saying the actor's lines for them, and I am no actress. I have a newfound respect for actors on ER, or other more technical shows. It's pretty hard to make all that jargon sound like anything other than jibberish.
I have learned some cool things from watching captions though. These are things you could never learn unless you were reading what someone is doing, as they are doing it. Like when someone "scoffs", I always thought that was more like (what I've now learned) a guffaw. Picture a Shakespearean actor laughing at his nemesis, and that's what I thought of as a scoff. Now corrected, I realize this makes characters in books a little less dramatic, and a little more relatable. Amazing.
And there are words and terms that I hear often, but don't often see in print. Like "Mother Lode". I always assumed it would be mother load meaning what it implies by spelling. Surprise! I looked it up, and it's a little different. Facade, (which I pronounced in my head while reading as Fakade) hors d' oeuvres, bisque, and foie gras, while I suspected were French, are spelled a little differently than I had envisioned.
The final benefit to having captions on, is that you can turn down the TV, or even mute it without disrupting the storyline. I inherited from my mother a distaste for the noise, but love of the pastime of watching TV. This way we can literally watch TV in peace.
Again, I promise I don't watch that much TV.
I think I'm addicted to Closed Captions. The need for them came about when we realized that just as something important was being said on TV, someone under the age of 5 would, invariably, squawk. At which point, John and I would both ask "What did he/she say?". What follows would be a scramble for the DVR remote, which had ALWAYS fallen in between couch cushions, despite having been in hand moments earlier. By the time we find the scene again, we forget why it's pertinent. By the time the show is over, we're an hour behind real time. ( I KNOW we're not the only ones out there who struggle with this...)
We found the captions to be helpful about a year ago, and now TV is not complete without black and white words covering half the screen. Sometimes, I'll get through an entire program without looking at the actor's faces. Unimportant, I guess, when you are reading every single word that is said. Sometimes phonetically, which has taught me a little about how they're written. Now the only scrambling is to get a child out of the way, if they happen to wander in front of the screen, which happens a lot less than squawking. ( I just love onomatopoeias, they just say so much, don't they?) The funny thing, is that I'll hear John laughing at jokes before they're said, because the captions are running a second early. Or, when I'm watching alone, I'll catch myself, saying the actor's lines for them, and I am no actress. I have a newfound respect for actors on ER, or other more technical shows. It's pretty hard to make all that jargon sound like anything other than jibberish.
I have learned some cool things from watching captions though. These are things you could never learn unless you were reading what someone is doing, as they are doing it. Like when someone "scoffs", I always thought that was more like (what I've now learned) a guffaw. Picture a Shakespearean actor laughing at his nemesis, and that's what I thought of as a scoff. Now corrected, I realize this makes characters in books a little less dramatic, and a little more relatable. Amazing.
And there are words and terms that I hear often, but don't often see in print. Like "Mother Lode". I always assumed it would be mother load meaning what it implies by spelling. Surprise! I looked it up, and it's a little different. Facade, (which I pronounced in my head while reading as Fakade) hors d' oeuvres, bisque, and foie gras, while I suspected were French, are spelled a little differently than I had envisioned.
The final benefit to having captions on, is that you can turn down the TV, or even mute it without disrupting the storyline. I inherited from my mother a distaste for the noise, but love of the pastime of watching TV. This way we can literally watch TV in peace.
Again, I promise I don't watch that much TV.
Comments
Thanks for your comment! :) It has definitely been a long time coming - you probably know that better than anyone since you probably started hearing about my baby hunger first.....like a year ago. ha ha. Anyway, thanks again!