"That's How I Roll"

              

               That’s How I Roll (2009), by Ginny Donaldson, is a short story that explores the origin of the phrase “that’s how I roll”, slang, and why some slang sticks and some doesn’t. Donaldson begins by giving the results of her searching for the phrase “that’s how I roll” on Google and goes on to as what slang is and why some slang sticks and some doesn’t. The author most likely wrote this in order to bring attention to slang and how some phrases stand the test of time. Donaldson probably wrote this for an audience of people who may be curious about the phrase “that’s how I roll” and slang.

                Reading this made me realize how frequently people use slang and I find it very interesting. I, as well as a number of people I know, use slang without even pausing to think about how it may have even come about. It also makes me wonder how many words that we use every day actually began as slang and eventually just became a part of the language. Maybe English in general just started out as slang and over time just became a language. The text makes me want to research some of the things I say every day and find out just where they came from.

                The text went a little deeper into the phrase “that’s how I roll”, mentioning how the author looked up the phrase on Google and Urban Dictionary Online to get more information. After reporting her findings Donaldson moves on to ask what slang even is. Donaldson sates that “According to Buzzle.com, whose slogan is “Intelligent Life on the Web,” “Slang seems to be ubiquitous. Its use crosses time, culture, and language. Just as with ‘normal’ English words, the meanings of the words used in the other English language can be found in online dictionaries.”” Donaldson goes from here to explain how some people explain why some slang sticks while some doesn’t. She ends the text by telling how she came up at a “dead end” when she attempted to continue researching the phrase ”that’s how I roll”, somewhat questioning the English language, and coming to the conclusion that the words with hard to find origins are just as important as those with easily found origins.