"That's How I Roll" is an expository passage by Ginny Donaldson informing readers of the origins of the phrase, "That's how I roll." Donaldson informs the audience of the phrases popularity "50,000,000 [search results] increased to 56,200,000" after incorporating a story of where her curiosity came from. A recent search for the phrase returned 4,130,000 results, a massive drop in interest. Donaldson proceeds to inform readers of where slang phrases such as "that's how I roll" come from. Slang phrases usually are invented by accident by ordinary people and end up spreading around and either fizzle out or remain popular for several years.
My initial reaction upon reading "That's How I Roll" is one of curiosity. Like Donaldson I also became curious about the whereabouts of such phrases. Fortunately discovering how the English language spits out such phrases is easy to understand. Our language consists of millions of words and is constantly changing making it one of the hardest languages to learn. Upon that note our slang phrases also come in and out of existence like a fashion fad. Therefore a foreigner attempting to learn English might pick upon on a thirty year old slang phrase and attempt to use it today and be subject to laughter.
Donaldson's essay being an expository essay, does not have a theme. The concept explained in her paper brings up many valid ideas. Where does our slang come from? Anyone can invent slang. The problem is getting a slang word or phrase to catch on and be adopted into our vernacular of slang vocabulary. Donaldson's essay has sparked a great amount of curiosity in those who have read it and probably wondered about the origins of well know slang phrases. The purpose of "That's How I Roll" is to inform and encourage curiosity of our own language and it does just that.
-Alex Simpson
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