How Does Code Switching Affect Us

Wendy Carlos once said, “As human beings we do change, grow, adapt, perhaps even learn and become wise”. This quote is a perfect example of the reason why we code switch and how it impacts us as people. Code switching is an important part of everyone’s lives. The communities we interact with on an everyday basis have different expectations from us. We fill these interactions between groups with lingo and terms that are relatable and common with the community we belong in. The constant switching is something that most people are used to and it is an occurrence that happens behind the scenes in our subconscious. Like many people, I myself have multiple experiences with code switching and how it impacts my relations with the people I am in communication
Yet, once the food is served I get the singular pleasure of getting asked all the intrusive and rude questions possible. This is a prime time to code switch because of how easily it would be to be brusque to my aunt or uncle who just asked me why on earth I would go to a catholic school when they are so many better schools out there. Constantly my word choice and demeanor teeter between overtly respectful and covertly sardonic. This code switching between the respectful and earnest questions and the covert sneering and biting remarks is something my entire extended family has mastered when we are in close proximity to each other. It’s not that we hate each other we are just an amazingly competitive group of people who do not like to admit when we are wrong or not the best. For example, last Thanksgiving my extended family came to visit and my aunt, who is a long-time paleo dieter, asked me why I was a vegetarian, she gave me a long winded and expressive plea for me to eat meat, describing the impact that not eating meat has on people and all sorts of devastating things that could happen if I did not start eating meat at that exact moment. After respectfully listening I simply had to tell her I would not eat meat as it was against my beliefs.
My friends differ greatly from my family as they are not only younger, but also my peers. They are all nerds and delightfully wonderful in thought and action. My friend group can be described as a tight knit community of friends. When communicating with my friends we talk in lingo and our own code words for certain things. Being so tight knit we understand everything perfectly. Words like murrr and rippity rip all have meaning and we use them frequently. Yet, since I have moved into college I have continued the use of many of these phrases and it has made for many interesting looks. One example of this was when I was struggling with a homework problem and said “murr” excitedly and my roommate looked at me quite bewildered asking if everything is alright. This is a time when I let slip some code from another group of friends and it struck my new found friends as odd lingo and made them laugh. Of course, these goofy catch phrases were meant to add humor to a conversation but out of the context of the friend group they seem odd and out of place. Another example of code switching amongst friends is when I worked at a movie theater we had all sorts of code words for everything ranging from an assignment which we called a list or a when we wanted to get food we would just say “panch?”. These verbal cues were very