Gee describes Discourses as “ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes” and discourses, “with a little ‘d,’… mean connected stretches of language that make sense” (526). This is to say that discourses are just the sentences and Discourses are the entire paragraph. You cannot have a Discourse without the discourses. Gee used several examples of what this meant in his article. He said that you could say the right thing, with the right grammar (discourse) but have it be completely wrong (within the Discourse). The Discourse encompasses everything that the words mean. Every way you say something, says that something just a little different. If you say, “I really like how you handled that”, with a smile and happy tone, it means something completely different than if you said it while extending your middle finger and in a sarcastic tone.

As far as the Discourses that I have, I think I have quite a few. Just in one week I switch several times. I have my primary, personal Discourse that I have with my family and close friends, I have a mommy Discourse which is slightly different than my primary Discourse. I also have one that is used at school and one at work. I would say my primary Discourse, like that of others, is impersonal, relaxed, and may even contain some expletives and other slang. My mommy Discourse includes soothing tones, small words, no expletives, and an informal way of going about things. My work Discourse is more polite, helpful, and less relaxed than what I use at home. My school Discourse is more relaxed than that at work, but less than it is at home and the speech is different. I have also witnessed more Discourses than I could count. Every culture has its own way of expressing the views of its members and each part of the city has a little different way of going about things. I have a coworker who has a unique situation that allows her Discourse(s) to be different and understand things a little different than the rest of us. She was born in Scotland and lived much of her childhood there. She then moved to the states and lived in the south (Carolinas to be specific). Now, she lives in Wisconsin and has so much to expose us to each day. I have learned a little about the Scots and how they speak and even more about her feelings as a southerner here in the north. She still talks with an accent, though you never know which one will pop out, even though it doesn’t fit in. It’s her Discourse.

I don’t know that I agree nor disagree with Gee’s definition of literacy being the mastery of a secondary Discourse. I think that the mastery of a particular Discourse could be considered could make the person literate in that Discourse and that’s it. Mastering more than one discourse would just make you more literate in general and more versatile but not having complete mastery over more than one wouldn’t make someone illiterate.