Saying (writing) in Gee's "Discourse"

   Saying (writing) is Gee's first characteristic of what he considers "Discourse". According to Gee in order to become a full member of a discourse one must be able to speak the language or lexis of the community and in addition look the part. This is a very important aspect of Gee's "Discourse" definition because if one does not master the communities lexis and speaking norms they will never be able to be a full member of the community.

   The way that mechanical engineers speak is very different from other professions due to the fact that they must always be extremely accurate and researched in what they are saying to others in their discourse whether it be coworkers, their bosses, or even their clients.

   Mechanical engineers follow those same guidelines in their writing as well. Their preferred methods of writing include: charts, diagrams, mathematical problems, blueprints, and various other methods. They prefer their information to come in such forms so that they can understand the information better and can make improvements easier because they can see what has already been done and where things can be made better. Mechanical engineers also talk a lot with other engineers in order to get the opinions of others that are just like them.

 ( This is an example of a blueprint that automotive engineers use in their saying)


    Mechanical engineers also have a very unique lexis (special terms). As most would think, the way that they speak is very technical and hard to understand when one is not a part of their community. Some of the words that make up their special lexis include:  creep which does not mean a scary person to them but rather "time-dependent strain occurring under stress", aging which to a mechanical means “a change of properties that occurs at ambient or moderately elevated temperatures after hot working, heat treating, quenching, or cold working” rather than getting old, and lastly allowance meaning “the intentional or desired difference between the maximum limits of mating parts to provide a certain class of fit” to the mechanical engineering world when to non members it simply means what is allowed.