Posted on 02/25/2005 11:29:26 AM PST by Willie Green
My son is a graduate assistant in the English Department at The University of Oklahoma. He is teaching Comp II this semester and all the Comp II classes had to do a paper on 3rd world workers. One of the papers he received on this topic was how the French started WWI and WWII and somehow this led to the 3rd world problem. The student not only missed the topic of the paper but got his history wrong along with that. My son had one paper last semester with so much foul language that it was tossed out -- still don't know what the kid was trying to say in that paper.
Our high schools are doing a louzy job in some areas. I am thankful all three of my kids attended high schools that stressed English and writing -- both in Texas and here in Norman as I am learning that is not the norm across the Country.
I know what you mean. My son told me he was in an electronics store and their register was down. My son handed the clerk a $5.00 bill, paying for an item that cost $1.83. The clerk couldn't figure out his change. My son told him, "are you kidding me?" He wasn't. My son had to tell the clerk what his change should be. And that kid graduated high school. Amazing.
Not actually incorrect, just clumsy.
I studied Latin for four years in high school and one year in college.
Studying Latin was of inestimable value to me. My vocabulary is richer, and my understanding of the logic behind the rules of grammar is greater.
I studied Latin for four years in high school and one year in college.
Studying Latin was of inestimable value to me. My vocabulary is richer, and my understanding of the logic behind the rules of grammar is greater.
Nothing is very unique.
It's the 'journey' to an answer that's important not wheather it's the right answer or not.Same with grammar. Just be content that you can scribble. It don't make no never mind if your comprehension is on the level of a duck.
Standard 'New Age' learning.
Sadly, your experience is not the norm.
If Bob Denver used it on TV then popular use predates that use by quite a bit. Mr. Krebs introduced me to Thelonius Monk and I will always remember him fondly for that.
Give it a rest. People have been speaking improperly for eons and yet civilization as we know it has managed to survive.
One thing that frustrates me is the fact that, after years of trying to move men to the mountain, so to speak, modern-day style guides and dictionaries are moving the mountain to them. Things that were bad in earlier times---ending or beginning sentences with prepositions, for one---are now classified in style guides as wrong but increasingly accepted.
I realized a zero tolerance approach to poor speaking and writing was a lost cause when I found a listing for "ain't" in Merriam-Webster.
I admit to having a terrible habit of saying "like" all the time.
It makes me feel like a teenage girl, and I hate it with passion. I obviously developed it as a way to not say "um" when trying to fish for additional thoughts, but it is a horrible habit. I hope I can get rid of it.
lousy
Yeah, I agree. I sort of have my life arranged in a before and after Dobie Gillis way. Dobie made me wish to seek out girls named 'Zelda'. Never found any...
She also spoke the words 'Well, Tim' umpteen times. I have some extra time right now so let me do a re-cap for you. I counted 27 'you knows' so maybe I missed one or two. For brevity's sake, I have deleted a lot of Hillary's holy words.
Transcript for Feb. 20
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, (D-NY): Well, Tim, this is an issue that Senator McCain and the rest of the delegation...
SEN. CLINTON: Well, Tim, we have just finished meeting with the current prime minister...
There are lots of debates about, you know, whether we should have, how we should have, decisions that were made along the way with respect to our involvement here.
SEN. CLINTON: Well, Tim, I understand the feelings behind that call.
We don't want to send a signal to the insurgents, to the terrorists that we are going to be out of here at some, you know, date certain.
SEN. CLINTON: Well, Tim, I think that there are grounds both for concern and for, you know, vigilance about this. But again, I am willing to look at the situation and, you know, not yet jump to any conclusions.
Now, part that was because, you know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and there was an effort in the opposition to Saddam Hussein to get support from anywhere you could.
There is a temptation on the part of the Iranians to try to fund, you know, their own interests on this side of the border.
SEN. CLINTON: Well, Tim, I'm hopeful that...
You know, I am not yet in favor of, you know, taking actions like excluding Russia from the G8.
At the end of such engagement, at the end of an effort to try to, you know, move President Putin back on the path to democracy and free market economies...
SEN. CLINTON: Well, Tim, I think...
You know, I just have a fundamental disagreement, I guess, with the attitude of the administration with respect to a number of difficult areas. You know, I don't think it hurts us to be vigorously engaged, to be there, you know, conveying our point of view, to make sure we're aware of, you know, every possible option for both carrots and sticks.
Now, one can argue that that was a deliberate strategy by the administration because, you know, in the end of the day they're more interested in regime change than in anything short of that.
You know, what Putin said the other day was they were going to try to set up some system that would involve the control over the plutonium, and, you know, take spent fuel rods in and out of Iran. I don't know how realistic that is, but, you know, it would be very difficult for us to, you know, intervene and stop that...
So I would hope, first and foremost, that, you know, we get re-engaged.
As important as Iraq is to our future in so many ways, I think we've seen that there are a number of other places around the world that can have a direct impact on our national security and, therefore, I would hope we would, you know, be able to really get to the table and see what we could do before there's any talk of anything else.
SEN. CLINTON: Well, you know, Tim, I don't think that you either rule it in or rule it out. I think that, you know, depending upon circumstances, it's something that, you know, the American government would have to, you know, consider.
But I don't believe in having any president of the United States or anybody, you know, in a position like Senator McCain and I in the United States Senate, you know, saying we would take anything off the table. But before we get to that question, let's try to, you know, deal with the many other possibilities.
SEN. CLINTON: Well, we don't know what the plan is yet, Tim.
SEN. CLINTON: Well, Tim, I was--that's right.
I have taught many clerks in stores how to count change. Some have been amazed that it is even possible. My friends' kids have all learned how to count change. I instructed them, and my nieces and nephews, too.
Newspaper and magazine editors whose command of the English language is sufficient to spot the following errors:
"His remarks inferred that he did not like the President's position."
"Leaders from ten countries comprised the economic summit."
"His comments included several quotes from Jonh Kennedy's speeches."
I read an extensive etymological dictionary through several times as bedtime reading. It helped me very much with my English. My daughter read the Cambridge Latin course diligently on computer for several years. She did not learn Latin but can parse sentences with the best and can figure out the meanings of new words every time.
I was trying unsuccessfully to be wry about one of my pet peeves.
Hopefully, I was at most nauseated and not actually nauseous, either. :)
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