Re: vocabulary nitpicking

[Corun MacAnndra <corun@access.digex.net>]

Poster: Corun MacAnndra <corun@access.digex.net>

Philippa wrote:
> 
> Unfortunatly, this seems to no longer be true, and not everyone has been
> taught English grammar in school.  There has been a very interesting thread
> going on the Medieval History list this past week on just this point.  There
> are many third level instructors out there who find that the students they
> get from the high schools these days are clueless about the concepts.  (And
> these are bright students from supposedly good schools.)  They don't even
> know what the words "verb" or "noun" mean. 

Hence we see the intrusion of proponents of things like Eubonics (pronounced
Boob-onics because it makes you sound like one).

*sigh* Whatever happened to my old friends Dick and Jane and their little
dog Spot? They were such a happy family, always running and having fun.
And who recalls those nifty basic arithmetic flash cards?

> One professor said that he/she
> got rather shocked looks when he/she tried to explain to some students that
> good sentences need both a noun and a verb.  (Of course you then wonder
> about the sentences which prompted this suggestion.....8))  I am by no means
> suggesting that any one on this list has this problem, but if a large enough
> proportion of college students have this problem for it to such a heated
> topic on a professional list, obviously most secondary schools are not
> teaching grammar anymore, or at least not teaching it well.  A lot of quite
> intelligent students don't know about thesauruses simply because they were
> never told about them.  The current educational theory seems to be that they
> will pick it all up by osmosis.  And they wonder why so many of us are
> considering home schooling for our children.....

Then we wonder why the bulk of modern literature isn't very good these
days. Oh, and isn't thesauri the plural of thesaurus? I never took Latin
and I sometimes get that confused. But then I just remember what Steven
Wright asks; What's another word for thesaurus? (I actually looked this
up once but can't recall what the thesaurus said about itself ;-)

> ****  REUNITE GONDWANALAND!!

I remember the first time, many years ago, that I saw this on a bumper
sticker. I nearly had to pull over and stop the car because I was laughing
so hard. I also remember a contest in Omni magazine to determine what
kind of car had the license plate ML8 ML8. Anyone? ;-)

In service (and way off topic),
Corun

--
     Corun MacAnndra   |   Dark Horde by birth   |   Moritu by choice
Though we are not now that strength, which in old days moved earth and heaven,
that which we are, we are. One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time
and fates, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield. 

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