ROFL, this is the good stuff. I have collected many of these "historical revisionist" blunders myself - those things always crack me up. Amazing how often people have this general idea of how, when, and why things happened, but don't quite manage to see the big picture clearly.
However, it is somewhat disturbing to see that students aren't familiar with what are considered "general knowledge" facts. Education ain't what it used to be...
[ November 19, 2001: Message edited by: Mojo Jojo ]
Posted by MIB (Member # 426) on :
Your damn right about that. It depresses me when my mom comes home from work and tells me about how teachers don't give their kids homework because the kids simply cannot read. They read about as well as I can spell. My mom also tells me about how approx. 70% of the students in her school scored BELOW 50% on the ICBS testing. They can't read your typical hand clock. And when asked to point out their home state of Georgia on a political map of the U.S. they start seaching for it in areas near Oregon or Maine. These are 6th, 7th, and 8h graders I'm talking about!! NOT pre-schoolers.
While we are in the subject I have a few quotes for you.
"Where's Wisconsin? Is that another country?"--A 7th grade student after I told him what state I was from.
"Speak American, man!!!" This was during a conversation my brother was having with another student.
"Are you mix?" Never hearing that expression before, I had no clue what the girl was talking about. After striking me the classic "Can't you speak English?" look that is so common place here in Georgia, she explained to me that she was refering to my skin color. Couldn't she say "What racial backround are you from?" I guess that would have taken a vocabulary that was totally beyond what she had at that time.
I also had an acquaintance with a kid who swore that we fought against the British during WW2.
[ November 19, 2001: Message edited by: MIB ]
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm curious what issue you have w/ the "speak American" quote. Granted, as I've pointed out numerous times, "America" is two whole continents, not a country. But, since just about everyone misuses the term, you can't really blame kids for that.
Posted by MIB (Member # 426) on :
I'm sorry, but I've never heard anyone, besides that, kid misuse that term.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I thought he was making a point that there's no such language as "American".
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
One would have to assume that it was an abbreviated form of "American English", which is a rather common term.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Yes, but "American" is not a common abbreviation thereof. Besides, what else would he have been speaking?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
So what if it isn't a common abbreviation? "Etc." is a more common abbreviation of "et cetera" than "&c." is, but I use "&c.". Does that mean I don't know what I'm talking about?
And I'm sure he was already speking "American". But have you never heard someone say "Speak English!" to someone who is already doing so?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
How on earth do you get that symbol? It looks like a � sign.
Surely writing "etc" is easier, and will be understood by more people?
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
You mean the & ? It's, uh, at the top of your keyboard. Key 7.
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
In a former life, I used to read and grade exams for a World Civilization class. In general, most of the exams rather than noting fantastic events and alien invasions, heaped lack of knowledge under a pile of bull and flowery language. The bull seemed to help the flowers grow.
I do seem to recall that one person claimd that the attack on Pearl Harbor was communist plot.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Liam: You don't know what an ampersand is? It doesn't look anything like a pound sign. The pound sign is derived from the letter 'L'. The ampersand eveolved out of the word "Et" (even though you wouldn't know it from the usual backward-cursive-S version). So, in effect writing "&c." is exactly the same as writing "Etc.", except that the "Et" is condensed into a single character.
And it isn't really harder than writing "etc.". And I do it because it's different.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Oh, it's an ampersand! An "and" sign!
Sorry, I've just never seen it written that way. Silly Trebunchet MS. You look silly!
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Actually, the Trebuchet '&' looks much more like an ampersand should. Notice how it actually looks like a squashed-together "Et".
