Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
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
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.
posted
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.
Registered: Mar 1999
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MIB
Ex-Member
posted
I'm sorry, but I've never heard anyone, besides that, kid misuse that term.
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posted
I thought he was making a point that there's no such language as "American".
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
One would have to assume that it was an abbreviated form of "American English", which is a rather common term.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Yes, but "American" is not a common abbreviation thereof. Besides, what else would he have been speaking?
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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
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?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
posted
You mean the & ? It's, uh, at the top of your keyboard. Key 7.
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
posted
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.
Sorry, I've just never seen it written that way. Silly Trebunchet MS. You look silly!
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
posted
Actually, the Trebuchet '&' looks much more like an ampersand should. Notice how it actually looks like a squashed-together "Et".
Registered: Mar 1999
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