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#101 |
Long lost mooter
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,342
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Well, this is even worse: the newspaper for which my husband used to work (whew! caught that preposition!
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#102 |
Lady of Letters
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Either Oxford or Kent, England
Posts: 2,476
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Do all you grammar people always stick to the preposition rule? I do when I remember because I think it often sounds more elegant, but it always makes me think of that quote: "that is something up with which I will not put"
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
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#103 |
The Buckleberry Fairy/Captain
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Washington State again (I miss Texas).
Posts: 1,345
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that's terrific...I hadn't heard it before. I don't know whether or not I always stick to that rule, because it doesn't require a conscious effort on my part to remember it. I usually do it unconsciously, but I'm positive that there are time when I forget.
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A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun. |
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#104 |
The Buckleberry Fairy/Captain
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Washington State again (I miss Texas).
Posts: 1,345
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I read the word "abysmal" in one of TC's posts. That's a terrific adjective!
Just thought I'd share... ![]() I especially like fata morgana, but I've not had occasion yet to slip it into conversation. I'll keep trying. BTW it means an illusion--it's a reference to Morgan LeFaye, of Arthurian fame.
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A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun. |
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#105 |
Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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I like "abysmal", too! Also someone recently used "impugn" - that has such a nice dignified sound.
I am pretty careful about the "preposition rule", but I have no problem "breaking it" if I think the sentence sounds better that way. Wow, I like fata morgana - never heard of it! Shall we have a contest to see who can use it first? ![]()
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! ![]() "How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
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#106 | |
The Buckleberry Fairy/Captain
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Washington State again (I miss Texas).
Posts: 1,345
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A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun. |
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#107 |
Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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awww, you're no fun! you mean it can't just be "I wonder how you spell fata morgana?" (hee hee)
OK, spoilsport, you're on! But it's harder for me - I'm usually surrounded by people 7 and under!
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! ![]() "How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
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#108 |
The Buckleberry Fairy/Captain
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Washington State again (I miss Texas).
Posts: 1,345
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well, give myself the same handicap, but 7-year-olds are pretty scarce on my campus...
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A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun. |
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#109 |
Fowl Administrator
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Calgary or Edmonton, Canada
Posts: 53,420
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I am rather anal about proper English. Kind of like Professor Henry Higgins, you might say.
It is indeed true that schools are not teaching kids how to write. High school graduation requirements are so low nowadays that people can get diplomas and still be practically and functionally illiterate. This is, I think, the biggest problem with the K-12 education system and needs to be addressed immediately.
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All of IronParrot's posts are guaranteed to be 100% intelligent and/or sarcastic, comprising no genetically modified content and tested on no cute furry little animals unless the SPCA is looking elsewhere. If you observe a failure to uphold this warranty, please contact a forum administrator immediately to receive a full refund on your Entmoot registration. Blog: Nick's Café Canadien |
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#110 |
The Buckleberry Fairy/Captain
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Washington State again (I miss Texas).
Posts: 1,345
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Very true, IP. I found a website that showcases this point. However, with the situation as dire as this, one begins to lose hope for the public schools. I plan to homeschool my children.
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A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun. |
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#111 |
Fowl Administrator
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Calgary or Edmonton, Canada
Posts: 53,420
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Yeah, but the problem with homeschooling is that although it is very good in theory and in principle, I do believe that it is negative to social growth. I know for a fact that almost all of my social skills came from interacting with people at school, and not outside. (And not until very late either... I never got along with other people my age until pretty late in the game. I'm not sure I do to this day.) And I do know some people who were homeschooled until the age of twelve or whatever, who performed well academically but lacked communication skills. That has to be taken into consideration.
And then there's the whole bit with university entrance and all, but I don't think anybody homeschools their kids for THAT long, right? ![]()
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All of IronParrot's posts are guaranteed to be 100% intelligent and/or sarcastic, comprising no genetically modified content and tested on no cute furry little animals unless the SPCA is looking elsewhere. If you observe a failure to uphold this warranty, please contact a forum administrator immediately to receive a full refund on your Entmoot registration. Blog: Nick's Café Canadien |
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#112 |
The Insufferable
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,333
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So what you're saying is that home schooling produces very intelligent people with poor social skills, while public schools produce very social people with low intelligience.
Right? Wayfarer, who prefers cynicism over communication any day. ]: )
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Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned |
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#113 | |
Empress of the Writewraiths
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Running around somewhere inside my head. So what are YOU doing here?!
Posts: 1,546
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Yes, people do homeschool their children all through high school. And some universities are less inclined to accept them, but many universities have basically said homeschoolers are "the cream of the crop" when it comes to students. Actually, the one problem (if you choose to see it this way) might be that most homeschoolers are VERY conservative -- though not all. |
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#114 |
Fowl Administrator
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Calgary or Edmonton, Canada
Posts: 53,420
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That's why you have to find specialized programmes in the public system... the ultimate compromise. From the fourth grade onwards I was enrolled in accelerated curricula that were offered in the public system. That way the kids who are ahead of the curve are "ghettoized" together in a way that at least doesn't allow their peers to drag them down quite so much.
Public schools have abysmally low graduation standards... it's like they want to hand out as many diplomas as possible with no regard for how qualified those kids actually are. That's why there are all these different ways - around here in Alberta, anyway, and we're supposed to have one of the highest standards in the world (yeah, right) - of circumventing actually learning stuff. And that's why the mainstream curriculum plods along so slowly. If you look at the majority of people coming out of high school, they can't read, or rather they don't read, they can hardly write, they have trouble telling the difference between communism and fascism (I'm not kidding) and in case you think this is just a humanities thing, their math is no improvement over what the Greeks knew three thousand years ago. And I'm not saying that public schools consistently produce very social people either. ![]()
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All of IronParrot's posts are guaranteed to be 100% intelligent and/or sarcastic, comprising no genetically modified content and tested on no cute furry little animals unless the SPCA is looking elsewhere. If you observe a failure to uphold this warranty, please contact a forum administrator immediately to receive a full refund on your Entmoot registration. Blog: Nick's Café Canadien |
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#115 | ||
Fowl Administrator
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Calgary or Edmonton, Canada
Posts: 53,420
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All of IronParrot's posts are guaranteed to be 100% intelligent and/or sarcastic, comprising no genetically modified content and tested on no cute furry little animals unless the SPCA is looking elsewhere. If you observe a failure to uphold this warranty, please contact a forum administrator immediately to receive a full refund on your Entmoot registration. Blog: Nick's Café Canadien |
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#116 | ||||
The Insufferable
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,333
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Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned |
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#117 | |
Empress of the Writewraiths
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Running around somewhere inside my head. So what are YOU doing here?!
Posts: 1,546
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Quote:
It seems like here, homeschooling is more likely to be "done right" than public schooling, perhaps because parents have many fewer students than public school teachers do, know their children, and can more readily adapt the lessons for their children's unique learning styles. |
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#118 | |
Fowl Administrator
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Calgary or Edmonton, Canada
Posts: 53,420
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All of IronParrot's posts are guaranteed to be 100% intelligent and/or sarcastic, comprising no genetically modified content and tested on no cute furry little animals unless the SPCA is looking elsewhere. If you observe a failure to uphold this warranty, please contact a forum administrator immediately to receive a full refund on your Entmoot registration. Blog: Nick's Café Canadien |
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#119 | |
The Insufferable
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,333
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Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned |
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#120 | |
Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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Well, crick, I think I've given up on using "fata morgana", because my dictionary notes "especially one sometimes seen off the coast of Sicily near the Strait of Messina". I wonder if it is typically the same type of mirage? Shall we meet in Sicily and find out?
![]() Just bumped into an interesting word today - inchoate. JRRT used it in one of his letters. The def:
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! ![]() "How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
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