Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group i watched the news, oh boy...etal

the new haven tv sports news ran a feature about the lovely stephany- a high school SENIOR hoping to win a college scholarship. she plays soccer (football) and lacrosse.She lamented her difficulty at showing off her skills to college scouts.
she ran around a bit for the camera; displayed the scar from her torn acl; and -I'M NOT KIDDIN-said, " I made a shot on goal and i had tooken(sic) a fast turn back upfield when it popped". O...M...G..., ya can't make this stuff up. she wants/expects to go to college. [and she doesn't play football or basketball] Could you, pershance, imagine reading and grading her work? It's irremedial.
HAD TOOKEN is an abomination, wierd things happen when you turn on a tv camera. where are the language police when you really need them. btw she could have just said ' i took a fast turn'....torn knee, shredded mind, sundered syntax.

oh...and

there is no such word as IRREGARDLESS. only people fundamentally deficient in language say or use this non word. IF you hear it, call the person on it immediately. it is non sense. the pefix 'ir' and the suffix 'less' are both negatives, and using douyble negative is gobbledeguck. there is a perfectly good word 'irrespective' and the likewise good word 'regardless', which is perhaps what they mean...i think.

oh and also
there is no such word as REFUTIATE. what ninny lauched this word-bomb? there is a great verb repudiate and the equally good refute. either or works fine.


hold the press...IT'S ALIVE !!!!yesterday on judge judy a woman used 'had tooken' judy immediately dismissed her case- no cause, poorly expressed in non-words. go judy !

Our kids in the US are being taought that reading, writing and speaking English fluently are not at all important; what counts is how they feel about speaking English.

"Like, you know, she was like, all messed up, you know?" would have earned us a flogging, a trip to the prinipal's office, and a summer of remedial English courses. It earns our kids an "A" in Forensic Speech and a place on the debate team.

Ben, don't ever take a position where you are forced to read essays written by anyone under thirty. The torment is unbearable. Oh, the humanity (or, more properly, the humanities)! Gather ye great novels while ye may, for nevermore shall their like be seen again in our lifetimes...

How has this happened?

It happened because a generation of parents thought playing video games while their little ones were hypnotized by Spongebob was less time consuming than reading to their little ones. Besides, all those old classic children's stories are so politically incorrect.

It happened because the teacher's unions have almost attained what appears to be their ultimate goal-- their members will soon be paid not to teach. As it is, an incompetent union seat warmer is immune from termination for anything short of being religious, patriotic, conservative, or a mass murderer. Actually, I'm being too harsh here; as long as they're only murdering religious patriotic conservatives they're good to go.

It happened because, for years, colleges used the "fogged mirror" admissions test, then dumbed down the curricula so "selected groups" could graduate four years later with a "fogged mirror" final examination.

It happened, and continues to happen, when "Spanglish" and "Ebonics" are considered acceptable on any American educational campus. What that accomplishes is the graduation of a disadvantaged young person who is functionally illiterate in one valid and two ridiculous racist languages. It is unspeakably racist and cruel to that graduate; they are still unemployable by Fortune 500 companies because they can't function in the international language of business-- English.

I'd better stop my ranting; I'm sure I've drawn the ire of Admins and Moderators. As a writer and one who loves our language it's a pet peeve which often drags me around the block.

John

Ben and John, I feel your pain. Fortunately, and apparently in spite of, video games and Spongebob, my children are fellow grammar nazis and it is a family activity to make fun of those who abuse the English language.

Well, ALOHA!

Man, Ya jist ain't orientated right:

Doncha no: The correct way to pronounce CORPSMAN is CORPSE MAN! And a potatoe is just one of many potatoes.

Life is simple at the top. Think a guy from BBC suggested we have death by elocution here in US.

stephany could probably win a scholarship to this college:

Micki, you must have abused your children, much as I did. I read to all of them before their first word. My daughters have done the same with my grandchildren. For my grandchildren, as it was for my children, it's time for "high cuddles" in a parental lap and an integral part of bedtime.

As they grew my response to "I'm bored..." was a book a couple notches above "age appropriate" because they truly loved the challenge, especially when I put it in their hands while saying, "You're probably not quite big enough to read this. Just bring it back if you can't."

My kids got challenged and accused of cheating by lazy, indolent Union teachers when they turned in book reports on books by C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells, L. Frank Baum and Edgar Rice Burroughs... in third, fourth and fifth grade. I told them they were in good company; I created quite the scandal when I was caught reading Mark Twain, concealed by a comic book, in second grade. The teacher was outraged! What she'd caught me doing was... was... just impossible for a boy my age! (So was my peeking down that very pretty young teacher's top, but I did it anyway...)

We e-mail each other doozies committed by our local journalists. It comes from their poor upbringing, I suppose.

John

I'm one of the read as much as possible to the little ones. By the time our kids were 31/2, they were bring books to us, pointing to a word, asking "what is this word?" They practically taught themselves to read. We started homeschooling our girls when Summer was 4 and Ashlee was only 3. We would give Ashlee color books to keep her busy as we helped Summer with her workbooks. Soon we would catch Ashlee writing in Summer's workbooks. They have been readers ever sense. When they misbehave, I take away their books for a day or two. Now that they are teenagers, The only time I hear bad grammar is when they are hanging out with friends that don't speak properly.
Donna

LOL! John, Last year Rose (5th grade at the time) picked out Jane Eyre from the library for a book report. Her brother got her to try "The Count of Monte Cristo", which he read when he was 15. She got 7 pages into it before giving up. right now she's reading Stephen King, but I think she's going to read Tolkien next. Brother suggests Sylmarillion(sp).

Yeah, my kids were really abused. Some of their favorite authors are Tolkien, Steinbeck, and Hemingway. Which means they get more humor out of The Simpsons.

Though they're all grown and gone, mine, especially my sons, are hardcore science fiction fans. That's a great help to me; I write a chapter then throw it to my Wolves to trim off the fat and improve it. They're considering writing a computer game based on the "Mars" series of Burroughs.

When the first episodes of SyFy Channel's "Eureka" hit the air, they looked at the lead character, Sheriff John "Jack" Carter, and said, "That's definitely not John Carter of Barsoom, a hard, lean Virginian fighting man!", and they never understood Dr. John Carter on ER. Neither did I.

They recently watched "Starship Troopers" after reading the book. My youngest son's comment about the movie? "Blasphemy! Heresy! Ginny Heinlein must sue!"

Completely ruined kids, my four. I hang my head in shame.

My kids like Terri Pratchett and Orson Scott Card.
My 4 year old really likes the cats in your sig. He keeps asking if they are our cats. We had to leave ours in CA when we moved here. I miss them.

Irregardless of your post I must refutiate.

There clearly is an opportuntiy for an object to be tooken or a shot to be tooken. One nearly needs to know the context.

When a Took takes, the object was Tooken. When Pip takes the palantir it was Tooken.

In the context of a soocer shot. A soccer shot launched from ones foot that subsequently hooks aloft toward its target is a shot that was tooken. The shotmaker took her shot and got it hooking.

Also of course there is muscial precedent.

I point out the lyrics
Hey good looken
what ya got cooken
dont you knwo I've just tooken a shot for you

Ordinarily I would have tooken umbrage with your post but I can't find any umbrage.