What are they teaching my kids???

[MTGuru]

Improper grammer

Indeed.

One day in 1838, Jacob Grimm ate a bad sausage for dinner, and in the ensuing delirium decided that nouns are the Big Kahunas of words - Hauptkahunawörter. Germans have been trying both to figure this out and to avoid bad sausages ever since.

[Alan]

Passing through the produce isles,

Should that not be Produce Isles?

Sounds like a travel program about a cruise ship.

[emmline]

Passing through the produce isles,

Should that not be Produce Isles?

I would say that at most contemporary grocery stores, the produce is displayed in isles, rather than aisles! It's the whole European market kiosk allure.

[MTGuru]

I'd like to visit the Islets of Langerhans someday. But I'm not sure I could stomach the trip. Tours leave daily from St. Pancras station.

[s1m0n]

Your point is ill-founded and the gap of perception is yours. For all you know, the clerk who composed the letter was eighty years old. When your needlessly divisive generational arrogance and presumption gives way to reason, let me know.

The '20-30 years' part of my comment is a direct quote from the OP. You're correct that the assumption is faulty, but it's not mine. You should read it another few times. Moving your lips might help.

[fearfaoin]

...and it doesn't necessary occur to the hiring parties to screen for this.

Well played, emm.

[Alan]

Passing through the produce isles,

Should that not be Produce Isles?

I would say that at most contemporary grocery stores, the produce is displayed in isles, rather than aisles! It's the whole European market kiosk allure.

The Vons supermarket here is being renovated. I fear miles and miles of isles and aisles will be the result.

[MTGuru]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_of_Aisles

Great album.

[Denny]

Your point is ill-founded and the gap of perception is yours. For all you know, the clerk who composed the letter was eighty years old. When your needlessly divisive generational arrogance and presumption gives way to reason, let me know.

The '20-30 years' part of my comment is a direct quote from the OP. You're correct that the assumption is faulty, but it's not mine. You should read it another few times. Moving your lips might help.

or the first poster after the OP

was Emm not fyffer

[s1m0n]

Your point is ill-founded and the gap of perception is yours. For all you know, the clerk who composed the letter was eighty years old. When your needlessly divisive generational arrogance and presumption gives way to reason, let me know.

The '20-30 years' part of my comment is a direct quote from the OP. You're correct that the assumption is faulty, but it's not mine. You should read it another few times. Moving your lips might help.

or the first poster after the OP

Good enough, you can read. The OP's "teaching my kids" thread title reflects the same generational theme.

[s1m0n]

Can you, or anyone, tell me what a "perspective 9th grader" could possibly be?

A fourteen year old 2/3 of the way down an empty hallway.

[Lambchop]

At work, another drudge and I bemoan the lax expectations others have with respect to literacy. I am, in fact, loathed for my ability to spell and punctuate. Management sees this as some sort of personal problem . . . a defect in my character. Mind you, I don't criticize or point out the errors of others. They just think I should misspell and leave off some punctuation to show that I'm a team player.

"If u know your doing it, why dont you make a few misteaks so you won't stick out? u make every one feel bad and that not being a team player."

So, one day while driving to another work site, I saw a remarkably large wild boar which had been hit by pickup. The pickup's front end was smushed in and traffic was being routed around the beast. On my way back to work, I noted that an entire herd of wild pigs was rummaging around in the wooded area on the median, while the one hit that morning had been removed. Thinking that I'd been fortunate to see these wild creatures, wondering if the value of the pig was worth the front-end damage, and also wishing to warn my colleagues to be careful in the early morning darkness, I related the story to them. Several days later, as an individual in management left to drive the same route, I emailed a short message . . . "Watch out for the boars!"

Within seconds, my telephone rang and an angry voice snarled that I was being inappropriate and disrespectful. If I thought people were boring, I should just keep it to myself.

[Denny]

it is so easy to set of the sensitive ones



perhaps they had heard it before

[Innocent Bystander]

I took a semester of German in college. If I remember correctly, that languages capitalizes all nouns and ruined me completely on this matter. I can see why those particular words were capitalized.

In a school setting, those words are proper nouns. The Auditorium is just as important as Paris, France or Texas, take your pick. You try not capitalizing "Administrators" or "Department Chairs" and see how long you remain in their good graces. Improper grammer, probably. Proper suck-up-ed-ness, you betcha.

There was a time when people were doing this in English as well. Have a read of Dean Swift's "Gulliver's Travels".
See, where you're going wrong is in expecting the schools to be educating your children, or even setting them a good example. In Germany they do that, and I think in Japan. Here in the UK, and as far as I can see, in the U.S. as well, school is just custody for children so the parents can go off to work with a clear conscience. Of course they have to pretend to be doing something. They have exams and they coursework but not everyone is fooled. Perhaps the smartest kids are the ones who completely ignore it.

[SteveShaw]

One of these days I'm going to produce a thesis on the American comma. A thesis, on the American comma.

If only everybody could write stuff like what I do we'd all be a damned sight better off IMH opinion. Innit.