I was listening the quite popular ‘Junior School’s Challenge Quiz’ yesterday when I realized yet again another poignant example of us marring our children’s English with the constant use of redundancies in our interaction with them. Redundant words or phrases (otherwise called pleonasms) are excessive use of and when removed, will not deduct from the overall meaning of the expression.
So with that said, how many times have you cringed or wondered Did he just say that?(or even say it aloud) on hearing someone, especially a public figure (let’s say the Minister of Education) say something like ”In my personal opinion, the regular routine is not to ... but to build bridges of communication”? OMG!! Did he really just say that? Yes, he did, and like him, far too many individuals within the public domain, are quilty of this abuse of the english language either by association, perpetuation, accident or whatever excuse you may conjure up for this practice.
Of considerable notice (in no particular order) are: politicians, media broadcasters/ journalists, pastors, police and practicing orators who are relentlessly guilty as charged for this transgression.
Here are a few such expressions. The ones I have commented on are the more frequently heard. Tell me, which one/s are you guilty of? Which ones am I?
o Actual experience... Hasnt it got to be real once its an experience?
o Advance planning ... Lets plan in reverse
o Baby boy was born ...
o Cease and desist... CCN you are guiltyas charged!
o Close proximity... CCN you are guilty!
o Complete opposite – slightly opposite maybe?
o ATM machine & PIN number – even the bank tellers use this.
o HIV virus – call me a liar here, but I have heard medical practitioners say this HIV means Human Immunodeficiency Virus
o Armed gunman – as of this day, let us say ’armed roseman’ (armed with a rose, haha)
o ER room – Let’s take him to the Emergency room room
o Free gift – What other kind is there Digicel, Courts etc? Restricted?
o 7 a.m. in the morning – ahmmmmm! 7AM in the night perhaps? CVM!
o Pair of twins – Isn’t that how they usually come?
o Revert back – well, revert means to go back
o Past history – as opposed to future history maybe?
o In the future I would like to become... Teacher/ coaches, PLEASE STOP THIS NOW! It’s even said it on SCQ
o Repeat again... Return again... Revert back... oh Lord! 3 of the oldest & hopefully, outdated.
o Personal opinion... isnt ’opinion’ a personal thought?
o Period of time... period of mass maybe? Or would distance be better?
o Summarize briefly... Even teachers are guilty
o Join together... So what should the marriage officers now say?
o In spite of the fact that
o In the field of economics/ law enforcement
o Attached together
o Commute back and forth...
o Each and every...
o Empty space...
o End result
o Estimated roughly at
o filled to capacity
o Free gift
o Frozen ice
o General public
o Green in color
o Natural instinct
o Never at any time
o Null and void
o Pair of twins
o Past experience
o Reason is because
o Regular routine
o Small speck
o A sudden explosion
o Surrounded on all sides
CHECK THIS OUT!
If we were to revert back to the days when an orator would deliver eloquent well-sounding speeches, especially at formal functions or persuade the general public with his verbose prolix and when all and sundry would listen in wonderment just to capture his latest and new innovations in the art of skillful rhetotic, we would admit, it was all a bunch of vocal acrobatics and oral sophistry. = 67 words
Oops! Did I just laced my well-worded sentence with redundancies? Guilty as charged!.... So how about it mading it simple. Less being more?:
If we were to revert to the days when an orator would deliver and when all would listen in wonderment just to capture his latest rhetotic, we would admit, it was all a bunch of sophistry. = 36 words
React…. Reflect…. & Reciprocate….!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
SLEEP TIGHT
SLEEP TIGHT
Last night I signed off my IM conversation with my sister with 'sleep tight'. Do you know how the term was coined?
Well during those ancient times when mattresses were placed on ropes that woven through the bed frame, the beds would sag, so to remedy the sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope. Hence 'sleep tight'.
Hope you had a tight sleep (in all its better manifestations)last night...:)
Last night I signed off my IM conversation with my sister with 'sleep tight'. Do you know how the term was coined?
Well during those ancient times when mattresses were placed on ropes that woven through the bed frame, the beds would sag, so to remedy the sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope. Hence 'sleep tight'.
Hope you had a tight sleep (in all its better manifestations)last night...:)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
English Language Trivia
Do you know...
...Cannibalism, eating human flesh, is also called anthropophagy.
...The last thing to happen is the ultimate. The next-to-last is the penultimate, and the second-to-last is the antepenultimate.
...The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
...The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
...The world's largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters.
Did you know all?
react, reflect, and reciprocate….
...Cannibalism, eating human flesh, is also called anthropophagy.
...The last thing to happen is the ultimate. The next-to-last is the penultimate, and the second-to-last is the antepenultimate.
...The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
...The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
...The world's largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters.
Did you know all?
react, reflect, and reciprocate….
Friday, October 16, 2009
Grade 6: Then &Now pt. I
The last time I was in Grade 6 was many many many years ago, but you could never tell based on my sharp and effortless recall of Grade 6 content I daily rely on to assist my nephew in preparing for the 'dreaded' Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) in march 2010.
I recall like it were just yesterday in 19something when I was one of about 50 students in Ms Moss' Grade 6 class at Granville All Age, Trelawny. As I reflect on then and compare it with what my nephew's current reality is, I marvel at how much extensive changes have been effected to impact the learner and how little they seem to worked.
Lets take a quick look at what was then compared to now
• We had recess where every student was 'shooshed' outside the classroom to play. The more domesticated and introverted ones remained behind and swept the class for the afternoon session. The likes of me revelled in a mean game of dandy-shandy, site or baseball, the toast of the recess for girls and cricket, football and war games for the boys. What do we have now?: Students are told by teachers not to play as they get too sweaty and that makes for a foul smelling classroom when they return from breaks. OMG! I GUESS TEACHERS KNEW THE STRONG CO-RELATION BETWEEN LEARNING AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND IT DIDNT TAKE A DEGREE OR MORE TO DO SO.... JUST SHEER COMMON SENSE.
• Do you remember Mental Ability? Who can forget the problem solving techniques that were employed? It was a joy to be using our skills to solve x-factor questions, maths, english and all the areas of study integrated in one subject. For those who not gifted in the usual math or english, Mental Ability was the subject he would prove his prowess and smile at the rest of us. I guess then the integrated approach to learning was effective and very relevant
• And if you thought the techniques of problem solving were all, just remember the nmenomics employed in studing our daily list of new words and the enormity of strength it took to recall the 3 to 12 times? Every single day that God sent we had to prove our independent knowledge of those words given the previous day and all of thise time tables including up to 14xs dependent on the generousity of the dear teacher. Nowadays, the teachers merely ask for any proof of word knowledge and timetable swat. Yes they conduct spelling tests weekly – which is a composite of familiar words from the week’s lessons – whic is marked by a student. Soes the teacher review it. Definitely not!
• Then there is the elocution exercises. Teachers then were masters of style and diction. We had to read independently from our Reader and teacher always knew who to pick on for which section of the passage. Today, my observation takes me to a distant simalarity to this practice. Woe be to those slow or non-readers. Test reading seems to be a thing of the past. But with all fairness to the teachers, I have seen class reading timetabled for about 15 minutes per week.
• Talking about limited time? I remember when we had enough time and sufficient guidance to complete assignments, especially projects? Well I dont know if its the delinqiency of my nephew or the general practice of the G-6 teachers but parents are having to stay up late and loooong hours to complete their child(ren's) project which was given a day or two before and due the following day. There seems to be the trend of setting complex coursework projects which require at least 1 week of deep research and collation in addition to the sourcing of materials that are usually available from a store shelf. What ever happened to recycleables , reusables, or the plain old rubbish?
• Do you remember Phonics? Well well, that was one of my better subjects areas. Here we honed the skills in word pronounciation, which was timetabled at least twice per week. Today, when asked why students are not 'drilled’ with phonics, I was told by a renowned G-6 teacher "..it’s not on the syllabus..." Lord help us! Is it any wonder our students are so inept in their speaking, which translates in their less than favourable writing skills?
The Grade 6 I knew then and the Grade 6 I come to know are as alike as night is to day.
I recall like it were just yesterday in 19something when I was one of about 50 students in Ms Moss' Grade 6 class at Granville All Age, Trelawny. As I reflect on then and compare it with what my nephew's current reality is, I marvel at how much extensive changes have been effected to impact the learner and how little they seem to worked.
Lets take a quick look at what was then compared to now
• We had recess where every student was 'shooshed' outside the classroom to play. The more domesticated and introverted ones remained behind and swept the class for the afternoon session. The likes of me revelled in a mean game of dandy-shandy, site or baseball, the toast of the recess for girls and cricket, football and war games for the boys. What do we have now?: Students are told by teachers not to play as they get too sweaty and that makes for a foul smelling classroom when they return from breaks. OMG! I GUESS TEACHERS KNEW THE STRONG CO-RELATION BETWEEN LEARNING AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND IT DIDNT TAKE A DEGREE OR MORE TO DO SO.... JUST SHEER COMMON SENSE.
• Do you remember Mental Ability? Who can forget the problem solving techniques that were employed? It was a joy to be using our skills to solve x-factor questions, maths, english and all the areas of study integrated in one subject. For those who not gifted in the usual math or english, Mental Ability was the subject he would prove his prowess and smile at the rest of us. I guess then the integrated approach to learning was effective and very relevant
• And if you thought the techniques of problem solving were all, just remember the nmenomics employed in studing our daily list of new words and the enormity of strength it took to recall the 3 to 12 times? Every single day that God sent we had to prove our independent knowledge of those words given the previous day and all of thise time tables including up to 14xs dependent on the generousity of the dear teacher. Nowadays, the teachers merely ask for any proof of word knowledge and timetable swat. Yes they conduct spelling tests weekly – which is a composite of familiar words from the week’s lessons – whic is marked by a student. Soes the teacher review it. Definitely not!
• Then there is the elocution exercises. Teachers then were masters of style and diction. We had to read independently from our Reader and teacher always knew who to pick on for which section of the passage. Today, my observation takes me to a distant simalarity to this practice. Woe be to those slow or non-readers. Test reading seems to be a thing of the past. But with all fairness to the teachers, I have seen class reading timetabled for about 15 minutes per week.
• Talking about limited time? I remember when we had enough time and sufficient guidance to complete assignments, especially projects? Well I dont know if its the delinqiency of my nephew or the general practice of the G-6 teachers but parents are having to stay up late and loooong hours to complete their child(ren's) project which was given a day or two before and due the following day. There seems to be the trend of setting complex coursework projects which require at least 1 week of deep research and collation in addition to the sourcing of materials that are usually available from a store shelf. What ever happened to recycleables , reusables, or the plain old rubbish?
• Do you remember Phonics? Well well, that was one of my better subjects areas. Here we honed the skills in word pronounciation, which was timetabled at least twice per week. Today, when asked why students are not 'drilled’ with phonics, I was told by a renowned G-6 teacher "..it’s not on the syllabus..." Lord help us! Is it any wonder our students are so inept in their speaking, which translates in their less than favourable writing skills?
The Grade 6 I knew then and the Grade 6 I come to know are as alike as night is to day.
Welcome
“Beliefs fuels enthusiasm; enthusiasm explodes into passion; passion fires our soul and lift our spirit…”
As per the agreement of all those who have ever known me (rightfully or otherwise), and those who will be privileged to do so, my passion for matters related to education runs deep. It is with this in mind, I have ventured into this world of cyber expression, yet again, as a convenient way of expressing my deep seated views on education.
Welcome to ‘ETACUDE’, react, reflect, and reciprocate….
As per the agreement of all those who have ever known me (rightfully or otherwise), and those who will be privileged to do so, my passion for matters related to education runs deep. It is with this in mind, I have ventured into this world of cyber expression, yet again, as a convenient way of expressing my deep seated views on education.
Welcome to ‘ETACUDE’, react, reflect, and reciprocate….
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