[lit-ideas] Re: why can't the english (professors) learn how to speak?
- From: Julie Krueger <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2012 16:11:09 -0600
Having to explain what "you sound like a broken record" means, to a student.
Realizing "texting gloves" are what I always thought of as "David Crachitt
gloves".
Julie Campbell
Julie's Music & Language Studio
1215 W. Worley
Columbia, MO 65203
573-881-6889
http://www.facebook.com/JuliesMusicLanguageStudio
On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 11:24 AM, Walter C. Okshevsky <wokshevs@xxxxxx>wrote:
> Feeling the years / grumping away:
>
> 1. A cashier at Shoppers Drug Mart gave me a senior's discount without
> asking.
> (I complained to the manager and she has been moved to the stockroom.)
>
> 2. A young lady offers me her seat on a crowded subway car. (I complained
> to
> the
> driver and she was tossed off the car. No, no trolley problem there.)
>
> 3. Beig referred to as "Opa Valter" come March.
>
> 4. Undergrads asking me to put my class notes online. (No, I never had
> class
> notes. Should I start now? And even if I did, I don't do technical
> support.)
>
> 5. Having upper university administration who are younger than I am.
>
> 6. Students who are younger than my 26 yr old daughter.
>
> 7. A young lady offers me her seat ... oh, yes, already mentioned that
> one. But
> it really irks me.
>
> 8. A weakening backhand in table tennis.
>
> 9. Recalling a book from the library only to be told I have already
> checked it
> out. (And its due next week, damn!)
>
> 10. Being the only person in an undergrad class who has seen *Rear Window*,
> *Twelve Angry Men* and *Charade.*
>
> 11. Being the only person in a grad class who has seen ....
>
> 12. Being the only person in an undergrad class who isn't sure whether
> Justin
> Bieber is a singer or stand-up comedian.
>
> 13. Being the only person in an undergrad class who can't stand poutine.
>
> 14. Paying a young man with a plough to shovel my walkways and driveway.
>
> 15. Allowing myself only one piece of kirschtorte for dessert.
>
> 16. Realizing that the older I get, the less patience I have for rabid
> post-structuralist, post-modern, post-colonial, psychoanalytic
> deconstructionist, you're-complicit-in-racism-because-you're
> white-and-thus-privileged, "scholarship."
>
> 17. Realizing, as a reviewer, that journal editors send me the crap they
> don't
> want to see published in their journals because they know I have no
> patience
> for ....
>
> 18. Finding that someone has replaced all my belts with shorter
> look-alikes.
> (What kind of loonie would ....??)
>
> 19. Feeling more comfortable driving my Volvo at 40k per hour rather than
> 140k.
>
> 20. Believing that a smartboard is a self-cleaning blackboard but thinking
> I
> may
> be wrong about that, and maybe my Education students don't wish to correct
> me
> ... (nah, can't be.)
>
> 21. Having a landline telephone and not owning a cell phone.
>
> 22. Wondering why people snicker when I proudly show them my commodore 64.
>
> 23. Finding out that my college sweetheart, who was my age at the time, is
> now
> 58 yrs old and a very successful plastic surgeon with her own clinic in
> Carmel,
> California. (I knew I should have developed an interest in trosopholo (sp?)
> flies rather than Hegel.)
>
>
> There, that does feel a might better. Good idea, David.
>
> Happy Holidays.
>
> Walter O.
>
>
>
> Quoting David Ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>:
>
> >
> > On Dec 21, 2012, at 9:12 PM, John Wager wrote:
> > >
> > > Having said all of that, I must say I'm impressed by quite a few
> British
> > books being written for a general public in which fairly dry subjects are
> > written about in intelligent and engaging ways.
> > >
> > > But these seem to all be written by slightly more senior faculty, whose
> > reputations with jargon is already well-established. Heaven forbid
> someone
> > attempt a popular book before one's reputation is made in "serious"
> journals
> > or books.
> > >
> > > In my own case, what drew me to my advisor for the dissertation was
> partly
> > the "style" of his own writing; it was elegant and effective. He
> > actually despised the "jargonistic" approach to philosophy, so much so
> that
> > he had stopped attending APA meetings, which also meant he was of very
> little
> > use to me in making connections for my first job. Ah, well.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Thanks to John. These are issues which bother me, also folk on this
> list,
> > all of whom seem united on what becomes more and more an old-fashioned
> issue:
> > clarity. We, academics who are still in harness, sit through meetings in
> > which the language and the declared goal seem to diverge, listen to
> > presentations that are stuffed with blither; we agree that we will
> declare
> > objectives and measure with rubrics and (personal note) I wonder whether
> > there is still room for a clear sentence or two. It is as if we are all
> lost
> > on a ring road somewhere in France and the signpost says "Toutes
> Directions"
> > and somehow we think that's fine and we are getting somewhere. If you
> want
> > to feel old, bring Orwell's name up, or Graves' "Reader Over Your
> Shoulder."
> >
> > What else makes you people feel the years passing?
> >
> > Grump away. 'tis the season.
> >
> > David Ritchie,
> > ignoring the Mayans, hoping to publish something good soon from
> > Portland, Oregon
>
>
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