Tuesday, August 21, 2018
From Daisy and Carmen
Monday, August 20, 2018
Let's Parse This
Must we all pretend that the English language is not being destroyed? Can't we at least try to maintain a modicum of structure in our native language.
Yes, Melania's first language is not English. Her husband can not say she "speaks perfect English." But doesn't she have people around her who can tell her the slogan "Be Best" does not parse. One can say "Be good," but the comparative and superlative forms, of good, "better' and "best" need to be compared to some other quality or quantity. One can be better than merely good, and best surpasses that. That's if the words are used as adjectives. Vanilla ice cream is good, chocolate is better, and coffee is THE best. Be good, be better, be THE best, not be best.
Oh, well, I'm over that but now, repeated as if it is really meaningful the observation that "Most children know more about social media than some adults." (Slightly paraphrased) So what does that mean, even assumed it's based on some statistics, gathered where and how we don't know.
We have "most children" over here. They know a lot about social media.
Over here, we have "some adults." They don't know very much about social media
So evidently "some children" don't know much about social media either.
Could it be that the number of "some adults" who don't know social media is the same as the lesser number of children who don't know social media? After all, "some" could mean only 3 or 4 adults, not necessarily a large number.
"Some" and "most" are not comparable.
It's enough that Melania utters these words as if they're statistically meaningful. We can forgive her: it's not her first language. And she probably doesn't really care. But for others to respond as if these are words of wisdom is of detriment to the English language, what's left of it.
We can be better (than that.)
(Maybe she meant some children know more than most adults. This makes more sense than most children know more than some adults. Or "More children than adults know social media."
I be darned.
Yes, Melania's first language is not English. Her husband can not say she "speaks perfect English." But doesn't she have people around her who can tell her the slogan "Be Best" does not parse. One can say "Be good," but the comparative and superlative forms, of good, "better' and "best" need to be compared to some other quality or quantity. One can be better than merely good, and best surpasses that. That's if the words are used as adjectives. Vanilla ice cream is good, chocolate is better, and coffee is THE best. Be good, be better, be THE best, not be best.
Oh, well, I'm over that but now, repeated as if it is really meaningful the observation that "Most children know more about social media than some adults." (Slightly paraphrased) So what does that mean, even assumed it's based on some statistics, gathered where and how we don't know.
We have "most children" over here. They know a lot about social media.
Over here, we have "some adults." They don't know very much about social media
So evidently "some children" don't know much about social media either.
Could it be that the number of "some adults" who don't know social media is the same as the lesser number of children who don't know social media? After all, "some" could mean only 3 or 4 adults, not necessarily a large number.
"Some" and "most" are not comparable.
It's enough that Melania utters these words as if they're statistically meaningful. We can forgive her: it's not her first language. And she probably doesn't really care. But for others to respond as if these are words of wisdom is of detriment to the English language, what's left of it.
We can be better (than that.)
(Maybe she meant some children know more than most adults. This makes more sense than most children know more than some adults. Or "More children than adults know social media."
I be darned.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Schaghticoke Fair 1968
We lived in the apartment in Schaghticoke that first year so we decided to walk to the Fair. The walk was a little longer than I had expected, maybe because it was uphill, or could have been for another yet unknown reason. We were young enough then to have bought tickets for rides. We entered the first ride, the kind where you stand against the rail and the ride tilts and spins, or something like that. We were the first to get on, or nearly so, and the operator was not yet there.
So we waited. Dave, ever confident, leaned back against the rail of the ride, in his king of the world stance. He was dressed then in jeans, which he hardly ever wore: he owned a single pair, left over from when he lived in California, and had gone horseback riding on a friend's ranch. His black hair was long then, as was the 60's style. And he wore a pair of sneakers, not the usual foot attire way back then. He'd recently moved to Schaghticoke after having lived in Cal. a few years before that, and pretty much all the clothes and shoes he owned had been recently purchased for business.
In a few minutes, another couple got on, and they handed Dave their tickets, which he took without saying a word. His arms were still casually folded across his chest, and they just placed the tickets in his hand. Then others did the same. And others. By the time the operator arrived, the ride was nearly full, but he accepted tickets from the newcomers, never questioning those already on.
So we rode, got off the ride, Dave still with his ticket collection, laughing his head off. I can't remember the rest of the story, but I don't think we used any of the tickets. It was fun though: me and the carny worker.
So we waited. Dave, ever confident, leaned back against the rail of the ride, in his king of the world stance. He was dressed then in jeans, which he hardly ever wore: he owned a single pair, left over from when he lived in California, and had gone horseback riding on a friend's ranch. His black hair was long then, as was the 60's style. And he wore a pair of sneakers, not the usual foot attire way back then. He'd recently moved to Schaghticoke after having lived in Cal. a few years before that, and pretty much all the clothes and shoes he owned had been recently purchased for business.
In a few minutes, another couple got on, and they handed Dave their tickets, which he took without saying a word. His arms were still casually folded across his chest, and they just placed the tickets in his hand. Then others did the same. And others. By the time the operator arrived, the ride was nearly full, but he accepted tickets from the newcomers, never questioning those already on.
So we rode, got off the ride, Dave still with his ticket collection, laughing his head off. I can't remember the rest of the story, but I don't think we used any of the tickets. It was fun though: me and the carny worker.
Saturday, August 18, 2018
CryptoPhobia
Having finally solved a Cryptoquip yesterday, my dreams last night had all kinds of manifestations of that puzzle, tortuous as well as torturous. When I woke up this morning, I was anxious to see today's puzzle. Maybe the Cryptoquip is not as hard to solve as I'd thought, or maybe these last two are uncharacteristically easy, because in a matter of minutes, I found that "When you have created a weird enigmatic quality, you've made a big mystique."
And so it goes.
And so it goes.
A Tree Branch: A Bridge & A Separate Peace
Some years ago, John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace, was standard reading for high school students. The book dealt with adolescent behavior, and the reasons, or non-reasons, for their impulsive behavior. Anyone who is trying to understand the motivation for a girl's pushing her "friend" from a bridge may find an uncanny parallel to how Phinney fell from a tree when a "friend" inexplicably jostled the branch he was standing on. The consequences were disastrous for all involved.
Friday, August 17, 2018
Self Styled Success
A rainy day, nothing to do but wait. So I tried again with Today's Cryptoquip, which I've found to be the most difficult of puzzles. Yet it's published in the daily paper, right alongside the simplest of crosswords, the always solvable Jumble, the Sudoku, solvable if you have the patience, and the mind-numbing Word-Sleuth.
I reasoned some folks must be solving the Cryptoquip; otherwise it would not be published. Would it? So I took another look, determined to test my mental faculties. The Cryptoquip consists of groups of letters, jumbled up, with each letter representing another. The "quotes" are original, not famously uttered, are quite lengthy, and often are based on a pun for the "answer." The only given clue is a single letter representing another; the solver needs to find out what each of the other letters is.Sometimes the single letter given appears in the quote only once. So other strategy needs to be used. So the -3-letter nonsense syllables may represent the words "and, but, his, you," or any 3-letter verb or preposition. And you can't be sure. I would have assumed such a puzzle to be unsolvable, but today I persevered:
Cryptocrypt contained about 90 seemingly random letters and 13 words. The only clue is that Y equals C. The letter Y appeared only 3 times among the 90 scrambled letters.
My persevering led to this quote: " Burrowing creatures that are incredibly skilled at warding off predators' attacks: Parry Dogs"
(Yes, I know---I don't really care, Do you?)
I reasoned some folks must be solving the Cryptoquip; otherwise it would not be published. Would it? So I took another look, determined to test my mental faculties. The Cryptoquip consists of groups of letters, jumbled up, with each letter representing another. The "quotes" are original, not famously uttered, are quite lengthy, and often are based on a pun for the "answer." The only given clue is a single letter representing another; the solver needs to find out what each of the other letters is.Sometimes the single letter given appears in the quote only once. So other strategy needs to be used. So the -3-letter nonsense syllables may represent the words "and, but, his, you," or any 3-letter verb or preposition. And you can't be sure. I would have assumed such a puzzle to be unsolvable, but today I persevered:
Cryptocrypt contained about 90 seemingly random letters and 13 words. The only clue is that Y equals C. The letter Y appeared only 3 times among the 90 scrambled letters.
My persevering led to this quote: " Burrowing creatures that are incredibly skilled at warding off predators' attacks: Parry Dogs"
(Yes, I know---I don't really care, Do you?)
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