Quote of the Day

[Jonathon]

"It was by choice that I chose the air force."
—from a gripping new volume called Latter-day Saint Nurses at War

[Annie Subjunctive]

I think you should "edit" snide little comments into writing like this, JB.  I mean, if they don't notice the egregious stuff they put in there in the first place, they won't notice "helpful" little editor's comments either, will they?

[Jonathon]

It's oh-so-tempting, but things like that never turn out well. Back when I worked at Independent Study, we were doing a course revision of a high school German course, and someone noticed "Editors rule!" inserted into the middle of a random paragraph. I'm sure the students must have been confused. Our boss wasn't too impressed, but whoever had done it was long gone.

[Brinestone]

Note: I'm not posting this because there's anything wrong with it but because it is beautiful and oh, so true. This will probably only be funny to current and former BYU students and anyone who is familiar with the state of the BYU student newspaper.

During my nine years at BYU, I read many letters to the editor in The Daily Universe that protested various rules as infringements of free agency. I am glad I don’t see those funny arguments any more, probably because I no longer have to read the letters to the editor in The Daily Universe.

—Elder Dallin H. Oaks, former BYU president and current Apostle

[Porter]

Have you ever read Dear Editor, I Am Apalled?  During the years that Oaks was president of BYU, there were two pretty good cartoonists for the Universe; Bagley, known  for his I Spy a Nephite seies, and Benson, known for being the granson of the prophet, doing political cartonns for an Arizona paper, and asking his name to be stricken from the records of the church.

Anyway, this book is comprised of their cartoons and the outraged letters to the editor that they generated.  It's a riot.  I heartily recommend it.

[Jonathon]

Thanks for the recommendation. "Appalled" definitely seems to be a favorite word in letters to the editor around here.

[Brinestone]

Since the main reading for this course is To Kill a Mockingbird and it is fiction, inevitably we will talk about the elements of fiction. Many of you have probably learned about or heard of the elements of fiction. They are as sturdy as a rooted tree that may undulate in the wind but will not budge.

The instructor gives a list of vocabulary words at the beginning of each lesson. She then uses them all in a paragraph, usually to my chagrin. Then she uses them again in random places throughout the rest of the lesson. So yes, the only reason the metaphor exists is so that she can use the word undulate.

So if you're ever wondering if you can count on the elements of fiction, now you know that they're immovable, though they do undulate sometimes. Whatever that means.


 

[Jonathon]

*undulates*

[Porter]

Do you undulate at me, sir?

[Brinestone]

I do undulate, sir.

[Porter]

But do you undulate at me?

[Icarus]

::points::

I can see her undulates!!!

 

-o-

It's oh-so-tempting, but things like that never turn out well. Back when I worked at Independent Study, we were doing a course revision of a high school German course, and someone noticed "Editors rule!" inserted into the middle of a random paragraph. I'm sure the students must have been confused. Our boss wasn't too impressed, but whoever had done it was long gone.

Well, this isn't quite the same, but at my old school, our dean of curriculum kept his job by making the teachers do all sorts of bogus, stupid, make-work projects all the freaking time that he could point to and say, "See, look at all I've done!"

Well, when we were rewriting our curricula for the third time in my six year tenure there (and no, I don't mean editing. Each time there was a brand-new format to be followed so you had to start from scratch.) I inserted the question "Are you still awake?" as one of the key elements of a course in Pre-Algebra. When the crack team of highly paid administrative curriculum specialists (we had three) reviewed this document, they did not object to the phrase (certainly, they must have seen it, right?) and it made it into the published curriculum guide for the school. I never got in trouble for it, and, as far as I know, it could still be there, unless, of course, they've rewritten the curriculum in the four years since I left.

[FLR]

I wonder if they thought it was some special math terminology and were afraid to display their ignorance by challenging it.  You know, after that normal vector fiasco.  

[Jonathon]

"As in feeding ourselves and in human intimacy, this means taking time for expressions of gratitude, a pause, a preparation for consumption with 'singleness of heart,' so that our times of depravation as well as our times of fullness can be consecrated for our good."

—from a forthcoming book about a Mormon take on environmentalism


My favorite part is the freudian slip.

[Jonathon]

I swear I'm not making this one up:

Later, after I, my doctorate was a further expansion of my Master's and so at Arizona State University when I teaching seminary I was working on my Doctorate there, finished with a cognate in ancient studies and then for years nothing happened.

Hmm. I wonder why nothing happened.

[sarcasticmuppet]

Later, after I, my doctorate was a further expansion

Probably because he's a doctorate, therefore an inanimate object.

[Tante Shvester]

"After all he put her through, she really went after him with a revengeance."

Revengeance. What a fabulous word. Let's mainstream it!

[Jonathon]

It's already in the OED, though it has the note "now rare". So I guess revengeance needs some revengeance.

[rivka]

Perhaps merely a resurgence.