RE: Vocabulary, was TV
Karen
>>I read somewhere that in 1950 an average 12 year old had about 25000words. In 2000, 12 year olds have about 10,000 words?
What happened to the 15,000 words?
I know that this is not true for Lexie and others on this list, but what
about other kids? Like the ones I teach?
Joylyn<<
I have a 12 year old and I think it's mostly true for him as well. In
comparison, I had a much wider vocabulary at that age, but when I wasn't
reading, I was watching TV. IMO, both of those areas have been dumbed down
in the last 30 years. The kids and I were watching the 1940 Lassie Come Home
and Sean complained about the "King James" language. I pointed out that it
was dialect, but even then, there was more description used. It had a
broader vocabulary than they're used to in contemporary media. I'm not a fan
of the "classics" in literature, but even what I read (biographies, animal
books, Nancy Drew) had a wider vocabulary than most of today's fiction. My
TV (westerns, Perry Mason, Star Trek) gave me wider exposure as well than
today's hit list (my kids are hooked on the entire Disney Channel lineup, so
perhaps there is decent programming out there beyond the Lizzie McGuire
genre that I haven't seen....)
I don't want to generalize too broadly, but as much as I strew, my kids just
aren't exposing themselves to the range of material I did, and consequently
have smaller vocabularies. In some respects, it's a moot point, since I have
to tone down my own vocabulary 90% of the time anyway. I'm not worried about
it, since vocabulary development is something that continues life-long.
Karen
[email protected]
-=-I was watching TV. IMO, both of those areas have been dumbed down
in the last 30 years. The kids and I were watching the 1940 Lassie Come Home
and Sean complained about the "King James" language. I pointed out that it
was dialect, but even then, there was more description used. It had a
broader vocabulary than they're used to in contemporary media.-=-
Rod Serling's commentary on the Twilight Zone episodes sprang to mind.
Holly was really interested in those for a while, and I was surprised by the
level of the vocabulary.
I had written something about a certain episode, the one where William
Shatner plays a guy who sees a gremlin on the wing of a plane while they're in
flight. I went to google and looked it up and found a teacher had written a whole
(irritating teacher) lesson on that (and some other ones). I can't bring the
URL because it was a downloadable .doc, with an option for .html, but if you
go to google.com and put in
vocabulary twilight zone shatner
it might come up first again.
I'll go back and look for the quote, instead of the vocabulary list. I'm
going to send this, though, because I came to a site that froze my computer last
time, and I don't want to risk losing the post twice.
BRB
Sandra
in the last 30 years. The kids and I were watching the 1940 Lassie Come Home
and Sean complained about the "King James" language. I pointed out that it
was dialect, but even then, there was more description used. It had a
broader vocabulary than they're used to in contemporary media.-=-
Rod Serling's commentary on the Twilight Zone episodes sprang to mind.
Holly was really interested in those for a while, and I was surprised by the
level of the vocabulary.
I had written something about a certain episode, the one where William
Shatner plays a guy who sees a gremlin on the wing of a plane while they're in
flight. I went to google and looked it up and found a teacher had written a whole
(irritating teacher) lesson on that (and some other ones). I can't bring the
URL because it was a downloadable .doc, with an option for .html, but if you
go to google.com and put in
vocabulary twilight zone shatner
it might come up first again.
I'll go back and look for the quote, instead of the vocabulary list. I'm
going to send this, though, because I came to a site that froze my computer last
time, and I don't want to risk losing the post twice.
BRB
Sandra
[email protected]
[I'll look for the quote, too, but I did (with difficulty) get this to format
to e-mail. It was some ancient kind of html that can't cut and paste right
at all.]
Vocabulary List for Twilight Zone Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
It might be best to give your students this list to study before showing the
program. As you watch the Twilight Zone episode, see if you can find ways of
applying the following word list to the actions and behaviors of the
characters in the story.
affluent wealthy
assuage lessen
butte isolated, steep-sided hill
complacent self-satisfied; calm
desultory aimless
dissertation formal essay
exodus departure
genteel polite and refined
inebriated drunken
introspective given to examining One's own thoughts
martinet strict disciplinarian
oblivion lack of awareness
pillory wooden frame with holes for confining the head and hands
provocation cause for anger
revoke withdraw
tacit quiet; unspoken
=============
(same teacher, from that set of lessons, commenting and then quoting:)
=============
The Twilight Zone original TV series was a great 'word' program. Rod Serling
was a master of the metaphor and a surgeon of the simile. He would take
words and mold and shape them into short stories – vignettes that would bring home
a point with a crash. Take a look a one of Serling's figurative passages
here, from Time Enough At Last (November 20, 1959).
"Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of
Dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page but who is
conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of
tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis
will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything
else. He'll have a world all to himself."
to e-mail. It was some ancient kind of html that can't cut and paste right
at all.]
Vocabulary List for Twilight Zone Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
It might be best to give your students this list to study before showing the
program. As you watch the Twilight Zone episode, see if you can find ways of
applying the following word list to the actions and behaviors of the
characters in the story.
affluent wealthy
assuage lessen
butte isolated, steep-sided hill
complacent self-satisfied; calm
desultory aimless
dissertation formal essay
exodus departure
genteel polite and refined
inebriated drunken
introspective given to examining One's own thoughts
martinet strict disciplinarian
oblivion lack of awareness
pillory wooden frame with holes for confining the head and hands
provocation cause for anger
revoke withdraw
tacit quiet; unspoken
=============
(same teacher, from that set of lessons, commenting and then quoting:)
=============
The Twilight Zone original TV series was a great 'word' program. Rod Serling
was a master of the metaphor and a surgeon of the simile. He would take
words and mold and shape them into short stories – vignettes that would bring home
a point with a crash. Take a look a one of Serling's figurative passages
here, from Time Enough At Last (November 20, 1959).
"Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of
Dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page but who is
conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of
tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis
will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything
else. He'll have a world all to himself."
Carrie Wright
Well this touched a current nerve with me!! We're at the end of Lemony
Snickets first Unfortunate Series book and I was very surprised and
disgusted that any word that's longer than six letters is defined in the
book!!! Hello!!! What ever happened to picking up the meaning from the
text???? I will have to say I was already predisposed to not like the books
as I had heard and read that nothing good ever happened to the kids and I'm
a sucker for happy endings. But I tried to go into them with a open mind as
my kids really wanted to listen to them (we're listening in the car) and I
had heard mixed reviews. So that may be part of what irratates me about the
fact that he defines so many words, I feel that it interrupts the flow of
the story and that it's dumbing our kids down, let's assume that they can't
figure anything out for themselves and hand them it on a silver plate so
when they encounter that word again they won't remember what it means.
Just my two cents rant.
Carrie
Snickets first Unfortunate Series book and I was very surprised and
disgusted that any word that's longer than six letters is defined in the
book!!! Hello!!! What ever happened to picking up the meaning from the
text???? I will have to say I was already predisposed to not like the books
as I had heard and read that nothing good ever happened to the kids and I'm
a sucker for happy endings. But I tried to go into them with a open mind as
my kids really wanted to listen to them (we're listening in the car) and I
had heard mixed reviews. So that may be part of what irratates me about the
fact that he defines so many words, I feel that it interrupts the flow of
the story and that it's dumbing our kids down, let's assume that they can't
figure anything out for themselves and hand them it on a silver plate so
when they encounter that word again they won't remember what it means.
Just my two cents rant.
Carrie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karen" <kbmatlock@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 7:31 AM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] RE: Vocabulary, was TV
I'm not a fan
> of the "classics" in literature, but even what I read (biographies, animal
> books, Nancy Drew) had a wider vocabulary than most of today's fiction. My
> TV (westerns, Perry Mason, Star Trek) gave me wider exposure as well than
> today's hit list (my kids are hooked on the entire Disney Channel lineup,
so
> perhaps there is decent programming out there beyond the Lizzie McGuire
> genre that I haven't seen....)
>
[email protected]
AHA!!!
NARRATOR (voice over): The flight of Mr. Robert Wilson has ended now, a
flight not only from point A to point B, but also from the fear of recurring mental
breakdown. Mr. Wilson has that fear no longer...
Slow PAN from the ambulance to the plane's wing, where the pried-up cowling
plate is plainly visible.
NARRATOR (voice over): ...though, for the moment, he is, as he has said,
alone in this assurance. Happily, his conviction will not remain isolated too much
longer, for happily, tangible manifestation is very often left as evidence of
trespass, even from so intangible a quarter as the Twilight Zone.
FADE OUT
When we watched that, Holly just looked at me with her head rared back, like
he had started speaking a foreign language. And he really had, because that
stilted a level of language, especially in a medium like 50's TV where someone
couldn't rewind or look up a transcript, is not really communication. At the
pace at which he presented it, it was just pretty much noise, honestly. I
could only catch half of it the first time through, and even having it
"rewindable" (DVD), to explain it to a bright kid like Holly was not really possible.
So I'm not recommending it as a vocabulary tool, just pointing out that yes,
he used loftier language, but as to whether it was useful information, I don't
think so.
I remember reading in the late 1960's that the policy of Newsweek and Time
was to set their text at an 8th grade reading level. Before anyone gets
excited, though, the whole concept of "reading level" is a construct of school
textbook analysis and production, born of remedial reading specialists getting mas
ters' degrees in ultimately ruining people's lives and the school system as
well. (Bad attitude on my part, but justifiable.)
Reading level is a formula that has to do with the average and maximum length
of words (syllables, I think, but maybe letters--if anyone knows, tell us!)
and the average length of sentences. That's why book with "first grade
reading level" have choppy little sentences, and as the level gets higher they get
longer.
So if public writing like Newsweek aims for 8th grade (on the reading-level
word/sentence count) that leaves whatever was rated "college level" for
textbooks and William F. Buckley columns. But honestly, I can read Buckley and I
don't WANT to. It makes my skin crawl and my nervous system curl at the edges,
knowing he's purposely obfuscating, in prevention of ease of access to the
common seeker of editorial profusion, thereby rarifying that audience or
readership to whom he might thereafter feel any responsibility of clarity.
He makes it difficult on purpose because he's a snob writing for snobs, and
doesn't WANT to speak to common people.
So somewhere in the vocabulary recalbration from the 50's to now, perhaps a
class of language is being closed down.
Language is living and changing, and it's possible that telling people to cut
the upper-class clap-trap isn't really a bad thing. If people want to read
Robert Louis Stevenson novels as a hobby, that's fine. I can read Chaucer, but
I wouldn't bring it out and inflict it as a read-aloud on my family unless I
were clueless and sadistic. (Come to think of it, a socially clueless
acquaintance of mine DID just exactly that once, at a "bardic" event where people
were going around a circle and sharing some evocative-of-pre-1600 entertainment
like a song or a story, she chose to read a long (ten minute) passage in Middle
English, which might as well have been Tibetan, and that's really not a nice
thing to have done.
So I defend the smaller vocabulary which is clearer and more accessible to
not only 20th generation English speakers, but to those whose parents were
Vietnamese, Mexican, or Turkish.
Sandra
NARRATOR (voice over): The flight of Mr. Robert Wilson has ended now, a
flight not only from point A to point B, but also from the fear of recurring mental
breakdown. Mr. Wilson has that fear no longer...
Slow PAN from the ambulance to the plane's wing, where the pried-up cowling
plate is plainly visible.
NARRATOR (voice over): ...though, for the moment, he is, as he has said,
alone in this assurance. Happily, his conviction will not remain isolated too much
longer, for happily, tangible manifestation is very often left as evidence of
trespass, even from so intangible a quarter as the Twilight Zone.
FADE OUT
When we watched that, Holly just looked at me with her head rared back, like
he had started speaking a foreign language. And he really had, because that
stilted a level of language, especially in a medium like 50's TV where someone
couldn't rewind or look up a transcript, is not really communication. At the
pace at which he presented it, it was just pretty much noise, honestly. I
could only catch half of it the first time through, and even having it
"rewindable" (DVD), to explain it to a bright kid like Holly was not really possible.
So I'm not recommending it as a vocabulary tool, just pointing out that yes,
he used loftier language, but as to whether it was useful information, I don't
think so.
I remember reading in the late 1960's that the policy of Newsweek and Time
was to set their text at an 8th grade reading level. Before anyone gets
excited, though, the whole concept of "reading level" is a construct of school
textbook analysis and production, born of remedial reading specialists getting mas
ters' degrees in ultimately ruining people's lives and the school system as
well. (Bad attitude on my part, but justifiable.)
Reading level is a formula that has to do with the average and maximum length
of words (syllables, I think, but maybe letters--if anyone knows, tell us!)
and the average length of sentences. That's why book with "first grade
reading level" have choppy little sentences, and as the level gets higher they get
longer.
So if public writing like Newsweek aims for 8th grade (on the reading-level
word/sentence count) that leaves whatever was rated "college level" for
textbooks and William F. Buckley columns. But honestly, I can read Buckley and I
don't WANT to. It makes my skin crawl and my nervous system curl at the edges,
knowing he's purposely obfuscating, in prevention of ease of access to the
common seeker of editorial profusion, thereby rarifying that audience or
readership to whom he might thereafter feel any responsibility of clarity.
He makes it difficult on purpose because he's a snob writing for snobs, and
doesn't WANT to speak to common people.
So somewhere in the vocabulary recalbration from the 50's to now, perhaps a
class of language is being closed down.
Language is living and changing, and it's possible that telling people to cut
the upper-class clap-trap isn't really a bad thing. If people want to read
Robert Louis Stevenson novels as a hobby, that's fine. I can read Chaucer, but
I wouldn't bring it out and inflict it as a read-aloud on my family unless I
were clueless and sadistic. (Come to think of it, a socially clueless
acquaintance of mine DID just exactly that once, at a "bardic" event where people
were going around a circle and sharing some evocative-of-pre-1600 entertainment
like a song or a story, she chose to read a long (ten minute) passage in Middle
English, which might as well have been Tibetan, and that's really not a nice
thing to have done.
So I defend the smaller vocabulary which is clearer and more accessible to
not only 20th generation English speakers, but to those whose parents were
Vietnamese, Mexican, or Turkish.
Sandra
[email protected]
Everyone is totally excused from reading this. It's too much and depressing.
It's a little hyper report on Robert Louis Stevenson I just wrote. I'll do
him and his fans a favor in the next post and quote something simple and
positive.
First, a quote from something by him about himself as a child. Not a
character, but autobiographical:
“I would lie awake to weep for Jesus, but I would fear to trust myself to
slumber lest I was not accepted and should slip, ere I awoke, into eternal ruin.”
-------------------
I was looking for examples of really too-long Stevenson sentences ( I think I
counted one off once at 62 words, in Treasure Island, with the verb coming
WAY near the end so that it could only be understood by the reader going back up
and re-reading). I found a couple of damning examples from letters. He KNEW
his sentences became unintelligible. Why was his editor afraid to say "HEY,
DUDE! PEOPLE CAN'T READ THIS!"? The intimidation of class and education
shushed folks up just as in the Emperor's New Clothes. To say "I can't read
this" was to admit ignorance, so they all pretended Stevenson's stuff was
perfection. The stories are good. The images are great! The writing is like a
rough sea and I'm not willing to ride it, personally (me with an English degree
and all that, I don't care: the Emperor's Pirate Outfit is made of a tacky,
outdated, sea-sickening material).
Here's an example from a letter:
"MY DEAR S. C., — Your delightful letter has just come, and finds me in a New
York hotel, waiting the arrival of a sculptor (St. Gaudens) who is making a
medallion of yours truly and who is (to boot) one of the handsomest and nicest
fellows I have seen. I caught a cold on the Banks; fog is not for me; nearly
died of interviewers and visitors, during twenty–four hours in New York; cut
for Newport with Lloyd and Valentine, a journey like fairy–land for the most
engaging beauties, one little rocky and pine–shaded cove after another, each with
a house and a boat at anchor, so that I left my heart in each and marvelled
why American authors had been so unjust to their country; caught another cold
on the train; arrived at Newport to go to bed and to grow worse, and to stay in
bed until I left again; the Fairchilds proving during this time kindness
itself; Mr. Fairchild simply one of the most engaging men in the world, and one of
the children, Blair, AET. ten, a great joy and amusement in his solemn
adoring attitude to the author of TREASURE ISLAND.
"Here I was interrupted by the arrival of my sculptor. I have begged him to
make a medallion of himself and give me a copy. I will not take up the sentence
in which I was wandering so long, but begin fresh."
----------
"The sentence in which [he] was wandering so long" was the entire first
paragraph, which never came to its point.
-----------
From another letter:
"DEAR MR. BARRIE, - This is at least the third letter I have written you, but
my correspondence has a bad habit of not getting so far as the post. That
which I possess of manhood turns pale before the business of the address and
envelope. But I hope to be more fortunate with this: for, besides the usual and
often recurrent desire to thank you for your work-you are one of four that have
come to the front since I was watching and had a corner of my own to watch,
and there is no reason, unless it be in these mysterious tides that ebb and
flow, and make and mar and murder the works of poor scribblers, why you should not
do work of the best order. The tides have borne away my sentence, of which I
was weary at any rate, and between authors I may allow myself so much freedom
as to leave it pending. We are both Scots besides, and I suspect both rather
Scotty Scots; my own Scotchness tends to intermittency, but is at times
erisypelitous - if that be rightly spelt. Lastly, I have gathered we had both made
our stages in the metropolis of the winds: our Virgil's 'grey metropolis,' and I
count that a lasting bond. No place so brands a man. "
-------
From a letter to his mother!!! (I don't want letters like this from my
children, ever----and his description of the locals proves his snobbishness, but he
WAS "of a class" that should not have required him to touch elbows on
sidewalks with stupid lazy people.)
WICK, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1868.
MY DEAR MOTHER, -
. . . Wick lies at the end or elbow of an open triangular bay, hemmed on
either side by shores, either cliff or steep earth-bank, of no great height. The
grey houses of Pulteney extend along the southerly shore almost to the cape;
and it is about half-way down this shore - no, six-sevenths way down – that the
new breakwater extends athwart the bay. Certainly Wick in itself possesses no
beauty:
. . . .
The streets are full of the Highland fishers, lubberly, stupid,
inconceivably lazy and heavy to move. You bruise against them,
tumble over them, elbow them against the wall - all to no purpose;
they will not budge; and you are forced to leave the pavement every
step
========================
Report by Sandra Dodd
First Period English
Mr. Martinez
November 13, 1967. I mean 2003
It's a little hyper report on Robert Louis Stevenson I just wrote. I'll do
him and his fans a favor in the next post and quote something simple and
positive.
First, a quote from something by him about himself as a child. Not a
character, but autobiographical:
“I would lie awake to weep for Jesus, but I would fear to trust myself to
slumber lest I was not accepted and should slip, ere I awoke, into eternal ruin.”
-------------------
I was looking for examples of really too-long Stevenson sentences ( I think I
counted one off once at 62 words, in Treasure Island, with the verb coming
WAY near the end so that it could only be understood by the reader going back up
and re-reading). I found a couple of damning examples from letters. He KNEW
his sentences became unintelligible. Why was his editor afraid to say "HEY,
DUDE! PEOPLE CAN'T READ THIS!"? The intimidation of class and education
shushed folks up just as in the Emperor's New Clothes. To say "I can't read
this" was to admit ignorance, so they all pretended Stevenson's stuff was
perfection. The stories are good. The images are great! The writing is like a
rough sea and I'm not willing to ride it, personally (me with an English degree
and all that, I don't care: the Emperor's Pirate Outfit is made of a tacky,
outdated, sea-sickening material).
Here's an example from a letter:
"MY DEAR S. C., — Your delightful letter has just come, and finds me in a New
York hotel, waiting the arrival of a sculptor (St. Gaudens) who is making a
medallion of yours truly and who is (to boot) one of the handsomest and nicest
fellows I have seen. I caught a cold on the Banks; fog is not for me; nearly
died of interviewers and visitors, during twenty–four hours in New York; cut
for Newport with Lloyd and Valentine, a journey like fairy–land for the most
engaging beauties, one little rocky and pine–shaded cove after another, each with
a house and a boat at anchor, so that I left my heart in each and marvelled
why American authors had been so unjust to their country; caught another cold
on the train; arrived at Newport to go to bed and to grow worse, and to stay in
bed until I left again; the Fairchilds proving during this time kindness
itself; Mr. Fairchild simply one of the most engaging men in the world, and one of
the children, Blair, AET. ten, a great joy and amusement in his solemn
adoring attitude to the author of TREASURE ISLAND.
"Here I was interrupted by the arrival of my sculptor. I have begged him to
make a medallion of himself and give me a copy. I will not take up the sentence
in which I was wandering so long, but begin fresh."
----------
"The sentence in which [he] was wandering so long" was the entire first
paragraph, which never came to its point.
-----------
From another letter:
"DEAR MR. BARRIE, - This is at least the third letter I have written you, but
my correspondence has a bad habit of not getting so far as the post. That
which I possess of manhood turns pale before the business of the address and
envelope. But I hope to be more fortunate with this: for, besides the usual and
often recurrent desire to thank you for your work-you are one of four that have
come to the front since I was watching and had a corner of my own to watch,
and there is no reason, unless it be in these mysterious tides that ebb and
flow, and make and mar and murder the works of poor scribblers, why you should not
do work of the best order. The tides have borne away my sentence, of which I
was weary at any rate, and between authors I may allow myself so much freedom
as to leave it pending. We are both Scots besides, and I suspect both rather
Scotty Scots; my own Scotchness tends to intermittency, but is at times
erisypelitous - if that be rightly spelt. Lastly, I have gathered we had both made
our stages in the metropolis of the winds: our Virgil's 'grey metropolis,' and I
count that a lasting bond. No place so brands a man. "
-------
From a letter to his mother!!! (I don't want letters like this from my
children, ever----and his description of the locals proves his snobbishness, but he
WAS "of a class" that should not have required him to touch elbows on
sidewalks with stupid lazy people.)
WICK, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1868.
MY DEAR MOTHER, -
. . . Wick lies at the end or elbow of an open triangular bay, hemmed on
either side by shores, either cliff or steep earth-bank, of no great height. The
grey houses of Pulteney extend along the southerly shore almost to the cape;
and it is about half-way down this shore - no, six-sevenths way down – that the
new breakwater extends athwart the bay. Certainly Wick in itself possesses no
beauty:
. . . .
The streets are full of the Highland fishers, lubberly, stupid,
inconceivably lazy and heavy to move. You bruise against them,
tumble over them, elbow them against the wall - all to no purpose;
they will not budge; and you are forced to leave the pavement every
step
========================
Report by Sandra Dodd
First Period English
Mr. Martinez
November 13, 1967. I mean 2003
Stepheny Cappel
I love the twilight zone, I love the way he talks, the words bring more mystery, trauma, events more to life. As a child I didn't get it really but listened and spooked very well. Frankie 9 watched it with me one night, at the beginning when they say for the next 30 min they would take control of his mind LOL he said what did he say?/ and I explained to him the best i could and we both ended up huddled on the couch with daddy.... it was fun. But I wouldn't want to do a lesson on it.. that would ruin it, and yukk that is not fun. Thanks for getting all that though, imagine thinking that much. Do they have books of the twilight zone episodes? I think I would like them for myself. Stepheny
AHA!!!
When we watched that, Holly just looked at me with her head rared back, like
he had started speaking a foreign language. And he really had, because that
stilted a level of language, especially in a medium like 50's TV where someone
couldn't rewind or look up a transcript, is not really communication. At the
pace at which he presented it, it was just pretty much noise, honestly. I
could only catch half of it the first time through, and even having it
"rewindable" (DVD), to explain it to a bright kid like Holly was not really possible.
So I'm not recommending it as a vocabulary tool, just pointing out that yes,
he used loftier language, but as to whether it was useful information, I don't
think so.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
AHA!!!
When we watched that, Holly just looked at me with her head rared back, like
he had started speaking a foreign language. And he really had, because that
stilted a level of language, especially in a medium like 50's TV where someone
couldn't rewind or look up a transcript, is not really communication. At the
pace at which he presented it, it was just pretty much noise, honestly. I
could only catch half of it the first time through, and even having it
"rewindable" (DVD), to explain it to a bright kid like Holly was not really possible.
So I'm not recommending it as a vocabulary tool, just pointing out that yes,
he used loftier language, but as to whether it was useful information, I don't
think so.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
Robert Louis Stevenson, my favorite from A Child's Garden of Verses, which
one of my grandmothers gave me when I was a child, I still have, and I read to
Holly from it sometimes:
XXI
Escape at Bedtime
The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.
There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,
Nor of people in church or the Park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.
The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.
They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head.
This is the part I love so much:
"the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars. "
----
and the saddest to me of that collection:
----
I
Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
---------------
Maybe having that imbedded in my unconscious is part of why I don't make my
kids go to bed early; never once have I done it. Playing is more important
than bed, and sleeping by the clock is Victorian meanness.
-------------------------
Speaking of sleeping, though, I found this:
Little known facts about R.L.S. :
Scotsman invents sleeping bag! R.L.S. has a good claim to be the inventor of
the Sleeping Bag, taking a large fleece-lined sack with him to sleep in on the
journey through France described in his book Travels with a Donkey in the
Cevennes.
Sandra
one of my grandmothers gave me when I was a child, I still have, and I read to
Holly from it sometimes:
XXI
Escape at Bedtime
The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.
There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,
Nor of people in church or the Park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.
The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.
They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head.
This is the part I love so much:
"the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars. "
----
and the saddest to me of that collection:
----
I
Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
---------------
Maybe having that imbedded in my unconscious is part of why I don't make my
kids go to bed early; never once have I done it. Playing is more important
than bed, and sleeping by the clock is Victorian meanness.
-------------------------
Speaking of sleeping, though, I found this:
Little known facts about R.L.S. :
Scotsman invents sleeping bag! R.L.S. has a good claim to be the inventor of
the Sleeping Bag, taking a large fleece-lined sack with him to sleep in on the
journey through France described in his book Travels with a Donkey in the
Cevennes.
Sandra
Stepheny Cappel
He definitely is wordy to say the least. I did read through aloud I must say the red badge of courage to my poor poor 18 year old son, and he listened like a good boy. Whew! And I would never never do it again, nor require anyone to read it. I thought it was a classic and would help improve his whatever I don't even know now. Doh! Stepheny
And could anyone get through a letter like this. Yes a snob for sure.
Everyone is totally excused from reading this. It's too much and depressing.
It's a little hyper report on Robert Louis Stevenson I just wrote. I'll do
him and his fans a favor in the next post and quote something simple and
positive.
First, a quote from something by him about himself as a child. Not a
character, but autobiographical:
“I would lie awake to weep for Jesus, but I would fear to trust myself to
slumber lest I was not accepted and should slip, ere I awoke, into eternal ruin.”
-------------------
From a letter to his mother!!! (I don't want letters like this from my
children, ever----and his description of the locals proves his snobbishness, but he
WAS "of a class" that should not have required him to touch elbows on
sidewalks with stupid lazy people.)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
And could anyone get through a letter like this. Yes a snob for sure.
Everyone is totally excused from reading this. It's too much and depressing.
It's a little hyper report on Robert Louis Stevenson I just wrote. I'll do
him and his fans a favor in the next post and quote something simple and
positive.
First, a quote from something by him about himself as a child. Not a
character, but autobiographical:
“I would lie awake to weep for Jesus, but I would fear to trust myself to
slumber lest I was not accepted and should slip, ere I awoke, into eternal ruin.”
-------------------
From a letter to his mother!!! (I don't want letters like this from my
children, ever----and his description of the locals proves his snobbishness, but he
WAS "of a class" that should not have required him to touch elbows on
sidewalks with stupid lazy people.)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
nyneca
I've been reading your commentary on RL Stevenson with great amusement.
A few years ago I attempted to read Treasure Island to the kids, but had to quit
after page 3 because the writing style was so difficult to read. We ended up
getting a book on tape from the library, and LOVED it. I had never read it
before, so I was really thrilled to discover where exactly all of those common
pirate references originated: Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, pieces of eight,
walk the plank, dead men tell no tales, etc. (Actually, it reminded me of going
through The Pirates of the Caribean ride at Disneyland.) Anyway, when I had
to get the book on tape I felt like a bit of a failure, so your comments on his
purposefully bad writing was insightful. I just figured that his writing style was
indicative of the way people spoke back then, so I'll take your word as an
English major that that was not the case after all.
A few years ago I attempted to read Treasure Island to the kids, but had to quit
after page 3 because the writing style was so difficult to read. We ended up
getting a book on tape from the library, and LOVED it. I had never read it
before, so I was really thrilled to discover where exactly all of those common
pirate references originated: Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, pieces of eight,
walk the plank, dead men tell no tales, etc. (Actually, it reminded me of going
through The Pirates of the Caribean ride at Disneyland.) Anyway, when I had
to get the book on tape I felt like a bit of a failure, so your comments on his
purposefully bad writing was insightful. I just figured that his writing style was
indicative of the way people spoke back then, so I'll take your word as an
English major that that was not the case after all.
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
and his description of the locals proves his snobbishness, but he
> WAS "of a class" that should not have required him to touch elbows on
> sidewalks with stupid lazy people.)
After we listened to Treasure Island, we listened to Across the Plains, in which
he described his trip on the Transcontinental Railroad, often in the company
of the lower classes.
Just yesterday, we finished reading Huck Finn, quite a relief to me as the
narrator of Twain's ridiculously long sentences. Good example of what a run-
on sentences are in classic literature. Enjoyed the book, but again it was
difficult to read aloud for me.
Ellen
catherine aceto
Karen wrote:
but even what I read (biographies, animal
books, Nancy Drew) had a wider vocabulary than most of today's fiction.
My comment:
Yeah, that seems right to me. I was reading Lydia some short stories by Kipling the other day, and had to look up one or two words *myself* during each story -- either to see what they meant or how to pronounce them.
-Cat
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
but even what I read (biographies, animal
books, Nancy Drew) had a wider vocabulary than most of today's fiction.
My comment:
Yeah, that seems right to me. I was reading Lydia some short stories by Kipling the other day, and had to look up one or two words *myself* during each story -- either to see what they meant or how to pronounce them.
-Cat
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Nancy Wooton
on 11/13/03 7:52 AM, SandraDodd@... at SandraDodd@... wrote:
Nancy
> Maybe having that imbedded in my unconscious is part of why I don't make myAnd maybe the summer days are much longer in Scotland than in New Mexico.
> kids go to bed early; never once have I done it. Playing is more important
> than bed, and sleeping by the clock is Victorian meanness.
Nancy
Nancy Wooton
on 11/13/03 7:57 AM, Stepheny Cappel at stephc62@... wrote:
taking apart <g> wrote Treasure Island -- and, incidentally, today is his
birthday. Poor sot only lived to 44.
Nancy (and no, I didn't just know that - I googled him)
> He definitely is wordy to say the least. I did read through aloud I must sayI think that's Stephen Crane. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author Sandra's
> the red badge of courage to my poor poor 18 year old son, and he listened like
> a good boy.
taking apart <g> wrote Treasure Island -- and, incidentally, today is his
birthday. Poor sot only lived to 44.
Nancy (and no, I didn't just know that - I googled him)
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/13/03 10:04:46 AM, ikonstitcher@... writes:
<<
And maybe the summer days are much longer in Scotland than in New Mexico. >>
Good point.
He still didn't get to play as long as he wanted to, though.
When we were in Yorkshire it seemed like we were having jetlag problems a
long time, and then we figured out no, the days really WERE way too long and
still light when we felt like it should be bedtime.
Sandra
Sandra
<<
And maybe the summer days are much longer in Scotland than in New Mexico. >>
Good point.
He still didn't get to play as long as he wanted to, though.
When we were in Yorkshire it seemed like we were having jetlag problems a
long time, and then we figured out no, the days really WERE way too long and
still light when we felt like it should be bedtime.
Sandra
Sandra
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/13/03 10:14:06 AM, ikonstitcher@... writes:
<< and, incidentally, today is his
birthday >>
OOOh. Maybe I shouldn't have singled him out as a vocabulary factor on his
birthday. Or maybe that's the best time. <g>
He lived in California for a little while.
Groovy.
Sandra
<< and, incidentally, today is his
birthday >>
OOOh. Maybe I shouldn't have singled him out as a vocabulary factor on his
birthday. Or maybe that's the best time. <g>
He lived in California for a little while.
Groovy.
Sandra
Betsy
**Reading level is a formula that has to do with the average and maximum
length
of words (syllables, I think, but maybe letters--if anyone knows, tell us!)
and the average length of sentences. **
I've used a formula from one of my husband's reading textbooks. It has
to do with counting the lengths of sentences and with counting the
number of syllables in 100 word samples. (It's supposed to be done with
three samples.)
Sandra, if you really want to see it I think I know what textbook it is
in and where it is in the garage. The two counts are mapped on to a
fancy graph and I would have to photocopy and snail mail it to you. (Or
learn to use my scanner.)
Betsy
length
of words (syllables, I think, but maybe letters--if anyone knows, tell us!)
and the average length of sentences. **
I've used a formula from one of my husband's reading textbooks. It has
to do with counting the lengths of sentences and with counting the
number of syllables in 100 word samples. (It's supposed to be done with
three samples.)
Sandra, if you really want to see it I think I know what textbook it is
in and where it is in the garage. The two counts are mapped on to a
fancy graph and I would have to photocopy and snail mail it to you. (Or
learn to use my scanner.)
Betsy
nyneca
Betsy-
Below is a link to Fry's Readability graphs. You're supposed to count out 100
word passages (avoiding dialogue), go back and count the number of
complete sentences/100 words, and go back again and count the number of
syllables per 100 words, and then look it up on the graphs to find reading
level. My understanding is that for better accuracy, you should repeat this
process 3 times per book.
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/fry/fry2.html
Ellen
Below is a link to Fry's Readability graphs. You're supposed to count out 100
word passages (avoiding dialogue), go back and count the number of
complete sentences/100 words, and go back again and count the number of
syllables per 100 words, and then look it up on the graphs to find reading
level. My understanding is that for better accuracy, you should repeat this
process 3 times per book.
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/fry/fry2.html
Ellen
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/13/03 1:01:59 PM, ecsamhill@... writes:
<< Sandra, if you really want to see it I think I know what textbook it is
in and where it is in the garage. The two counts are mapped on to a
fancy graph and I would have to photocopy and snail mail it to you. (Or
learn to use my scanner.) >>
Oh, no thanks. I bet we could find it on line somewhere, or various versions
of it. No sense digging in garages. But thanks!
There are probably automated enter-your-text programs online somewhere.
Sandra
<< Sandra, if you really want to see it I think I know what textbook it is
in and where it is in the garage. The two counts are mapped on to a
fancy graph and I would have to photocopy and snail mail it to you. (Or
learn to use my scanner.) >>
Oh, no thanks. I bet we could find it on line somewhere, or various versions
of it. No sense digging in garages. But thanks!
There are probably automated enter-your-text programs online somewhere.
Sandra
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/13/03 1:14:19 PM, evkod@... writes:
<< Below is a link to Fry's Readability graphs. >>
Well there y'go. If Newsweek is 8th grade, I'm guessin' Stevenson is "Upper
Class English University educated has at least three servants and doesn't need
to write for the hoi poloi" level.
Sandra
<< Below is a link to Fry's Readability graphs. >>
Well there y'go. If Newsweek is 8th grade, I'm guessin' Stevenson is "Upper
Class English University educated has at least three servants and doesn't need
to write for the hoi poloi" level.
Sandra
[email protected]
Hmmm... it didn't seem to me that there were that many words defined, I
would have said fewer than ten in each book. I thought it was a humorous
device, the narrator actually interupts his own story fairly frequently
to add information or forecast doom or whatever. I see it as a stylistic
thing... some of the definitions are kind of fun, too. I generally don't
like dumbed-down stufff, but this did't bug me for some reason.
They're not books you can take seriously in any way, for sure.
Dar
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 09:01:11 -0600 "Carrie Wright" <cjwblw@...>
writes:
would have said fewer than ten in each book. I thought it was a humorous
device, the narrator actually interupts his own story fairly frequently
to add information or forecast doom or whatever. I see it as a stylistic
thing... some of the definitions are kind of fun, too. I generally don't
like dumbed-down stufff, but this did't bug me for some reason.
They're not books you can take seriously in any way, for sure.
Dar
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 09:01:11 -0600 "Carrie Wright" <cjwblw@...>
writes:
> Well this touched a current nerve with me!! We're at the end of
> Lemony
> Snickets first Unfortunate Series book and I was very surprised and
> disgusted that any word that's longer than six letters is defined in
> the
> book!!! Hello!!! What ever happened to picking up the meaning from
> the
> text???? I will have to say I was already predisposed to not like
> the books
> as I had heard and read that nothing good ever happened to the kids
> and I'm
> a sucker for happy endings. But I tried to go into them with a open
> mind as
> my kids really wanted to listen to them (we're listening in the car)
> and I
> had heard mixed reviews. So that may be part of what irratates me
> about the
> fact that he defines so many words, I feel that it interrupts the
> flow of
> the story and that it's dumbing our kids down, let's assume that
> they can't
> figure anything out for themselves and hand them it on a silver
> plate so
> when they encounter that word again they won't remember what it
> means.
>
> Just my two cents rant.
>
> Carrie
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Karen" <kbmatlock@...>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 7:31 AM
> Subject: [AlwaysLearning] RE: Vocabulary, was TV
>
> I'm not a fan
> > of the "classics" in literature, but even what I read
> (biographies, animal
> > books, Nancy Drew) had a wider vocabulary than most of today's
> fiction. My
> > TV (westerns, Perry Mason, Star Trek) gave me wider exposure as
> well than
> > today's hit list (my kids are hooked on the entire Disney Channel
> lineup,
> so
> > perhaps there is decent programming out there beyond the Lizzie
> McGuire
> > genre that I haven't seen....)
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
J. Stauffer
<<Any word that's longer than six letters is defined in the book>>
That is funny because this is precisely why my daughter enjoys the books,
having read them all. She isn't a big reader, she prefers Degrassi, Radio
Free Roscoe and Lizzie McQuire. But she does read Lemony Snickett. She
likes that words she doesn't know are explained to her, as if in a
conversation.
Julie S.
That is funny because this is precisely why my daughter enjoys the books,
having read them all. She isn't a big reader, she prefers Degrassi, Radio
Free Roscoe and Lizzie McQuire. But she does read Lemony Snickett. She
likes that words she doesn't know are explained to her, as if in a
conversation.
Julie S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carrie Wright" <cjwblw@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 9:01 AM
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] RE: Vocabulary, was TV
> Well this touched a current nerve with me!! We're at the end of Lemony
> Snickets first Unfortunate Series book and I was very surprised and
> disgusted that any word that's longer than six letters is defined in the
> book!!! Hello!!! What ever happened to picking up the meaning from the
> text???? I will have to say I was already predisposed to not like the
books
> as I had heard and read that nothing good ever happened to the kids and
I'm
> a sucker for happy endings. But I tried to go into them with a open mind
as
> my kids really wanted to listen to them (we're listening in the car) and I
> had heard mixed reviews. So that may be part of what irratates me about
the
> fact that he defines so many words, I feel that it interrupts the flow of
> the story and that it's dumbing our kids down, let's assume that they
can't
> figure anything out for themselves and hand them it on a silver plate so
> when they encounter that word again they won't remember what it means.
>
> Just my two cents rant.
>
> Carrie
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Karen" <kbmatlock@...>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 7:31 AM
> Subject: [AlwaysLearning] RE: Vocabulary, was TV
>
> I'm not a fan
> > of the "classics" in literature, but even what I read (biographies,
animal
> > books, Nancy Drew) had a wider vocabulary than most of today's fiction.
My
> > TV (westerns, Perry Mason, Star Trek) gave me wider exposure as well
than
> > today's hit list (my kids are hooked on the entire Disney Channel
lineup,
> so
> > perhaps there is decent programming out there beyond the Lizzie McGuire
> > genre that I haven't seen....)
> >
>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/13/2003 12:49:35 PM Central Standard Time,
cjwblw@... writes:
Well this touched a current nerve with me!! We're at the end of Lemony
Snickets first Unfortunate Series book and I was very surprised and
disgusted that any word that's longer than six letters is defined in the
book!!! Hello!!! What ever happened to picking up the meaning from the
text????
~~~~
Oh, just wait. The definitions get funnier and funnier. I suggest you get
the next one tape and get the whole melancholy of it all. What's the guy from
Rocky Horror?? Tim somebody. He reads some of them, and the author does
others. I recommend the guy from Rocky Horror, first.
We've read all but 3 and drooled over book the tenth at Sam's today.
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
cjwblw@... writes:
Well this touched a current nerve with me!! We're at the end of Lemony
Snickets first Unfortunate Series book and I was very surprised and
disgusted that any word that's longer than six letters is defined in the
book!!! Hello!!! What ever happened to picking up the meaning from the
text????
~~~~
Oh, just wait. The definitions get funnier and funnier. I suggest you get
the next one tape and get the whole melancholy of it all. What's the guy from
Rocky Horror?? Tim somebody. He reads some of them, and the author does
others. I recommend the guy from Rocky Horror, first.
We've read all but 3 and drooled over book the tenth at Sam's today.
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/13/2003 12:49:35 PM Central Standard Time,
cjwblw@... writes:
But I tried to go into them with a open mind as
my kids really wanted to listen to them (we're listening in the car) and I
had heard mixed reviews.
~~~
Oh, never mind.
The definitions are part of the schtick, though.
Seems folks either love Lemony Snicket or they hate him. We love him!
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
cjwblw@... writes:
But I tried to go into them with a open mind as
my kids really wanted to listen to them (we're listening in the car) and I
had heard mixed reviews.
~~~
Oh, never mind.
The definitions are part of the schtick, though.
Seems folks either love Lemony Snicket or they hate him. We love him!
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Stepheny Cappel
Oh there I go again. Well it was long and tedious too and I found myself saying Holy Moly this is long! Thanks for the correction. Stepheny I'll shut up now.
on 11/13/03 7:57 AM, Stepheny Cappel at stephc62@... wrote:
taking apart <g> wrote Treasure Island -- and, incidentally, today is his
birthday. Poor sot only lived to 44.
Nancy (and no, I didn't just know that - I googled him)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
on 11/13/03 7:57 AM, Stepheny Cappel at stephc62@... wrote:
> He definitely is wordy to say the least. I did read through aloud I must sayI think that's Stephen Crane. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author Sandra's
> the red badge of courage to my poor poor 18 year old son, and he listened like
> a good boy.
taking apart <g> wrote Treasure Island -- and, incidentally, today is his
birthday. Poor sot only lived to 44.
Nancy (and no, I didn't just know that - I googled him)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 11/13/2003 4:17:46 PM Mountain Standard Time,
tuckervill2@... writes:
Tim somebody
===========
Tim Curry.
I listened a murder mystery set partly in England and partly in New Mexico,
and he pronounced all the Santa Fe place names perfectly well and I enjoyed
listening to his voice.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
tuckervill2@... writes:
Tim somebody
===========
Tim Curry.
I listened a murder mystery set partly in England and partly in New Mexico,
and he pronounced all the Santa Fe place names perfectly well and I enjoyed
listening to his voice.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
joylyn
Lexie has read ALL of them. She loves them, couldn't wait for the 10th
to come out, and she was done within a day or two.
I have kids at school reading them.
I don't mind the vocab stuff, it's just part of the story. After four
or five, though, I did grow tired of them.
Joylyn
tuckervill2@... wrote:
to come out, and she was done within a day or two.
I have kids at school reading them.
I don't mind the vocab stuff, it's just part of the story. After four
or five, though, I did grow tired of them.
Joylyn
tuckervill2@... wrote:
> In a message dated 11/13/2003 12:49:35 PM Central Standard Time,[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> cjwblw@... writes:
> Well this touched a current nerve with me!! We're at the end of Lemony
> Snickets first Unfortunate Series book and I was very surprised and
> disgusted that any word that's longer than six letters is defined in the
> book!!! Hello!!! What ever happened to picking up the meaning from the
> text????
> ~~~~
>
> Oh, just wait. The definitions get funnier and funnier. I suggest
> you get
> the next one tape and get the whole melancholy of it all. What's the
> guy from
> Rocky Horror?? Tim somebody. He reads some of them, and the author does
> others. I recommend the guy from Rocky Horror, first.
>
> We've read all but 3 and drooled over book the tenth at Sam's today.
>
> Tuck
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
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Julie Solich
Oh, just wait. The definitions get funnier and funnier. I suggest you get
the next one tape and get the whole melancholy of it all. What's the guy from
Rocky Horror?? Tim somebody. He reads some of them, and the author does
others. I recommend the guy from Rocky Horror, first.
We've read all but 3 and drooled over book the tenth at Sam's today.
Tuck
He's written the next one?!!!!! We finished the Carnivorous Carnival ages ago and have been not so patiently waiting for the next one. The boys will be excited to hear this. We also love the books read by Tim Curry.
Julie
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
the next one tape and get the whole melancholy of it all. What's the guy from
Rocky Horror?? Tim somebody. He reads some of them, and the author does
others. I recommend the guy from Rocky Horror, first.
We've read all but 3 and drooled over book the tenth at Sam's today.
Tuck
He's written the next one?!!!!! We finished the Carnivorous Carnival ages ago and have been not so patiently waiting for the next one. The boys will be excited to hear this. We also love the books read by Tim Curry.
Julie
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In a message dated 11/13/2003 6:18:40 PM Central Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:
Tim Curry.
~~~
Yeah yeah! His last name just wasn't in my head. I kept wanting to say Tim
Robbins.
He does a really disgusting cough on Lemony Snicket that Will and I still
imitate. lol.
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
SandraDodd@... writes:
Tim Curry.
~~~
Yeah yeah! His last name just wasn't in my head. I kept wanting to say Tim
Robbins.
He does a really disgusting cough on Lemony Snicket that Will and I still
imitate. lol.
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Nanci Kuykendall
>In some respects, it's a moot point, since II had a recent run in with an example of how a large
>have to tone down my own vocabulary 90% of the time
>anyway. I'm not worried about it, since vocabulary
>development is something that continues life-long.
>Karen
vocabulary can have negative social impact.
I was sitting in this week in a job skills training
class at a local college. We were performing a mock
interview for a woman with a lot of experience as a
CNA and other related medical areas. She was asked
what she expected as a salary, and was at a loss as to
a polite way to word a response without aiming too
low, or scaring them away with a highball figure.
We did a round table discussion afterwards, throwing
out suggestions for improving her weaker answers and
pointing out where her answers were strong. When she
asked about how to answer the salary question, I
suggested something along the lines of "I am hoping
for a salary commensurate with with experience, but I
am flexible about my starting wage." The instructor
of this college level course, easily 20 years older
than me and with a masters degree, looked at me
strangely and laughed out loud. She said,
"Commensurate?! That's related to depressive
feelings."
It was my turn to look quizzical. I articulated
carefully "Com-men-su-rate? Are you certain?" She
nodded, so I said "I don't mean commiserate."
She looked at me blankly and said "oh"
The woman who was doing the mock interview didn't know
the word either, and asked me about it. So I got the
dictionary and showed it to her and she experimented
with using it, or similar wording, in different ways
to ask for an appropriate salary.
I don't think I was a very big hit with the
instructor, although I certainly was not trying to
embarrass her in any way.
Nanci K.