From: Dave Frightens Me on
On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 20:53:20 +0100, this_address_is_for_spam(a)yahoo.com
(David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy) wrote:

>Dave Frightens Me <deepfreudmoors(a)eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:12:14 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
>> <evgmsop(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
>[]
>> >Never mind "sub-standard" in second languages - what about
>> >the level of ENGLISH in most American students? I think
>> >they no longer allow college professors to grade for
>> >spelling and grammar when marking students' work, because it
>> >would lower the grade averages considerably.
>>
>> Well, unlike other languages, English is defined by usage. The correct
>> version is what's understandable to all. I sure don't hear the English
>> piping up to say there's a correct version of it.
>
>I think Evelyn's trying to be the best old fogey in the newsgroup. I
>work with kids a lot, and I really don't get all this "standards are
>slipping" nonsense.

Standards are changing, for sure, but I don't think I'd say they are
slipping. Mind you, some of the behaviour from kids I've seen in the
UK would indicate otherwise.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--
From: David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy on
Dave Frightens Me <deepfreudmoors(a)eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote:

> On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 20:53:20 +0100, this_address_is_for_spam(a)yahoo.com
> (David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
> prestwich tesco 24h offy) wrote:
[]
> >I think Evelyn's trying to be the best old fogey in the newsgroup. I
> >work with kids a lot, and I really don't get all this "standards are
> >slipping" nonsense.
>
> Standards are changing, for sure, but I don't think I'd say they are
> slipping. Mind you, some of the behaviour from kids I've seen in the
> UK would indicate otherwise.

Well, you'll get plenty of people agreeing with you about increasingly
bad behaviour. Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. I don't know, but I
find as I get older, bad behaviour irritates me more, so it could all be
about perception. My work often involves trying to get the best out of
kids. When you have a teenagers from the 'inner city' writing you cool
string quartets or flute and cello duets, you tend to take a different
slant on it all.

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org
From: Stanislas de Kertanguy on
Dave Frightens Me <deepfreudmoors(a)eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote:

> and presumably French too.

The word was "hyperinflation", which has a mute initial H in French.
It's actually a common mistake for French native speakers. Is that by
any chance what you call "idiomatic English" ? (it's a genuine
question!)


--
remplacez "lesptt" par "laposte" pour me joindre
substitute "laposte" for "lesptt" to reach me
From: Mxsmanic on
David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy writes:

> No it's not.

Try it and see.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.
From: Mxsmanic on
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:

> Not if you have a healthy immune system!

That's not how the immune system works. Your immune system is
virtually helpless against certain infectious agents that it has never
encountered before, including cold viruses. No matter how strong your
immune system is, it will not resist infection by an unfamiliar cold
virus.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.