air conditioning may be making us fat
in [Europe]
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From: Dave Frightens Me on 14 Jul 2006 04:55 On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:21:25 +0200, Mxsmanic <mxsmanic(a)gmail.com> wrote: >The Reid writes: > >> my point is that 50% of people who get a life threatening cancer >> will not be saved by being rich, they will not be saved by >> medicine. > >Except that this is completely untrue. But not demonstrably so. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- --
From: Dave Frightens Me on 14 Jul 2006 06:13 On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:49:27 +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: > >[] >> He said something like "an hotel" a few days back. No mother tonuge >> speaker would make that mistake! > >Are you being ironic? Plenty English speakers say that. Rare in the UK >mind you. Actually he wrote it. It's a common mistake that happens to speakers of Italian, and presumably French too. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- --
From: EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) on 14 Jul 2006 12:12 Carole Allen wrote: >>Padraig Breathnach writes: >> >> >>>Your students are hardly a representative sample, as they failed to >>>achieve a satisfactory standard in English in school. >> > On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 18:28:09 +0200, Mxsmanic <mxsmanic(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >>They are not my only sample. The substandard level of English is >>almost universal in France. >> >>-- > > As opposed to perhaps the standard level of French (or any other > second language) in most American students? 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.
From: EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) on 14 Jul 2006 12:17 Mxsmanic wrote: > Carole Allen writes: > > >>What a load of c... p. When you aren't at McD's, or walking in Paris >>(which of course you don't do on the "hot" days), or teaching English >>to a group of students (adults, not children? - the same students, >>they don't take just one lesson from you?), you are sitting in your >>AC'd little apt, flying flight simulator, or checking your watch to >>the nanosecond, or messing with your computers. You don't go to >>libraries, or to the theater, or to sporting events, or to bars, etc., >>etc., or any other sort of place where large crowds gather (except >>perhaps the subway). You probably live a more isolated life than >>99.9% of rte's posters. > > > Not from the standpoint of disease exposure. Ninety minutes in a > small room with someone who sneezes continually is a virtual guarantee > of infection. Not if you have a healthy immune system! (Which involves proper diet.)
From: EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) on 14 Jul 2006 12:28
Dave Frightens Me wrote: > On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 05:18:58 GMT, carolea7(a)comcast.net (Carole Allen) > wrote: > > >>On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:19:20 +0200, Mxsmanic <mxsmanic(a)gmail.com> >>wrote: >> >>>If one cannot discern that he is a non-native speaker or writer of >>>English, then that is perfection in practical terms. >>> >> >>How can you determine from what someone has written if that person >>(someone otherwise unknown to you) is a non-native speaker or writer >>of English? Stanislas' written English is of better quality than >>some of the stuff I receive from highly educated Americans born and >>bred in the States. > > > He said something like "an hotel" a few days back. No mother tonuge > speaker would make that mistake! Really? I've encountered quite a few Brits who do! (And not all from classes who drop the "h" in speaking.) Besides, The indefinite article for nouns beginning in "h" is tricky, because it depends upon whether the "h" is pronounced in speech or not - it's "a hotel", but "an herbal remedy". |