Language & Grammar discussion
Grammar Central
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Euphemisms, Doublespeak, Jargon, Etc.
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Will you also say "In your face!"-- kinda like "Ha, I outdid you!"
My gripe about data driven decisions as far as education is concerned is that all too often the data is insufficient to make a practical decision as to what needs to be done to "fix" the problem. Benchmarks and yearly state mandated tests are merely a snapshot of how the child did that day under those conditions. What if her pet cat was run over the night before? What if his father was picked up and taken to jail the night before? What if she suffers from severe test anxiety? What if, what if, what if . . .
Kids (and people in general) have way too many variables in their lives to be judged by one test given after 140 days of instruction (that year).
Oh my goodness, where did that soapbox come from? NE are you missing one?
*steps down and shuffles off stage right*
My gripe about data driven decisions as far as education is concerned is that all too often the data is insufficient to make a practical decision as to what needs to be done to "fix" the problem. Benchmarks and yearly state mandated tests are merely a snapshot of how the child did that day under those conditions. What if her pet cat was run over the night before? What if his father was picked up and taken to jail the night before? What if she suffers from severe test anxiety? What if, what if, what if . . .
Kids (and people in general) have way too many variables in their lives to be judged by one test given after 140 days of instruction (that year).
Oh my goodness, where did that soapbox come from? NE are you missing one?
*steps down and shuffles off stage right*
Oh, oh, ohhhh .... how about higher level thinking?
Mod
as in these functions are part of higher order thinking
One word grating at me is "folks." How did people suddenly become just folks, even in national editorials? It sounds as if the speaker or author is trying to make you more comfortable, to let you know that he's one of you -- that he won't talk over your head. The usage ends up cloying and patronizing. In what evil staff meeting somewhere was the original order given to disseminate this cliché to the four winds?
Listen for the number of times you hear "folks" in everyday discourse. It'll drive you nuts, folks.
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R
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Yes, it's intended to be friendly, but where I come from, we don't "do" friendly -- it has to be earned (oh, usually in around 7.5 years).
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I would have rather heard "folks" from my former principal than the "People! . . ." we came to loathe.
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I can see the point of "folks" in selling used cars. But now it has gotten out of control:"Folks with incomes exceeding $150,000 ... "
"The folks at the State Department ... "
At a certain point, you have to wonder what's wrong with "people." Of course, "Okay, people!" sounds almost as bad. Perhaps, "Okay, everybody ..."?
Nevertheless, the day I hear an announcer talking about the folks on the International Space Station, someone is going to have to help me to a chair!
And it can be any chair of your choosing ... we have many styles here-- baroque (but we won't fix it), rococo, victorian, shaker ... or perhaps a chaise lounge? We used to have an Otto Man, but ... well it's a long story. Let's just say there was a pond or a lake involved.
ha i'll always have a fond memory of black russians in the dumpster
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Well, that puts us at 189 members. Shall we save the door prize for when we hit 150, then? A reverse door prize (swinging door hits-you-in-the-ass prize)?
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I hope she can come back soon. I enjoyed her posts.
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Here's a recent euphemism, I think: It's "home".Whenever you look in the papers, you no longer find houses for sale. Only homes. Newscasters constantly refer to the current value of the "homes" in neighborhood, not the "houses." With the recent tornados in the American South, no houses were destroyed: only homes.
Is this right? Or am I too pedantic? I always made a distinction between the two, but maybe "house" is becoming archaic.
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(And isn't there a medical show out called Home?) [tongue in home]
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I always learned that the difference between a house and home is that there is love in a home. How that figures into selling empty houses I don't know but I will always think of love as the difference.
One expression that drives me crazy is "we're on the same page." What the heck does it mean? Where does it come from? I naively thought the expression referred to a web page since it's only been a few years that it's on everyone's lips, but apparently not.
Regardless, it's an expression completely empty of meaning. What, we're on the same page, but it's blank?
What does it mean? Well, of course it means we're on the same wavelength, we see eye to eye, and we've had a meeting of the minds. So wavelengths, eyes, minds and pages are somehow metaphorically synonymous.I think it started in school, where the teacher wanted to make sure all us students were following along. We had to be on the same page as the teacher, literally. Then it became a metaphor. Maybe that origin give it its annoying tinge.
Yeah, whenever I hear the phrase I think of two people, heads together, reading from a single book, seeing (and hopefully understanding) the same thing at the same time.
just tell them "yes, we're both on page 276, but in entirely different books!"
Good one Jessica! Now if I can just remember it when I need it . . .
I use this expression quite a bit. It is one of those phrases that just sort of pop out of your mouth. I mean that there is a melding of the minds when I say it. I like your comment, Jessica.
As I was pouring the milk in my coffee this morning, I heard it again: impactedImpacted. I stopped and thought. Won't people ever get tired of that word? How did it get to the point that we hear it in every fourth or fifth sentence? Why can't people just say "affected?"
The earthquake doesn't "impact" the people of Sichuan, it "affects" them -- at least after the initial jolt.
So I was wondering, do other people agree that "affected" should resume its normal place in everyday speech?
Then I noticed the milk was running over ...
Here's a towel for the milk Relyt.
I agree with your idea of returning to using affected instead of impacted. Impacted makes me think of wisdom teeth and the pain associated with having them removed (possible dry socket ... UG!)
:)
I agree with your idea of returning to using affected instead of impacted. Impacted makes me think of wisdom teeth and the pain associated with having them removed (possible dry socket ... UG!)
:)
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It's the dateline's fault!!!!!
Besides, you know what they say about great minds think alike :)
Besides, you know what they say about great minds think alike :)
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To quote you "teehee!" And oh, I'll have to use the "fools never differ"-- I haven't heard that before! But wait ... what are you trying to say about me? Just kidding, Debs :) So close to summer break makes me a bit giddy!
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As in "How can teachers effect change when oour hand are tied behind our backs?"?
I have a wonderful military euphemism. It's "voluntold", as in "you were absent last meeting, so now you are the volunteer 'fun run' representative for the commander". I could also include 'fun run' for obvious reasons and that good old standby oxymoron of "military intelligence".I just read a book where the author used the term "skin sandwich". I shudder.
J
I heard this again today: SkyrocketCan we all agree to declare war on this tired, worn out expression, wherever we hear it?
The idiots on television and in print think everything is more exciting if it skyrockets. Prices skyrocket, fire danger skyrockets, political rhetoric skyrockets.
The writers may think they've really said something exciting by using this word. But by now it's almost an insult to hear it. It's as if the listener isn't worth any more original consideration on the speaker's part.
I further submit that the use of this tedious, worn-out cliché should constitute prima facie evidence of the guttering poverty of the user's vocabulary.
Let's kill this word and bury it someplace cold.
Mod
This really isn't jargon, but it bugs the crap out of me anyways. Talking about news reports reminded me. You know when you hear about someone being murdered (happens all too frequently here in the states), the newscaster will say something stupid like, "and John Doe was killed for only $20 in the cash register". So what, would it be more acceptable if "John Doe" was killed for a million??? oh, don't get me started on stupid news reports. I can feel my blood pressure rising as I type this...grrrrr.....
What about a robbery "gone bad." Is there really such a thing as a good one?And no, don't remind me of that song, please!
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Bluedaizy, worse than the newscasters are the weather folks. Especially on the Weather Channel. Talk about cliches! Talk about inanities! Talk about hyperbole!
But yes, the newscasters write as if we're drooling fools (or maybe as if they themselves are). Sportscasters are notorious, too.
The worst is when they jab a mike into the face of some sad sack who just recently survived a (fill in the blank: mugging, housefire, flood, explosion, etc.) and ask, "How do you feel right now...?"
I'm waiting for someone to scream, "Wonderful!" and then break out into "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Bunny Watson, please tell me that "Afternoon Delight" makes you laugh because of Arrested Development. That's the main reason it makes me laugh, and although I know this is Goodreads, I can't be the only couch potato here thinking of Tobias telling the Bluth employees that was his wife and nephew up there singing Afternoon Delight! I'm sorry, I don't know how to make italics on this thing....
sight words
open classroom
learning stations
goal based learning
gag gag gag