I know someone who has it in his head that the bank around the corner is First Nations, not First National, Bank. No amount of correction has been successful in getting him to come up with the right name on his own.
In getting my students ready for their first exam I drive home the point that it's an essay exam, and paragraph ≠ essay. I will bet my last dollar that tomorrow when the exams come in, there will be at least one, and likely more than one, paragraph passing itself off as an essay. I will have them rewrite the exam, and of the rewrites at least one (such is the track record) will still come back as paragraph.
These are somewhat extreme cases, of course, and I'm sure even more extreme cases likely exist. I could go on about "people these days..." or "some folks are so...;" but I won't. What I find myself puzzling about is, well, myself: what am I missing? getting wrong all the time? calling y instead of x?
People don't correct me too often, but maybe they are just being kind – or merely reticent. I've been told I can be intimidating, and enough people have said that in enough different times and places that it must be somewhat true. Maybe I've built up a wall of intimidation that keeps my foibles and stupidities from being addressed.
Help me out, folks, and don't withhold spiritual and material aid. Kick my ass!
In getting my students ready for their first exam I drive home the point that it's an essay exam, and paragraph ≠ essay. I will bet my last dollar that tomorrow when the exams come in, there will be at least one, and likely more than one, paragraph passing itself off as an essay. I will have them rewrite the exam, and of the rewrites at least one (such is the track record) will still come back as paragraph.
These are somewhat extreme cases, of course, and I'm sure even more extreme cases likely exist. I could go on about "people these days..." or "some folks are so...;" but I won't. What I find myself puzzling about is, well, myself: what am I missing? getting wrong all the time? calling y instead of x?
People don't correct me too often, but maybe they are just being kind – or merely reticent. I've been told I can be intimidating, and enough people have said that in enough different times and places that it must be somewhat true. Maybe I've built up a wall of intimidation that keeps my foibles and stupidities from being addressed.
Help me out, folks, and don't withhold spiritual and material aid. Kick my ass!
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