Just to show that even those supposedly knowledgable can become confused by English, Steve Schmidt, who ran John McCain's campaign, said during an interview that Sarah Palin, upon being offered the VP slot, was "calm and nonplussed." He meant that she was not at all excited by the offer but accepted it as "part of God's plan."
However, "nonplussed" doesn't mean that. It means confused, among other things. So the two terms are contradictory.
Regarding the saw-mill story, I found this part hilarious: "Here is a picture of a nice fluffy rabbit to take your mind off this story." I think we should do that in many U.S. newspaper articles.
That's why seven of Kahn's former students (along with two current ones) gathered recently in one of the high school's auditoriums for his second annual Motivational Mentorship panel. The graduates came from around the area and the country to spend the day performing spoken word poetry and trying to inspire audiences of freshmen and sophomores whose first semester grades were lackluster.
There are two interesting stories involving the definition of "possession" in the news.
The most recent is this one. A seventh grader was accused of drug possession merely because another student handed her a pill, which she immediately returned without using it.
The second is a slightly older story about a man who found a shotgun and turned it over to police but was accused of "possession", which carried a lengthy required prison sentence, for which {b]there was no defense[/b](according to the prosecution and the judge. [URL=http://www.thisissurreytoday.c...-detail/article.html](link)[/URL]
It is incredible to me that anyone of intelligence could possibly interpret that word in such a draconian way. As the mother of the youngster said, Children are taught to say no to drugs but thanks to this interpretation they may as well take the drugs since they'll be punished whatever they do.
If you click on the link at the top of the article entitled "GUN FIND SOLDIER WALKS FREE FROM COURT" you will see that the judge had a lot more common sense than some and, although unlawful possession of a firearm in England does carry a mandatory prison sentence, the offender did not go to prison. He was given a one-year suspended sentence, which means that, providing he stays out of trouble until the end of the suspension period, he need serve no prison term.
Of course, he will have a criminal record - but if you look further into the matter you will see that his past is not without blemish in any case.
This case, along with many other "zero-tolerance" cases, are discussed in detail in Randy Cassingham's "This is True" feature - http://www.thisistrue.com/
So far as the other story is concerned, words almost fail me - as they do when trying to read some of the reply postings
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
Tinman, thanks so much for that article on statistical significances. I have copied it and am sending it to our researchers in my organization.
The article is very true, and it is one of the reasons we've begun to go toward evidence-based practice, focusing on more meta-analyses (though the article pointed out those problems), replication of studies, systematic and integrative reviews. I have seen situations, for example, when researchers have used the Student's t statistic for a number of variables, finding (and reporting) multiple significances...when that particular statistic can't be used across multiple variables like that. The peer reviewers of those reports should catch that, but if they don't, many readers often don't have the scientific background to be able understand the misuse of the statistic. They then read the results as significant and write about that. Soon it is a "scientific fact" shown by those erroneous results.
And, I have an article I though you linguaphiles would enjoy, particularly those of you who know a little about French. It's about the fact that American foods just don't translate in France. I found this comment particularly funny.
quote:
I headed quickly back toward the line, with my friends trotting cheerfully behind. On the way, I reconsidered buying a bag of favorite crackers I had taken from a shelf. Why? they asked. "I don't need the calories or the preservatives," I said.
My astonished neighbors asked: "Americans sell crackers with preservatives?"
"Preservatives are probably included in every box here," I said. "The crackers, the cookies — " I hesitated. I didn't want to explain Jell-O. Or dried onion soup in cream that has been soured. Or, for that matter, "dip."
"You have the same thing!" I protested. "Rows of supermarket cookies and cereals with preservatives!"
The older woman replied loftily: "I assure you no French woman ever awakened, said ‘Bonjour,' and reached for a cereal box with preservatives!"
Instantly I realized my mistake. The French word for additives is conservateurs. "Preservatifs" refers to, well, synthetic items that men use for contraception and protection.
Oh, thank you, CW. That was great. I particularly liked this:
quote:
One scribe, tortured by the difficult Greek he was copying, wrote: “There’s an end to that — and seven curses with it!” Another complained of a previous scribe’s sloppiness: “It is easy to spot Gabrial’s work here.” A third, at the bottom of a tear-stained page, tells us how upset he was by the death of Hector on the Plain of Troy. In these comments, sharp and sweet by turns, we come in contact with the sources of Irish literary humor and hear uncanny echoes of Swift, Wilde, Shaw, Joyce, Beckett.
Amazon.com has 279 customer reviews of How the Irish Saved Civilization. Some readers thought it was a great book. Others thought it was tripe.
One review says, "This isn't history, it's PROPAGANDA." Another begins "To all who have read this malarkey, and for those who intend to, I have a suggestion. First, read all the articles by Tim Callahan of Skeptic magazine."
I looked up Tim Callahan since the second critic recommended him. Here is part of what Callahan has to say. Unfortunately, you have to pay to read the rest, something I'm not willing to do.
Water, water everywhere Sid Perkins uncovers the amazing amount of “hidden water” in many consumer products By Sid Perkins Web edition : Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
He talks about “virtual water,” the water that's needed to produce a product. For example, it takes more than 88 gallons of water to produce a 5-lb. bag of sugar, and 1,400 gallons to produce $1 worth of grain.
What would we do without email? It seems some companies are banning emails: Link
quote:
Mr. Dalgaard objects to email partly because people use it to avoid talking with others, or to hide negative or critical messages or information from coworkers, sometimes by hitting the “bcc” button. His goal in setting the ban is to get employees “authentically addressing issues amongst each other,” he told employees. “Confront issues head-on, don’t hide behind emails.” So far, the edict is working; people are grabbing their phones or walking to each other’s desks to talk, Mr. Dalgaard says. Employees can still contact each other online through in-house social networks, where groups post short messages that can immediately be seen by everyone.
Fascinating article Geoff. I hadn't realised that Canada was quite that restrictive about its bilingualism. Of course it's a blog entry and the writer seems to have an axe to grind but it was fascinating nonetheless.
Do we have any Canadian members at the moment who could read it and comment?
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
Originally posted by arnie: Language Log has posted about the new bilingualism requirement for justices of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Poser makes some good points, but some good counterpoints are made in the comments, and in this letter.This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,
Very interesting discussion. I have read all the links and haven't made up my mind how I feel about it. I can see both sides of the argument. In medicine I know that a superficial knowledge of a patient's language can be very, very dangerous, and that's why interpreters are required by law. It is heard, I think, to measure "fluency."
It almost seems to me that they should have 2 separate courts so that the most talented in each language could be chosen. I would be afraid that the mediocre legal brains, who happen to be bilingual, would be only choices.
I couldn't decide at first, but now I feel on balance that I'm in favour of bilingual judges, although I think that the requirement that they should be equally highly competent in English and French is a little unrealistic. I was swayed by Neal Goldfarb's comment that the case of the $2 million comma where a decision based on the placement of a comma in the English version of an agreement was reversed on consideration of the French version, where it was unambiguous.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I couldn't decide at first, but now I feel on balance that I'm in favour of bilingual judges, although I think that the requirement that they should be equally highly competent in English and French is a little unrealistic.
And, arnie, I am taking the other side. This is what swayed me (assuming it's true):
quote:
As the Ottawa Citizen’s Dan Gardner recently pointed out (full disclosure: he thinks I’m an alarmist buffoon, so he’s obviously a reliable source), a rip-roaring total of 9.4 per cent of Canadian anglophones are bilingual.
That statistic significantly lowers the chances of appointing the best legal brains.
This article about translated prescriptions being wrong 50% of the time is on topic. It is hard, even for those who consider themselves fluent in another language, to translate really technical writing. I imagine it's the same in law.
This is a wonderful article about the Chicago Tribune's role in nominating Abraham Lincoln for president. You will also begin to see how Illinois became a bit politically shady.
We hope our British friends aren't mad at us about the whole BP fiasco. I found this editorial in the Tribune interesting.
quote:
A member of the House of Lords denounced this "crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan, political presidential petulance." The mayor of London objected to the "anti-British rhetoric." Prime Minister David Cameron has come under attack for not hitting back at the president.
Oh, please. Obama words weren't genteel, but they also weren't anti-British. It's not as if he vilified Tony Hayward as "a tea-swilling, monarch-worshipping soccer hooligan spawned by a defunct empire whose highest contribution to cuisine is something called "toad in the hole."
They were referring to Obama's remark: "so I know whose ass to kick." There actually was a voice of the people on the Tribune that said he should have used the word "derriere."
It's interesting, but that English accent (that we usually love here in the U.S.) seems to be irritating people when they interview BP about the oil spill.
