State of the Language

September 20, 2010, 06:17

<Proofreader>

Here's the title taken directly from an abstract recently published by a law professor.

One Bridge Too Far: Why the Employee Free Choice Act Has, and Should, Fail

Richard A. Epstein
University of Chicago - Law School; Stanford University - Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace

Shouldn't it be ....has failed and should fail?

September 20, 2010, 08:14

zmježd

The author could've written: "has and should have failed".

September 20, 2010, 11:32

<Proofreader>

That, too.

September 20, 2010, 17:33

Geoff

I wonder who changes the dirtbags at the Hoover Institution?

September 20, 2010, 17:59

<Proofreader>

They exist in a vaccuum.

September 20, 2010, 20:59

Kalleh

Clearly the instructor of my grammar class wouldn't have agreed with the sentence.

September 21, 2010, 20:20

Kalleh

This class almost is pushing me to use irregardless. If you recall, this word is in the OED, our gold standard for words. Heck, my favorite word isn't even there! Yet, my trusty "workbook" when talking about words says irregardless is "not a word!"

Embarrassingly, here are a couple of exercises from the book:

Identify the subject in each of the following phrases:

1. The driver sped down the street.
2. The new director called the meeting.

I'd consider this 4th grade work.

Here is one of their tips:

"If you find, when you look it up, that you spelled it incorrectly, sound out every letter in the correct spelling. Do this several times to fix it in your memory."

Instead, you could always:

Use spellcheck!

This course was an excellent example in the importance of knowing your audience before you present to them.

September 22, 2010, 18:11

shufitz

quote:
Richard A. Epstein
University of Chicago - Law School

I had him as a professor in first-year law school, when he was a freshly-graduated scholar.

The man is a manic genius.

September 22, 2010, 20:23

Kalleh

And your daughter had another well-known scholar as her professor when she was at the U. of Chicago...Professor Barack Obama.

Not a bad school, that U of Chicago.

September 23, 2010, 00:47

arnie

quote:
Professor Barack Obama

Was he a well-known scholar? He's a fairly well-known politician, but I've never heard about his scholastic career.

September 23, 2010, 20:08

Kalleh

Well, it isn't easy getting a professorship at the University of Chicago Law School. I'd call him a scholar in constitutional law.

September 23, 2010, 22:25

tinman

Statement from the University of Chicago Law School

quote:
Statement Regarding Barack Obama

The Law School has received many media requests about Barack Obama, especially about his status as "Senior Lecturer."

From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School's Senior Lecturers has high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.

The University of Chicago Law School

September 24, 2010, 21:09

Kalleh

When my daughter was applying for jobs after graduation, she had her files faxed to my office and then I had to forward them to someplace for her. I remember how struck I was in seeing her constitutional course...with Professor Barack Obama's name next to it...and a very good grade.