Philosophy
An old classic -- A town had undergone a bitter fight over sex-ed in the schools when a woman's daughter comes home from first grade and announces proudly, "In school today, we learned how to make babies." The woman had been in favor of teaching reproduction, but to first graders? This seemed absurd. Trying to keep her cool, she wanted to know exactly what her daughter had been taught, so she asks, "How do you make babies, sweetie?" Smiling, the daughter replies, "Easy, Mommy, drop the 'y' and add 'ies'."
But do you always? We happen to have two people named Gary in the department this year (mind if we just call you Bruce?) and I've had cause to refer to them both both in writing an e-mail prompting the question, What is the plural of "Gary"? Is it "Garys" or "Garies"? If it is the latter, why do we treat the linguistic symbols for names differently than other words?
- Who Owns The Pronunciation Of Names?
The shorter of the short people had a field trip the other day to the Utz potato chip factory (for those not on the east coast of the US, Utz makes the best potato chips in the world). It turns out that the granddaughter of the owner is one of his classmates...
- Julia Sweeney Has "the Talk"
When people decide that they want to have a baby, I like to imagine that the thing they look forward to the most is that pesky question they'll hear in a few years: "mommy/daddy, where do babies come from?" Then I imagine heart palpitations, profuse...
- The Human Body - First Steps
Continuing with his investigation of The Human Body, Lord Robert Winston explores today the process of birth and the first few years of a baby's life and its development. You probably think babies are cute and adorable, of course, and, as you'll...
- What An Absurd Debate...elimination Of Cursive Writing
"State Board of Education will debate role of cursive handwriting on curriculums" by Suzanne Perez Tobias November 11th, 2012 The Wichita Eagle Should children born into a world of computers, iPads, smartphones and e-cards have to...
- The "bizarre"--gary Larson
Gary Larson Gahan Wilson I am a day late but Gary Larson celebrates number 60. A cartoonist of the bizarre much like Gahan Wilson [ who drew cartoons for Playboy] but not as grotesque. "Happy 60th Birthday, Gary Larson!" by Matt Blum August 14th, 2010...
Philosophy
Plurals
An old classic -- A town had undergone a bitter fight over sex-ed in the schools when a woman's daughter comes home from first grade and announces proudly, "In school today, we learned how to make babies." The woman had been in favor of teaching reproduction, but to first graders? This seemed absurd. Trying to keep her cool, she wanted to know exactly what her daughter had been taught, so she asks, "How do you make babies, sweetie?" Smiling, the daughter replies, "Easy, Mommy, drop the 'y' and add 'ies'."
But do you always? We happen to have two people named Gary in the department this year (mind if we just call you Bruce?) and I've had cause to refer to them both both in writing an e-mail prompting the question, What is the plural of "Gary"? Is it "Garys" or "Garies"? If it is the latter, why do we treat the linguistic symbols for names differently than other words?
- Who Owns The Pronunciation Of Names?
The shorter of the short people had a field trip the other day to the Utz potato chip factory (for those not on the east coast of the US, Utz makes the best potato chips in the world). It turns out that the granddaughter of the owner is one of his classmates...
- Julia Sweeney Has "the Talk"
When people decide that they want to have a baby, I like to imagine that the thing they look forward to the most is that pesky question they'll hear in a few years: "mommy/daddy, where do babies come from?" Then I imagine heart palpitations, profuse...
- The Human Body - First Steps
Continuing with his investigation of The Human Body, Lord Robert Winston explores today the process of birth and the first few years of a baby's life and its development. You probably think babies are cute and adorable, of course, and, as you'll...
- What An Absurd Debate...elimination Of Cursive Writing
"State Board of Education will debate role of cursive handwriting on curriculums" by Suzanne Perez Tobias November 11th, 2012 The Wichita Eagle Should children born into a world of computers, iPads, smartphones and e-cards have to...
- The "bizarre"--gary Larson
Gary Larson Gahan Wilson I am a day late but Gary Larson celebrates number 60. A cartoonist of the bizarre much like Gahan Wilson [ who drew cartoons for Playboy] but not as grotesque. "Happy 60th Birthday, Gary Larson!" by Matt Blum August 14th, 2010...