Here's a Concept..How about journalist learning how to put a sentence together?

More: http://littlecalamity.tripod.com/Text/Newspaper.html



  • 4-H Girls Win Prizes for Fat Calves
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  • Bank Drive-in Window Blocked by Board
  • Big Ugly Woman Wins Beauty Pageant (Newspaper in town of Big Ugly, WV)
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  • Body Search Reveals $4,000 in Crack (from the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Michigan)
  • British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
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  • Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
 

Well, Ya gotta admit that English is a funny language, with it's "oughs" and other words taken from the Romans, Greeks etc.

Even English English is a bit different from American English.

When I taught ESL, I pointed out that we could streamline our language, like using F instead of PH etc.
 
Well, Ya gotta admit that English is a funny language, with it's "oughs" and other words taken from the Romans, Greeks etc.

Even English English is a bit different from American English.

When I taught ESL, I pointed out that we could streamline our language, like using F instead of PH etc.

Great idea Phalcon!! :)
 

This was the best laugh of the day for me. The media is so focused on getting 'their' news out and that's more important than reading headlines. They don't seem to care if they look foolish or not.
 
I plead guilty to being a grammar nazi myself. Stuff like that drives me nuts. It's probably the fault of my tenth grade English teacher who used to practically shriek "MISPLACED MODIFIER!!" when he encountered something like that. "From WHOM, not from WHO" was another thing he shrieked frequently. I'm not sure they even teach this stuff any more in schools -- at least not as you could tell it from some of the written stuff I got from students who would help out part time in my last office.

Don't let me get started on one of my pet peeves -- the near-illiteracy of many of our alleged high school graduates nowdays!
 
I think it has nothing to do with education [or lack of] I think the headline writers do it for their own amusement[especially in small town newspapers.] It does amuse us, so has a place.I also think [as another poster asked earlier in the thread] surely there is a place in literature for the 'less' grammatical, the vernacular?What is more worrying is the armed police killing a man in his own home, and an innocent old man at that!Does having an armed police force [and armed citizens too] not bother anyone much in the US?I am not 'having a go' at the US BTW just genuinely interested in how you all feel about the gun laws there?Now and then [here] an armed response unit shoots the wrong man, or the right man, who turns out not to have been armed in the first place, but generally speaking there are few shootings here, by the police or anyone else.
 
I'm not a grammar Nazi [or any kind of Nazi] so I don't get wound up by misuse of grammar, but it's true there does seem to be rather more of the bad grammar around than of 'days of yore'. It always amused us in primary school when a pupil asked 'Please Miss, can I go to the toilet?' She would say 'Well, I don't know, CAN you?' Followed by ' Yes, Tim, you MAY go to the toilet!'
 
In the early 1980's my husband taught a night class at the local college and brought home papers to correct. We read them and were amazed how little these college students knew about writing reports. Spelling was the worse offender followed by very poor handwriting. I wonder if part of the problem is the lack of following through at home by the parents. It seems many just ask if the homework is does and if the kid says yes, that's the end of it. Very different from the way we were raised.
 
Oakapple, many are very concerned about the gun violence going on. There are too many 'loose cannons' permitted to own guns but I have no idea on how we keep these guns from them. It seems the police in certain states have gone a bit overboard but with so many mentally disturbed people on the streets maybe it's warranted. It's certainly a mess and I wish we had more gun rules like England has.
 
Thank you Gemini D for your thoughts.Gun laws are very strict here, there are not many shooting clubs anyway, but enthusiasts have to leave the gun with the club before they leave the premises.Farmers are allowed a certain type of gun [not handguns.]Nobody else has guns or even knows how to use them. Obviously, villains [as we quaintly call the bad guys] can obtain them but that is not legal! if crimes are committed [and there are guns,] certain police 'armed response teams' are called to the scene.There are guns allowed for hunting with a licence.It's not easy to get one.
 


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