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For the Grammarians...


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I used to work at a polling place which was actually a political propaganda place (you said you were polling, and you read the canned questions and turned in the sheets, which they did NOTHING with, but the questions were designed to sway a voter). It was all women, most of whom had already worked a full day and were putting in 4 hours on the phone before hauling themselves out to the bowels of Queens on an evening train.

 

The questions were poorly written, and I used to just make various marks on them while I chatted with lonely old widowers in West Virginia, etc.

 

Anyway, one woman, during a quick lull, noted that she couldn't "read it if it wasn't grammar". Just the other day we had a test we had to take at work and I read through the material we would be tested on ("How to Detect Spam"). One of the bullet points was "Is there a grammar error" followed by "If you get something suspicious, have the IT department warned you such email was coming?" I emailed them, maintaining it would be past tense, but I have not heard a reply.

 

The other day the CEO, a rather big cheese with 1000s under him, thanked us for "being part of the budget problem". He meant being part of the solution to the budget problem, and I emailed back asking why I was being thanked for helping the state be 2B in the hole. No reply, and am not I glad I have no desire for a management position. :D

 

One secretary at work has taken to sending me the group emails first because she knows I will actually read it and correct it for her. I am reminded of Salinger's For Esme with Love and Squalor, about the soldier who tells the narrator his girlfriend thinks his letters home have improved since he and narrator became bunkmates.

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Thank you for the belly laugh.

 

I feel so lonely sometimes. My last attempt at explaining to RL friends why I bother to teach my 6th grader grammar was immediately followed by a chorus of how no one needs it anymore, and they learned everything they needed to know by osmosis. :confused:

 

I've been away too long, WTM board, too long! I promise I won't leave you again. I know I was wrong, and I promise to be faithful.

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Thank you for the belly laugh.

 

I feel so lonely sometimes. My last attempt at explaining to RL friends why I bother to teach my 6th grader grammar was immediately followed by a chorus of how no one needs it anymore, and they learned everything they needed to know by osmosis. :confused:

 

I've been away too long, WTM board, too long! I promise I won't leave you again. I know I was wrong, and I promise to be faithful.

 

Glad you saw the light!:001_smile:

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