{"id":2924,"date":"2002-09-03T14:03:41","date_gmt":"2002-09-03T19:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=2924"},"modified":"2011-12-02T16:05:18","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T23:05:18","slug":"what_is_the_sou-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/09\/03\/what_is_the_sou-2.html","title":{"rendered":"What is the sound of one brain sizzling?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, if you put your ear up to the monitor, you’ll know.<\/p>\n

A teacher wanted to increase her students’ vocabulary. Bully for her. Our vocabulary binds our ability to express thought, and in many ways binds our thought itself. The more words you know and can use, the more nuances of language you can control, the better you can think and the better you can pass that thought on to others.<\/p>\n

The teacher, unfortunately made a grave error. She forgot that there are stupid people out there<\/em>.<\/p>\n

People who can’t use a dictionary.<\/p>\n

People who think that because a word sounds vaguely like another word, they must mean the same thing, or at least should be treated that way.<\/p>\n

People who could use a frickin’ vocabulary lesson themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n

The word? “Niggardly.” It means stingy, ungenerous, scanty.<\/p>\n

That you’ve already figured out where this is going is probably a bad sign. one parent of one of the fourth-graders had a conniption<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the word means stingy, Akwana Walker said it was inappropriate to use it because it sounds similar to a racial slur. She said she doesn’t think fourth-graders can distinguish between the two words.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“My daughter told me what that word was, and I told her not to complete that part of her homework,” said Ms. Walker, who is black.<\/p>\n

The teacher, under direction from her principal, has apologized. The kids have learned that it’s not enough not to use bad words, but you shouldn’t use words that sound like bad words (like “buck” or “sit” or “punt”). And, of course, they’ve learned that you can claim to be offended and get everyone in the world to fall all over themselves apologizing and taking corrective action.<\/p>\n

The student has been moved to another class. The teacher has issued a public apology, and has promised never to use the word again in class. A counsellor will speak with the students.<\/p>\n

Ms. Walker wants the teacher fired. Ridiculous? Not given how the district has already caved on the matter.<\/p>\n

Norm Shearin, deputy superintendent for the New Hanover County Schools, said Friday the principal is dealing with the situation.<\/p>\n

“Our position is that it was an inappropriate action in terms of using that word at that grade level, in that context,” he said. “… It was a bad choice.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(via VotC<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, if you put your ear up to the monitor, you’ll know. A teacher wanted to increase her students’ vocabulary. Bully for her. 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Growing up, that was the nuclear option of vocabulary, the worst possible word one could use. The \"F\" word trumped even the \"S\" word, being not only an obscenity but related\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/0671dfcb75f05e1fcbbb9a14543592bc5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39194,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/13\/english-misuse-pet-peeves-faze.html","url_meta":{"origin":2924,"position":1},"title":"English Misuse Pet Peeves: "faze"","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 13-Oct-13 5:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Dear English Speakers: \u00a0If you want to talk about a person being disconcerted, daunted, disturbed by something, the word you are looking for is faze, not phase.Not even a series of losses at the at the casino could faze Ambassador Mollari, as long as there was someone around who would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9575,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/06\/02\/expletives_pred.html","url_meta":{"origin":2924,"position":2},"title":"Expletives Predicted","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 2-Jun-06 6:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"A very nice list of fictional expletives from science fiction and fantasy (mostly). Includes the perennial favorites frak, shazbot, grife, felgercarb, and (cross-linked to a Farscape vocabulary) frell. Posted by...","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":230,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/05\/22\/but_i_thought_o.html","url_meta":{"origin":2924,"position":3},"title":"But I thought obesity was a bad word","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 22-May-03 8:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"Even as school textbooks are banning the word \"obese\" from their vocabulary, some lawmakers want to put it back -- A La Mode!\" href=\"http:\/\/www.techcentralstation.com\/1051\/techwrapper.jsp?PID=1051-250&CID=1051-052203B\">in restaurant menus. The state of Maine...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41826,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/27\/avengerous-vocabulary.html","url_meta":{"origin":2924,"position":4},"title":"Avengerous Vocabulary","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 27-Apr-14 8:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"HULK: Break. Crush. Sweet. KITTY!CAP: \u00a0Joe. If needed. About 30 seconds of exercise. Probably belongs to some little kid and so needs rescuing from tree.THOR: Micro-Tankard. Annoyance. Oddly delicious confection. Possible Ally of Loki.HAWKEYE: Through the handle. Down the barrel. Through the hole. Not a dog.BLACK WIDOW: See \"Coulson\"(h\/t +Doyce\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/e15.jpg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8769,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/04\/18\/potpourri_for_g.html","url_meta":{"origin":2924,"position":5},"title":"Potpourri for GBP 250, Alex!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 18-Apr-06 5:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Bits and pieces from the trip: Had the 2-seat side of my little puddle-jumper, Manchester to Glasgow, to myself. Which was nice. Remarkably enough, did not have to remove my...","rel":"","context":"In "Food & Drink"","block_context":{"text":"Food & Drink","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}