Talk Like A Pirate Day
Don’t most classy movie pirates talk like educated English gentlemen? With maybe an occasional ‘Avast’ or ‘Arrrgh?’
Even Captain Hook used good grammar. He could even sing.
In the movies, the cool pirates were eloquent and sensitive. The better-spoken a pirate was, the more likely it was that he would end up in command. The scrufty slangy uneducated pirates seemed to end up swabbing the deck or falling off the mast to be eaten by sharks, or taking a cannonball in the stomach, or starting chains of fast-food restaurants featuring a lot of lard and breading.
Not that there’s any shame in any of those positions.
But give me Johnny Depp with his sweet sassy scheiss-filled smile, his maestro-like gestures, his flamboyant movements, and his Max Factored eyes any time.
He could even be naked. I’m not at all picky about his clothing. Really, tell him not to go to any trouble for me.
I feel a little faint. Is it hot in here or am I just getting old?
(Repost from 2005. I’m really tired. Many apologies.)
Trojans and Cherry Cokes
A student in my first class today knew the story of the Achilles heel. This made me so happy that I bought him a Cherry Coke when we went on break.
It’s the first time in four years that a student knew about it.
Also, nobody giggled when he said “Trojan.”
College is different than middle school in most ways. In other ways, it’s kind of the same.
This same student also understood what “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” meant. It was lovely to watch him explain it to the boys behind him, none of whom was certain of the meaning, but all of whom thought it probably had something to do with fraternities.
Spelling Counts
Seeing as how “home-made” is defined as something that was made in someone’s home, and seeing as how many people enter WalMart and never seem to leave, I think I can safely say that the fried chicken we had for dinner today was home-made.
For a wonder, I did not see any of my current students in the store tonight. I will assume that means they were all at home doing their homework.
When I call for their work in the morning, I’ll expect to see something from everyone.
That means I’d better get busy with last week’s homework. I can’t expect my students to turn things in on time if I don’t REturn things back to them in a timely manner.
Occasionally, I had a teacher who demanded that we turn things in on time, but took her own sweet time about grading and returning them back to us. I considered this grossly unfair, and still do.
So, tomorrow morning, my students and I will trade papers. They’ll give me their new, unmarked papers, and I’ll give them last week’s graded papers. Then we’ll have our new lesson, and it will all begin again.
My one student who still hasn’t emailed me with the answers to the internet quiz: Please get that to me before class starts at 9:00 tomorrow morning!!! You’ve had a full week and I don’t want to mark you down for not doing it. Everybody else in the class has done it. You can do it, too. I’m counting on you to not let me, or yourself, down. I’ll be checking my email until midnight or after. Please get it to me? The nature of the assignment will not permit you to hand-carry a paper copy to me tomorrow, and I have a sinking feeling that is what you are going to try to do.
Let’s all cross our fingers that she’ll come through. I know she has a computer, and I know she knows how, for we went over it at least a dozen times in class last week, and did several samples. They’ve all got my college email address; those who have explored Blackboard can even contact me from there.
With email addresses, spelling counts. She learned that last week and I don’t want her to learn it again tomorrow.
I know she won’t have anything, but I never stop hoping.
Update: I love it sometimes when I’m wrong. Just re-checked my college email, and she did it!
