Verbicide

kawaishi · 08-09-2011, 04:42

This is the first reading assignment from my first English class in college. It's a good essay and after recently re-discovering it I thought that others might also enjoy it.

http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/00oct/verbicide.html

1stindoor · 08-09-2011, 07:10

Thanks. That was a good read, it's interesting to me because I've always said there was power in the written word. I also find it amusing that it was added to this site as we as a group are regularly told that grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. is not needed on the internet.

Quote:

My third suggestion is to restore the habit of public reading. One of my very distinctive childhood memories was attending a public reading of Shakespeare by the British actor Charles Laughton. With no prop other than a book, he read with energy and passion for two hours and kept a large audience enthralled, including at least one 8-year-old boy. No movie has ever been as memorable to me. Further, I propose that adults turn off the television, disconnect the cable, undo the computer, and once again read good books aloud to their children. I know of no better or more pleasurable way to stimulate thinking, encourage a love of language, and facilitate the child’s ability to form images.

Although I'm not really a fan of the Harry Potter series, I think J.K. Rowling accomplished an amazing feat in getting a whole generation of kids to turn off the T.V....and read a book.

Badger52 · 08-09-2011, 10:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stindoor

Thanks. That was a good read, it's interesting to me because I've always said there was power in the written word. I also find it amusing that it was added to this site as we as a group are regularly told that grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. is not needed on the internet.

Thanks kawaishi for posting that.
Balanced appreciation for language, whether colloquial, vernacular, or proper construction of declarative sentences that convey meaning and intent is an attractant to this site and remains so for me. One of the things that makes it, well, special and easily discernible from the chaff.

greenberetTFS · 08-09-2011, 11:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stindoor

Thanks. That was a good read, it's interesting to me because I've always said there was power in the written word. I also find it amusing that it was added to this site as we as a group are regularly told that grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. is not needed on the internet.

Although I'm not really a fan of the Harry Potter series, I think J.K. Rowling accomplished an amazing feat in getting a whole generation of kids to turn off the T.V....and read a book.

1stindoor,

Do you really believe it was the books and not the movies?

Lucky for me I didn't have to pass an English 101 test in SFTG because I'm sure at that time in my life at 18 I'd never had gotten any further in the training program, and neither would many others at that time.

Big Teddy

**Pete** · 08-09-2011, 11:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenberetTFS

1stindoor,

Do you really believe it was the books and not the movies?..........

Big Teddy

In my house the only ones who didn't read the books were the adults.

The kids were reading them as fast as they came out.

greenberetTFS · 08-09-2011, 11:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

In my house the only ones who didn't read the books were the adults.

The kids were reading them as fast as they came out.

OK,I stand corrected........

Big Teddy

1stindoor · 08-09-2011, 11:48

I would have to go back deep into the recesses of my memory to figure out which ones he had read at the time...but my oldest (now 18) had read every one of them (out at that time) during his elementary school years. My daughter (now 15) has probably read every single one of them two or three times. My youngest (now 14) has read them all once....but listens to them on CD almost every night before going to bed.

1stindoor · 08-09-2011, 11:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badger52

Thanks kawaishi for posting that.
Balanced appreciation for language, whether colloquial, vernacular, or proper construction of declarative sentences that convey meaning and intent is an attractant to this site and remains so for me. One of the things that makes it, well, special and easily discernible from the chaff.

You talk pretty.

Holyfire23 · 08-09-2011, 12:30

Thank you for posting that. One of my favorite writers is Ravi Zacharias (see my signature

). A quote of his echoes the essay you posted.

"Changes in language often reflect the changing values of a culture."---Ravi Zacharias

I find it funny that they say our generation is the most informed to ever exist because of tools such as the internet and TV. Yet we are also at a point where education is losing its value in the public eye faster than you can say "gigabyte".

1stindoor · 08-09-2011, 13:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holyfire23

I find it funny that they say our generation is the most informed to ever exist because of tools such as the internet and TV...

I disagree. This generation may have the most information at their disposal...but they're far from the most informed. I'm hard on my kids every day because they all want the answers given to them. No research or critical thinking done prior. Ask a question on a website and expect an answer given (worse...expect the "correct" answer to be given). This is part of the reason why the QPs on this site are so hard on those that can't seem to find the "SEARCH" button.

The internet, for all of it's wonder...has produced a generation of lazy students that want instant gratification.

greenberetTFS · 08-09-2011, 13:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holyfire23

Thank you for posting that. One of my favorite writers is Ravi Zacharias (see my signature

). A quote of his echoes the essay you posted.

"Changes in language often reflect the changing values of a culture."---Ravi Zacharias

I find it funny that they say our generation is the most informed to ever exist because of tools such as the internet and TV. Yet we are also at a point where education is losing its value in the public eye faster than you can say "gigabyte".

Ravi is one of my favorites also,"Just Thinking"............

Big Teddy

BOfH · 08-09-2011, 13:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stindoor

The internet, for all of it's wonder...has produced a generation of lazy students that want instant gratification.

That's technology is a nutshell, an aid thats turned into a crutch. EMP anyone?

1stindoor · 08-09-2011, 13:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by BOfH

That's technology is a nutshell, an aid thats turned into a crutch. EMP anyone?

That's why I'm waiting for Snake Pliskin to turn off the world.

Badger52 · 08-09-2011, 14:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stindoor

You talk pretty.

You crack me up sir - my Dylan Thomas-like rebellion against a colleague who was apparently injected with valley-girl toxin at an early age, and finishes every 3 words out of her mouth with a question mark. Being able to post that probably saved her life. I'm not sure there's any mentoring left in me for that one, so I focus on helping things one genius grand-daughter at a time.

Noting the comments about the instant-gratification generation I was astounded by comments on one of the amateur radio fora. It seems that, due to a solar event this past weekend, "the bands" were actually in the tank for a few hours

with apparent emotional meltdown of the SSB ragchewers. Way back, "atmospherics" was a neat reason to go do something else for awhile.*

* Good thing I didn't know about it; went all over the place this weekend on CW and an old Vibroplex.

greenberetTFS · 08-09-2011, 14:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stindoor

I disagree. This generation may have the most information at their disposal...but they're far from the most informed. I'm hard on my kids every day because they all want the answers given to them. No research or critical thinking done prior. Ask a question on a website and expect an answer given (worse...expect the "correct" answer to be given). This is part of the reason why the QPs on this site are so hard on those that can't seem to find the "SEARCH" button.

The internet, for all of it's wonder...has produced a generation of lazy students that want instant gratification.

Having to take extensive math for my Engineering degree,we had to show how we got our answers and then prove why they were correct......

Today my granddaughter's boyfriend,a Mechanical Engineering major informed me that his Prof wasn't really interested in how he comes up with his answers just as long as their correct.........

The times they are a changing!!!!!......

Big Teddy