Isolated Blurts - The HT Cafe Way

the inability to speak is also becoming a lost art, i fear.

ed

silverwhisper said:

the inability to speak is also becoming a lost art, i fear.

ed

Click to expand...

Hunh?

[NY pizza-smacks yank]

:>

ed

silverwhisper said:

the inability to speak is also becoming a lost art, i fear.

ed

Click to expand...

as is the ability to think.

my god, i think there may be some connection there!!!!

it's the inverse of the HTC mantra! "obfuscate, obfuscate, obfuscate!"

gah!

[flees]

ed

damnit, silver...you cannot flee. i need a filet of trout for dinner!

that's odd, i coulda sworn you were having bratwursts.

ed

i changed my mind; i have the urge to filet a trout or a whole school of them.

[sharpens a boning knife with a gleem in her eye]

god but i'm such an asshole.

I feel awful.

There is no end; there is no beginning; there just is.

midwestyankee said:

I've become slightly addicted to reading blogs and it's now perfectly clear to me that more people can't read than I ever imagined possible.

Click to expand...

Sadly there is no requirement for anyone to have even a basic level of reading comprehension prior to blogging or commenting on one.

Phaedre said:

Sadly there is no requirement for anyone to have even a basic level of reading comprehension prior to blogging or commenting on one.

Click to expand...

Isn't that the truth?

Phaedre said:

Sadly there is no requirement for anyone to have even a basic level of reading comprehension prior to blogging or commenting on one.

Click to expand...

Let's face it. I discovered that a 19 year old didn't know what the word equality meant as she--in her own words--"had never seen that word before". So, my notion of basic reading comprehension abilities slid down the scale about 10 notches.

just curious: how many notches does your scale possess, SJ?

ed

silverwhisper said:

just curious: how many notches does your scale possess, SJ?

ed

Click to expand...

Heh. Ed. Do you have a year to discuss this?

considering that example you cited, i don't think i wanna hear some of your horror stories, SJ--i might lose IQ points by merely hearing 'em! :>

ed

silverwhisper said:

considering that example you cited, i don't think i wanna hear some of your horror stories, SJ--i might lose IQ points by merely hearing 'em! :>

ed

Click to expand...

Good point, o trout-wielder. I can think of much better ways to damage brain cells. Drink, anyone?

[turns green]

er...bloody mary, please? extra bitters?

ed

silverwhisper said:

considering that example you cited, i don't think i wanna hear some of your horror stories, SJ--i might lose IQ points by merely hearing 'em! :>

ed

Click to expand...

Here, let me give you a non-work related example. It's an older one, but it is, perhaps, appropriate. In their 1999 Career Guide/Hot Jobs Issue**, U.S. News & World Report cited Technical Communication as one of the largest growing job fields in the United States because it was becoming more necessary for companies to recognize the need to communicate with "lay" members of society.

In the section of their report about technical communication (technical writing), they cited an example from Campbell's company. In either 1997 or 1998, Campbell's did a study, which cost them no small sum, regarding the instructions on several of their products that the public was having difficulty with.

During the course of the study, they discovered that over 70% of the study participants did not recognize the meaning of the word "simmer" in the instructions on the back of a Campbell's condensed soup can. As a result, those instructions were re-written. Now, the back of a Campbell's condensed soup can merely instructs readers to do the following:

Heat, stirring occassionally.​

"Simmer" is a relatively simple word. But, considering that the "average reading level" (not educational level, mind you) of the American public falls somewhere around the 5th or 6th grade, I can't say that it is suprising that "simmer" is not recognized easily. (Of course, simmer may have fallen out of recognition because we are a microwave nation and people don't cook the way they used to.)

"Equality" is not a 50 dollar/GRE word. Why is it that a 19 year-old college freshman has never seen the word equality until it was in a homework assignment for my class and I wrote it on the board in class after she had difficulty doing her homework assignment because she didn't recognize the word?

A still better question might be why the fuck didn't she take the initiative to look the word up herself in the dictionary that was packaged with their textbook for the course? She clearly didn't take that iniative because I had to define equality for her and parse out the word equal to explain that, in the word "equality", the word "equal" should have given her some clue as to the definition of equality. Apparently, that didn't really help as I had to explain what equal ment. Has this girl never taken a basic math class?!?!?



**At least from what I can remember from the recesses of my over-tired brain it was 1999. I cannot, in my wreck of an office, currently find my copy of that report.**

Drink? Oh yes please.

I starved myself overnight last night for a bloodtest this morning only to discover on arrival I should have had it on Tuesday... Oops!

Do you use the 'if there are 5 words on a page that the pupil has difficulty with then the text is too difficult' test? Or would that rule out all the recommended texts?

Phaedre said:

Do you use the 'if there are 5 words on a page that the pupil has difficulty with then the text is too difficult' test? Or would that rule out all the recommended texts?

Click to expand...

That would rule out all the recommened texts for a College-level Composition class. Hell that would rule out every First-year composition rhetoric produced by publishing companies in this country.

[sighs]

Equality....how the hell does one graduate from high school and never have seen the word equality?

SJ: help! IQ...dropping. talking like...shatner. losing cognitive...function.

phaedre: here, you can have mine if you like. :>

ed

I still want to know how to cook soup.

Sarojaede said:

During the course of the study, they discovered that over 70% of the study participants did not recognize the meaning of the word "simmer" in the instructions on the back of a Campbell's condensed soup can. As a result, those instructions were re-written. Now, the back of a Campbell's condensed soup can merely instructs readers to do the following:

Click to expand...