I didn't go to the sort of school that thought Latin and grammar were worthwhile subjects but my Dad was a teacher for 52 years in a private school where the pupils may have had the advantage of wealthy parents but weren't necessarily bright. Some, we were reminded with great regularity, were very "dumb" indeed but while they could choose whether to study woodwork they were all taught Latin and they were certainly taught grammar because the school was paid to give them the best education it could manage (regardless of whether their charges were considered to be university material) and not condemn them by making arbitrary judgements about their intelligence even if it had to do the former through gritted teeth. Whether it was a flimsy grasp of Latin or parental influence which got these kids into university or helped them make a success of life afterwards, if indeed they did make a success of it, at least their years of compulsory education gave them the opportunity to learn how to read, write and speak their own language correctly and they didn't have to struggle too late in life to teach themselves the things their school couldn't be bothered with. I envy them that if nothing else.
yes, I bloody can. It's just that I have no intention of going to see Star Wars. Анна Петровна рабортает в институте Максим шушлает мусику Or something like that.
ignorance is bliss so glad I don't speak a different language and have no idea what everyone is on about tried learning latin once when I was about 17 quite enjoyed it oh and I have seen starwars its not bad
I did metalwork at school I refused to move until they allowed me to do it Passed grade 1 CSE I was rubbish at languages and just about managed to pass my English exam My daughter is outstanding in Spanish and French and writes good English She hates metalwork
just ignore the publication and the topic.although its a good un read the bottom comment from jon buchanan. it really does seem a full stop or a missed spelt colon can make all the difference. Bella Caledonia independence – self-determination – autonomy
I can't keep up. I logged out for a couple of hours and suddenly everyone is talking foreign. Have we been invaded ... again? The point is that this pure English language with it's finely honed grammar that some are so defensive of is actually a mongrel language. The English language is a dockside whore that didn't mind who she went to bed with. It's ever changing through popular use and popular use of a language will always rule the day. Education will have to learn to keep up. Nobody is asking anyone to like it, it just is what it is. I always use the apostrophe where appropriate and, as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to taught any more. I have to deal with people in America a lot and they all seem to think that there means both there and their. I still know what they mean from context, although it may take a couple of passes.
Eh, I think that should be a misplaced or inappropriately used colon. Sorry mate, but given the topic of the thread ...
I think there is far too much snobbery attached to whether you can or cannot speak or spell correctly all of the time, just petty point scoring possibly due to boredom half the time. I could understand if a serious mistake were to happen as a result and in that instance of course I would agree. I am at a stage in life where due to tiredness or just because of a shot memory I can frequently make spelling mistakes and find myself checking up on the spelling of words I've written all my life. There is someone on this forum who regularly mispells ( he knows it I'm sure, and he doesn't give a toss) and yet he is one of the most likeable and trustworthy members on here as far as I'm concerned. The other aspect of this of course is that you can set yourself up for a fall – two of the protagonists on this thread have spelling mistakes within at least one of their posts on this thread but am I going to tell them publicly? of course not/do I think any less of them? of course not.
:smileys:. word play can be a good bit of craic. it's just a shame i am the Anti Gyles Brandreth. . :smileys:
I'm sure there's snobbery involved when someone insists on correct usage at all times but there's nothing snobbish about being able to use language correctly when the situation demands. And you can't do that if you haven't been taught how.
I love this thread! Really appeals to my 'grumpy old man everything's gone to hell in a handcart' attitude. I was at grammar school 1959 to 65. I attended King Edwards Aston from 59 to 61. We didn't do Latin there until the third year (so I didn't do it). In 61 I moved to Worthing and went to the High School for Boys. There they did Latin from first year to third year and then you could drop it. I advised I had done no Latin to that point and asked if I could do extra Maths instead (I liked Maths). I was told no and that I had to do Latin! So I ended up just doing 3rd year Latin! lol. Funny thing was I was crap at Latin but the lessons were fun, Mr Gravett, the teacher, spent most of the time telling long and convoluted jokes and stories about his army time in India. It should be said that at the end of year exams I came 23rd out of 40+ pupils and this was more down to the CBA attitude of most of the class rather than any ability I had!
they taught french at my school from form 2 Latin from form 4. younger the better. thats age 6 and 8 for yous comprehensive schooled peasants.
Yup All the French / cooking and needlework I remember was learnt in primary school By the time I was 12 I'd given up on wanting to learn - boarding school was spent looking out the windows and shoplifting in WHSmiths [emoji4]
yip. you and me both char. learnt more hiding from security in woolys than i ever did at school. :Hilarious::smileys:
I went school, learned a shit load of things. Did I understand, not really, do I care, not really. One regret, we travel a fair bit, I miss not having languages in a polite way. English has got me there, so far.
No Latin in our school, come to think about it we had very little, no sports field no showers, after playing football on the local park we went back to school and queued up to stand on a stool and wash in one of four sinks, the school had around 200 pupils. We managed to speak all nice and proper like. Steve
