“One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it.” – Persian Proverb
Welcome! Have a click around - you're sure to find something that motivates or inspires you to live with more intensity and purpose. “Help me to accomplish the purpose of my journey.” - Genesis 24:12, A Servant’s Prayer “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.” – Louisa May Alcott The new Librarian decided that instead of checking out children’s books by writing the names of borrowers on the book cards herself, she would have the youngsters sign their own names. She would then tell them they were signing a ‘Contract’ for returning the books on time. Her first customer was a 2nd grader, who looked surprised to see a new Librarian. He brought four books to the desk and shoved them across to the Librarian, giving her his name as was the custom. The new librarian pushed the books back, smiled, and told him to sign them out himself. The boy carefully printed his name on each book card and then handed them to her with a look of utter disgust. Before the Librarian could even start her speech he said, scornfully, “At least that other Librarian we had could write.” “There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.” – James Truslow Adams A professor was too ill to teach his course, but didn’t want his students to go without. He audio taped his lecture, and sent it in to be played during his class. The experiment went so well, that the professor started taping his lectures and sending them in even after he felt better. After several weeks of this, he decided actually to attend the class himself, and give his lecture live. When he arrived he found an empty classroom, with 120 tape recorders all set to record his talk. “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Adams Tommy had reached school age. His mother managed with a blast of propaganda to make him enthusiastic about the idea. She bought him lots of new clothes, told him of the new friends he’d meet and so on. Came the first day, he eagerly went off and came back home with a lot of glowing reports about school. Next morning when she woke him up, he asked “What for?” She told him it was time to get ready for school. “What? Again?” he asked. Let’s face it English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins were not invented in England or french fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese? One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose? If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in a form by filling it out and an alarm clock goes off by going on. When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it? Now I know why I flunked my English. It’s not my fault — the silly language doesn’t quite know whether it’s coming or going. “One’s work may be finished someday, but one’s education, never.” – Alexandre Dumas
We sometimes take English for granted, but if we examine its paradoxes we find that quicksand takes you down slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. There is no egg in the eggplant, no ham in the hamburger, and neither pine nor apple are in the pineapple. If writers write, how come fingers don’t fing? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of phone booth be phone beeth? If the teacher taught, why didn’t the preacher praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what the heck does a humanitarian eat!? Why do people recite at a play, yet play at a recital? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which a house can burn up as it burns down. When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why it is that when I wind up my watch it starts, but when I wind up this poem, it ends?” “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.” – Margaret Fuller “Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep.” – Albert Camus Some English papers are like trash cans- pretty on the outside, but filled with garbage. “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” – Albert Einstein During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?” Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. “Absolutely,” said the professor. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say, “Hello.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. |
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