Category: Learnin’ ‘Em Kids

I teach. Most of these posts are password-protected.

I Could Think of Things I Never Thunk Before

Great job on your homework, kids! Ready for your lesson?!

[My source here is Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry (Perrine and Arp), a book which was recommended to me by the lovely, talented, and intelligent Cat and has been most helpful in my studies.]

OK, so you know about onomatopoeia—words that sound like their meaning, such as plop or hiss. But have you ever heard of…I’m so excited. I LOVE WORMS. WORMS, ROXANNE.*

I mean, words.

Have you ever heard of phonetic intensives? I HADN’T EITHER.

These words are not onomatopoetic, and yet their sound, “by a process as yet obscure, to some degree connects with their meaning.”

For example, an initial fl- often introduces words meaning moving light. You all gave me flicker and flamboyant. Others: flame, flare, flash.

Right?

Now it doesn’t always work, as evidenced by flatulent (thank you, Michelle). But still. It often indicates a relationship.

Here are more associations:

  • Initial gl- with unmoving light…gloaming, glorious, glamor
  • Initial sl- with smooth and wet…slimy, slather, slithering, and I guess we could throw slattern and slut in there…
  • Initial st- with strength…stasis, stalwart, stanchion, stump, statutory, standoff
  • Short i with small size…impish (Y’all didn’t give me much on that one, but think little, bit, inch, midget.)
  • Medial att with particled movement…rattling, prattling, splatter
  • Final -er or -le with repetition…zipper, chortle, doodle, glimmer, falter
  • Final ck with sudden cessation of movement…quack, frack, check, flick

(The only one you guys totally failed me on was long o or oo, which can suggest melancholy or sorrow, as in moan, groan, doom, gloom, and woe.)

DO YOU FEEL TOTALLY SMART NOW OR WHAT?

CAN YOU THINK OF MORE WORDS THAT FIT THESE IDEAS?

I’M A NERD. EVERY DAY.

*If you don’t belong to the Scott family, you may not get this reference.

Assignment

I’m learning all kinds of new things whilst studying for my Praxis, not the least of which is how to read poetry.

Quick, everybody, list a word that follows each rule (so, total, you’ll have nine words):

1. Initial fl-

2. Initial gl-

3. Initial sl-

4. Initial st-

5. Short i

6. Long o or oo

7. Medial (in the middle of the word) att

8. Final -er or -le

9. Final ck

Then I’ll teach you something about them.

I’m so excited! I’m a nerd! Every day!

Who Says?

I hate it when listeners call in to the Diane Rehm Show. It makes me so uncomfortable. If I want to hear some bumbling, disjointed, half-baked ideas about politics, I’ll just listen to my own thoughts, thank you.

A few days ago, a caller was, amongst many uhs, explaining his point-of-view on…what? I don’t even remember—I was in a jittery sweat, just wishing it were over…when it occurred to me I could change stations. I could listen to something other than NPR. Usually, the only time my dial is not set to WUNC is during pledge drives. (During those torturous ten-day periods, I make my pledge and then burn through all my saved-up podcasts of…NPR programs.)

But this time…it was not a fundraiser…AND I COULD STILL CHANGE THE CHANNEL.

Scary.

I pressed the scan button on my radio and ended up on one of those happy, poppy stations, which was playing a bubble gum tune with lots of na-na-nas and the lyric, “Who says?” over and over again. I think the singer’s thing was, who says you’re not perfect just the way you are? Something about not being a beauty queen but beautiful anyway. In your own way. Whatever.

I just kept hearing, “Who says?”

And these were the questions that came into my head: Who says you can’t get an MFA in creative writing? Who says you can’t, for the first time in your life, incur educational debt? Who says you can’t quit teaching altogether?

Yikes.

See, ’cause my friend Cat has been nudging me to apply for a low-residency MFA program. She did, and she got in, and she’s going to do it. And I want to do it too. But I’m terrified. I’ve never taken out an education loan, never even entertained doing so for a degree that has a good chance of paying me back bupkis. Never thought about quitting teaching to do what I actually want to do, which is write.

Here there be dragons.

But who says?

Tell I What You Think

Wading through those muddy waters of grammar again….

Do you see anything wrong with the following sentences?

He wrote to Sarah and I to tell us he was OK.

They rode with Bob and I to the concert.

Everyone from my students to my peers to Our Esteemed President, Barack Obama, is a little confused about when to use the pronoun ‘I’. I think people over-use it because they think it sounds distinguished. But to me, it sounds wrong.

For example, I’ve heard Obama say things like, This has been a great experience for Michelle and I.

My friends even say, She came to Rob and I’s party.

(shiver)

But take the other person out of the equation for a second. Would you ever say, This has been a great experience for I or She came to I’s party?

No. You’d say “for me” and “to my party”. Thus, you should say, This has been a great experience for Michelle and me, and She came to Rob’s and my party.

When is it appropriate to use the pronoun ‘I’?

  • When it’s the subject of your sentence: Michelle and I had a great experience. 
  • …Even if the subject comes after the verb ‘to be’: It is I. 
  • After ‘than’: She is stronger than I. (This one could be confusing, but just think, She is stronger than I am. You wouldn’t say “stronger than me am”.)

This is I’s understanding of the rules. Am me right or wrong on this one?

I Win at eBay

Remember how I told you guys you better hook me up with some synopses and analyses of major works of English literature? Well, y’all are all fired.

Except Margo who gave me three in-person lessons on poetry. Or, as I like to say it, POW-tree.

And Kate, who helped me create some study objectives.

And Big E, who discussed lit with me over lunch and lent me a bunch of her grad school books.

And Cat, who recommended a really good poetry text with which to study and listed everything she read in high school so I could write it down.

And my dad, who gave me what I call the nuclear option: if I don’t understand the exam question, I’m just going to write, “If anything’s consistent about Shakespeare, it’s silly fucking plots.”

Everybody else, though, you’re all fired. But NEVER MIND. I figured out a way to pass.

That’s not even all of them.

My Apologies!

Sorry for all the password-protected posts of late.

Lots of business brewing in the world of the Great (or, Fair-to-Middling) and Powerful (or, Effective When It’s Absolutely Necessary and Not Too Difficult) Avid Bruxist. Work stuff. Things I had to get out of my head and into word form but things I don’t feel comfortable putting out to the whole world.

Yet.

I promise it’ll all be in the book. Which will be published when I figure out how to write a book and get an agent and a publisher.

Back to regular programming as soon as I think of something to write about.

(As I’ve mentioned, many of you can read the password-protected posts.)