English - Anomalies & Changes

English - Anomalies & Changes

 This is MY language. There is an element of speakers who reject the “gender” pronouns. Moreover, the women’s movement of 50 years ago introduced, and was engendered in English, the deletion of words that, to the advocates, ended in “..man”: fireman, policeman, chairman, and the list continues.

What these advocates proposed: “policewoman, firefighter woman, chairwoman, spokeswoman”.

It is an error of “social justice” in making/giving equal status to women. People want to be accepted, liked and popular. The unspoken “social contract”. Young women who were addressed as “Miss” but, because of Gloria Steinem’s magazine, “MS”, the former address is largely out of fashion.

It works but changing parts of language, based on Ignorance is foolish. But language changes with usage. It depends on WHO uses an expression, a word, a verb…used by a popular person, it catches on.

Gender in language exists in many languages.

The noun-forming extension [man] comes to English from the Indo-European language meaning “a Person or a Man”. The linguistic attack by the same genre of ignorants is now eyeing the Pronouns, HE, SHE, THEY, THEM, THEIR….

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Karolina Kuc

About Money

Money has been an integral part of life since we got a nickel from grandpa. That nickel would buy a popsicle or an ice cream cone.

I knew about money but not the values. My grandpa often showed me a nickel and a dime. He let me choose. I always chose the Nickel, it was bigger. It’s how you learn. What do you know about Money when you are five years old?

Personal income did increase from the 25 cents for a pair of gopher feet to 80 cents an hour at the grocery. As a Sophomore in college, for parking cars I earned a buck-twelve an hour. 

It’s doubtful if any of us have thought much about money, except how to get or earn more. Like many baby-boomers, in mid-life, money took on an interest. The IRS wants accounting. That’s one department. 

Most people know of the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK. It is a “federal” as Federal Express.

These two videos explain more about money than most folks ever knew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQUhJTxK5mA         > Creation of Money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzoX7zEZ6h4           > Expansion of Money Supply - M1

E-Words

 The most difficult language to learn is the one that you first learned. A native speaker does not recognize the idiosyncrasies which makes it curious to non-native. 

The non-native speaker can pose “Why” questions. They may recognize a word from their language that has a curious pronunciation. For example, in a reading exercise, the word “calliope” was with “-ee”, at the end. 

The reader, French, knew the word was the same but was spoken differently. That question started a 58 year search for words of this “end in E” pronunciation.   

Here is the list:

https://tinyurl.com/y5azwsfs

Making History - 2020

This year began as expected. An election year is always political but this year has developed as very special. The NEWS suddenly became flooded with the stories about a virus that was killing the inferm and vulnerable  adults. 

Our elected leaders endorsed hand washing and sanitizing lotions. Then there were the Masks. But remember that the virus lives on surfaces for up to two weeks. 

Within weeks, restaurants, theaters, and churches were closed or limited to 25 to 50 percent of occupancy. Large gatherings of people at weddings and funerals were banned. 

Exceptions were allowed for high profile elected leaders. They do make the rules. 

When word got out, the first reaction was to empty the Walmart Stores of its inventory of toilet paper. When hand-washing and sanitizing lotion became the norm, the Mask was a MEME for following the rules. 

Doctors and Dentists who had observed sanitation procedures for decades, now, they had everyone in the office wearing a mask. 

Grocery and Liquor stores did not require Masks. Menards required a mask to shop in the store. Meanwhile, weddings and funerals were not allowed, too many people in one place. 

I wonder if the ceremonies could have been held in a Grocery or Liquor store.

Now that we see a marginal return to ‘normal’, restaurants, theatres, etc. I am reminded of the velvet hammer. Once it was called the “soft sell”, that is, “give the person (people) a plausible reason for following the rules”, and they will comply willingly. 

The other way is to instill a fear. Real or imagined, the fear causes the people to react with unexpected actions. The psychology and response has not changed. The people who took the rail trip to the Polish and German towns. They followed rules.  

  

Who benefits from Change

The Watergate building gave its name to the investigation and reporting of the 1972 break in to the DNC. It has entered the language a descriptive suffix of every investigation for the last fifty years.

The second expression in English from “Watergate” is “follow the money”. That is, who benefits from some radical shift in the social contract. The pandemic which occupies the news. It applies here.

Before the March 8 announcement of the Coved-19 pandemic, the cable news outlets had lost their audience. Cable entertainment was searching for an audience. ZOOM, Meet, and Jitsi were scarcely known.

Currently, their stocks are out of reach. Makers of masks are doing well.

Good Hygiene

Your mom taught you to cover your mouth when you sneeze, wash your hands before eating, and brush your teeth before bed. Good hygiene that you were taught by family. Now, because of Coved-19, the government has made it an order.

Every year, in the fall, the citizenry is encouraged to get a flu shot, just in case. We are told that it is for the coming strain of the flu but you should get your shot. “Ask your doctor” or “ It’s available at your pharmacy”. 

About sixty-thousand people get the’ flu every winter. It doesn’t matter whether they got a flu shot. Life goes on, they get well. This year was different. 

The news reports of a disease or flu in China came out in January and February. It was not until March 11 when the NY Times reported that Tom Hanks and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus.

Well then, if a Hollywood actor can contract the virus, it’s serious. We need to buy toilet paper. Charmin had it right, “Enjoy the Go”, wear a mask, wash your hands, keep six feet distance from each other. Oh yes, Shelter in Place, stay in your house. Listen to every warning and be careful of touching any surface. Fear.

FDR (1933) “ We have nothing to Fear but Fear itself.” 

TV News (2020) “Today, reported cases of Coved-19 surged…”

Fear vs. Power

There is a correlation between fear and the amount of power people seek.[Power increases in direct relation to Fear]

Posted Mar 11, 2013  Psychology Today.

Education in the USA

I have my RIGHTS is a well-known expression among the Populus. "Rights" refers to the limits of the government and when the citizen he fears that the law is not abided. A parent will tell the child, "you follow MY rules while you live here".

The same parent believes, as a tenet of life in America, that his progeny deserves a "college education" regardless of cost. Right or wrong, parents and students accept this precept. It is further reinforced by public service announcements that proclaim that a 'college' degree is the only way to achieve in this country.

The cost of the degree can be painful and expensive. One student in High School, a star athlete, may get a full scholarship in anticipation of wealth from National Team selection and some do.

Other parents select to pay for or borrow for that child's degree...when there is no athletic scholarship.

I got a degree at my parents urging. They paid, I paid by working through five years of classes. The first year was an academic disaster. My parents believed in me and supported my travel to Europe in my third year.

In my parapatric college life I moved thirteen times, worked five jobs, and graduated two years after returning from my voyage. I had Ninety dollars in the bank, a summer job offer, and confidence. Tuition had just increased by Fifty percent but Ninety dollars would still buy fifteen to eighteen credit hours.

No employer has ever asked for my Degree, just if I had one.  

Summer in the City

School was part of life, a daily routine, until it wasn’t, in June. Hooray, school’s out and there’s no more
homework. For the kids in the cities, May 30, Memorial Day, had been the start of swimming in the lakes.

A little chilly but school’s out in a week or so.

For the undergrads, it’s time for a summer job. Word passed among friends where to apply, the places
with the best pay. We all knew that the then ‘supermarket’ paid the highest rate. At the time we were all
about 16 and could drive. Sixteen was the age when you could get a Permit to Drive. Freedom.

SNL had its ‘Wild and Crazy Guys’ from Czechoslovakia, we had our teachers and bosses who were
about ten years older. We had to have a ‘glue’ that brought us together. It was our work, we all worked
in supermarkets in town. 

The grocery manager often was in charge of Monday nights. We had after-school shifts as ‘carry-outs’,
we took the customers’ groceries to the car. Yes, that was the way. 

Monday was special. That’s when the local truck company brought the new merch.It was the night
we restocked the store. We got more hours and had fun.

Myron was our manager guy. Once we went swimming after the shift, another time we were
‘moonlighters’. Well, just a sort of wine. Yes, we, well, he used the facilities.

We helped crush and load the expired cherries into the Redwing vessel. It fermented and a couple
Mondays later, we had a sip. Not a good mash. I blew my cookies in bed and in the sink.

And we got  80 cents an hour. 

Why Mask?

It’s not a stretch to understand that we all grew up with Howdy Duddy,Why 57 Chevy, and the Barby

Doll. I could not vote when I graduated, but Kennedy would have been my guy. He was our initiator,

founder, and, some would say, hero.

I’m setting you up, mentally, for what is coming. 

Our parents lived through the “depression” and served in that last war. Some people found a way to

prosper in that environment, others looked to the government. No matter, we smoked, we drank,
later we all watched TV. 

My family, like yours, was in that generation. I’ve done videos of guys in my Legion Post who served

Finally, they are ready to talk about it. 

They gave us a great, exciting, and prosperous country where we could flourish. Those of us who
have retired must consider our responsibility to our kids and the nation.

We grew up with Television, Nightly News, Walter Cronkite, and “Howard Cosell” as our daily consorts.

Well, maybe just friends. Three Networks, CBS, NBC, ABC. 

The dynamics of news, entertainment, etc have proliferated ad absurdum. Movies, television,
newspapers have resolved to six owners. 

Technology now permits the Populus to react to the innocuities and errors promulgated by the

six media owners. Think about it, in our time, the media supported the government actions in Korea

and later VietNam. Returning veterans from VietNam were like Rodney Dangerfield, they got NO

Respect.

Our government is populated by OUR generation. We learned from our media, and continue to believe
them today. 

Few will stop and think about this current pandemic. It is dangerous for many, but less than headlined
by the six media. We are the participants in this narrative, told by the Man Behind the Curtain. 

Put your Mask on.

A couple of quotes: 

https://www.forbes.com/quotes/427/

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/533430-fear-again-if-you-want-to-control-someone-all-you

MASK in Public

The words of history ring true. Today is yesterday, tomorrow is the day after. It never was that history
repeats itself, it is that the roles are played by actors of equal ambition.

A dramatic event can change the direction and policies of a nation. It is the policymakers, those who
make laws, that recognize an opportunity and are quick to seize it. The laws are enacted by these

people, the actors on stage. 

They are not bad-actors in that sense, they are actors who are the understudies of, without knowing,
the play in which they play a part. 

We are the audience, that is our role. When the director narrates the scene, the actors perform, speak,
and tell the narrative. 

The playwright creates the narrative, the actors have been fully rehearsed, and the Audience suspends
belief, indulges in a fantasy, thus the narrative becomes the truth.   

When writers could not sign their works, the “nom de plume” was their personage. A Mask, if you will. 

The audience bought into the play. The difference is the use of the Mask, the audience WEARS the
Mask to signify compliance with the narration. 

No one should consider the Corvid-19 cannot be a conspiracy. We just follow the new rules set out by
our government and the media.

It’s just a test. A test of public gullibility.   

Hidden Persuaders

The book was named “Hidden Persuaders”. Maybe you read it, it was not “Fifty Shades of Gray” but it
was instructive. On TV, Jon Hamm starred in “Mad Men”, 2007 version of Hidden Persuaders.

Life expects much from each of us but it takes so long to understand the script we need to follow. The
script is in our history, what we learned to get to our ‘certain’ age. .

For us who listened, we learned the word “Propaganda”, one etymology implies a religious origin, a
liberal interpretation would be “preaching to the choir”. It has its route in Latin, surprise, surprise. 

Many people have heard and learned the word from stories about how it was used in WW II to
influence
the Germans. It was, no doubt. But it did not stop after the war, Propaganda changed clothes and
became Advertising. An effort to gain a respectable face.

What we grew up knowing as “advertising” is now in all forms of our lives. What was on paper, on the
radio or TV, is now everywhere but not recognized. 

Consider an expression we hear in daily conversations: “thank you for your service”, this expression
became popular in the early 2000s. Remember the route of the Iranian Army? The thank you is
deserved but is a cliche.

Contrast this expression with the “baby killers” chant offered to returning VietNam veterans. I’m
‘veteran’ but despite my reluctant service, I deserve no KUDOS. I support my contemporaries who
also served. 

The Mask

The words of history ring true. Today is yesterday, tomorrow is the day after. It never was that history
repeats itself, it is that the roles are played by actors of equal ambition.

A dramatic event can change the direction and policies of a nation. It is the policymakers, those who
make laws, that recognize an opportunity and are quick to seize it. The laws are enacted by these
people, the actors on stage. 

They are not bad actors in that sense, they are actors who are the understudies of, without knowing,
the play in which they play a part. 

We are the audience, that is our role. When the director narrates the scene, the actors perform, speak,
and tell the narrative. 

The playwright creates the narrative, the actors have been fully rehearsed, and the Audience
suspends belief, indulges in fantasy, thus the narrative becomes the truth.   

When writers could not sign their works, the “nom de plume” was their personage. A Mask, if you
will. 

The audience bought into the play. The difference is the use of the Mask, the audience WEARS

the Mask to signify compliance with the narration.