An Adult Should Really Know This - Silly Things You've Had to Tell People

[Jocelyn]

I can sort of imagine that by university (which I associate with professors), the professors would be "beyond" marking and taking points off for misspellings/typos, in the sense that they're looking at the bigger picture of concepts, citations, etc.. But I think that is predicated on the fact that by university, the students should be beyond making such simple errors on an assignment they turn in. So if a professor took the time to mark the single typo in my ten-page essay, I would find that kind of odd, though honestly I would be more irritated at myself for leaving it in. However, if a paper was riddled with typos and mistakes, or had repeated misuse of an important term, that seems like cause for losing points.
 

I go on the assumption that students have prepared the very best paper they can- so if I ignore their errors, I'm not giving them feedback that they are making them. There are diligent students who proofread and edit their papers- but  for every 1 of them, there's at least 2 students who think nothing of submitting a paper with the little squiggly error marks in Word...and another 1 or 2 who don't use standard punctuation, spelling, or grammar. I got a paper last fall which was written in text abbreviations (4eva) and at no point in the paper did the student capitalize the word 'I'. If I don't mark errors, how is the student to know that an error was made? If an error is obvious enough to catch my attention, I'll circle it, but I won't take off until there's several of them. Because while I start with the assumption that students are doing the best they can...I'm aware that many students just don't think that proofreading is important. I've had students write comments on my evals that it's not fair that I correct their writing, as I'm not an English professor. Yeah...it's not important to them to turn in a technically good paper in any other topic, because it's not 'fair' for professors of other subjects to expect them to write well.

[cabbageweevil]

The people of Wells
Have a cathedral all to theirsel's;
But of their bishop they have to give half
To "Barf".

That definitely does not work in most American accents, which are rhotic (that is, the letter R is always pronounced.)  So "Barf" is not going to come out as "Bahf" (a non standard pronunciation of the city of Bath), but rather as "barrf" (to vomit).

Apologies -- the business of "rhotic you, non-rhotic us" -- which I know in theory, but tend to forget in practice, especially in the heat of posting. I should have spelt it "Bahf".

[Yvaine]

...   "Say, sonny, can ya tell us the way to the CATH-uh-DRAHL?"  ...

I've lived in the U.S. my whole life and I've never heard an American pronounce cathedral that way!   

Neither have I, though I did have the "big imposing old church" misconception about it for years. I had it explained to me in my twenties that it has a specific meaning in church bureaucracy.

[cabbageweevil]

A University wasn't a requirement for City status in England,  just a cathedral.(or, more specifically, a Bishop).  Which is why Wells, in Somerset, is a city, despite being a small market town.

I *think* that a Royal Charter is required to create a city so the criteria doesn't apply any longer.

Yeah, I knew the cathedral was a definite. As you say, it's all done by Royal charter now.

Aren't both Oxford and Cambridge cities without cathedrals?  I'm guessing their city status has something to do with royalty attending the universities.

Cambridge is cathedral-less: the area's cathedral and bishop are located some fifteen miles down the road, at Ely. I'd figure that Cambridge's city status is, in one way or another, an exception derived from the place's being the site "since forever", of a prestigious university.

Oxford has a bishop, and a cathedral -- said cathedral being within -- and the place of worship serving -- Oxford University's Christ Church College.  All Oxford and Cambridge colleges, except maybe some of the newest ones, have in-built chapels, in which services of worship take place.  Christ Church College, Oxford, has a centuries-old reputation for being the university's most insufferably snooty-and-snobby college -- it's where the gilded and supercilious scions of the aristocracy have long gone for their studies: students at Christ Church have long taken it for granted that they are "the People, and the Only People" -- proles at other colleges, are beneath contempt. (OK, a bit of exaggeration and cherished-Oxford-myth stuff there.)  Thus, Christ Church bods have long been fond of saying: "you low-lifes have mere chapels in your colleges. We've got a cathedral."

[Slartibartfast]

The people of Wells
Have a cathedral all to theirsel's;
But of their bishop they have to give half
To "Barf".

That definitely does not work in most American accents, which are rhotic (that is, the letter R is always pronounced.)  So "Barf" is not going to come out as "Bahf" (a non standard pronunciation of the city of Bath), but rather as "barrf" (to vomit).

Apologies -- the business of "rhotic you, non-rhotic us" -- which I know in theory, but tend to forget in practice, especially in the heat of posting. I should have spelt it "Bahf".

I knew what you meant, but I did enjoy having a little giggle about it 

[cabbageweevil]

Bath is generally reckoned one of Britain's loveliest cities; and overall, a pleasant location in which to live -- throwing-up, not an image usually suggested by mention of the place !

[GreenHall]

Bath is generally reckoned one of Britain's loveliest cities; and overall, a pleasant location in which to live -- throwing-up, not an image usually suggested by mention of the place !

I did a pub crawl with the hostel I stayed at in Bath.  I don't consider them completely unrelated 

[gramma dishes]

Bath is generally reckoned one of Britain's loveliest cities; and overall, a pleasant location in which to live -- throwing-up, not an image usually suggested by mention of the place !

I did a pub crawl with the hostel I stayed at in Bath.  I don't consider them completely unrelated 

 

[jedikaiti]

Apparently the word cathedral isn't common knowledge here. We had to edit some ads we did for a client's series of concerts, called "Music in the Cathedral" because someone called them angry and complained about how the ads don't say where the concerts are (there's only one cathedral in our town). I was telling a friend about it and he didn't know what it meant either. To be fair, we do usually use another word for that type of church and he isn't Christian but neither am I (and he's lived close to the cathedral his whole life) and I don't find it particularly obscure.

Wow, really? Even my friends from the US (where we typically don't have "cathedrals", just churches) would all know what a cathedral was!

I think most US cities have at least one Cathedral - at least cities of a certain size. Of course, I wouldn't necessarily know anything about where it was since I'm not religious anymore, but when I was, I always knew of at least one in whatever city if I spent enough time there.

[jedikaiti]

A lot of Americans think a cathedral is a really old big church. There's some confusion about whether a particular Catholic church is a cathedral or not, because there may be a very elaborate old church that is not the seat of a bishop. And then there's situations like the archdiocese of Kansas City MO and St. Joseph, MO, which have co-cathedrals in each city.

I'd forgotten about the seat of the bishop bit.

[gramma dishes]

A lot of Americans think a cathedral is a really old big church. There's some confusion about whether a particular Catholic church is a cathedral or not, because there may be a very elaborate old church that is not the seat of a bishop. And then there's situations like the archdiocese of Kansas City MO and St. Joseph, MO, which have co-cathedrals in each city.

I'd forgotten about the seat of the bishop bit.

Most dictionaries give at least three definitions:

1.    The principal church of a bishop's diocese, containing the episcopal throne.

2.    A large, important church.

3.    Something that resembles a cathedral, as in grandeur or authority.


So even people who aren't aware of (or don't remember) the bishop connection aren't entirely wrong.

[menley]

Apparently the word cathedral isn't common knowledge here. We had to edit some ads we did for a client's series of concerts, called "Music in the Cathedral" because someone called them angry and complained about how the ads don't say where the concerts are (there's only one cathedral in our town). I was telling a friend about it and he didn't know what it meant either. To be fair, we do usually use another word for that type of church and he isn't Christian but neither am I (and he's lived close to the cathedral his whole life) and I don't find it particularly obscure.

Wow, really? Even my friends from the US (where we typically don't have "cathedrals", just churches) would all know what a cathedral was!

I think most US cities have at least one Cathedral - at least cities of a certain size. Of course, I wouldn't necessarily know anything about where it was since I'm not religious anymore, but when I was, I always knew of at least one in whatever city if I spent enough time there.

I was falling victim to the very thing the rest of the thread is talking about - when I think cathedral, I think the Sagrada Familia or similar, not our churches. I actually never knew that it was a technical term. Guess I should add that to the thread of things I've just learned that should be obvious!

[Luci]

What's the difference between a catherdral and a basilica? I've been to St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhatten and  to the "Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine" in Florida, among others.

I think I finally gleaned that the basilica is so designated by the Pope, but in the long run all I end up with a lovely ornate Catholic church that I visit for the beauty and leave with a feeling of awe.

[Miss Misery]

Many moons ago I e-mailed a drawing to my family, but somehow I managed to turn the pic sideways just before I hit the "send" button. Ah well, these things happen. I sent another e-mail with the pic remaining upright.

Easy enough, right?

Later I get an e-mail from my older sister about how 'wow, you are so talented to draw a picture sideways'. She thought they were two different drawings! 

[ladyknight1]

^ Tee hee.

My lovely and talented teenage son came home from school and noticed a lot of police activity.

Does he stay home? No.
Does he stay in our community? No.
Does he walk past the SWAT team to the drugstore on the corner to buy gum? Yes, of course.

I informed him to get himself inside and stay there until I get home.