There are certain things that are like chalk on a board for me, or in other words, things that really work my nerves. One is the mispronunciation of the word Salmon. The L is silent, and it really bugs me when the person who is mispronouncing it is part of the wait staff in a restaurant. I may have mentioned this before, but I don’t have children, so I am not familiar with what is being taught in schools. Lately, I have wondered what the curriculum is for young people in elementary school and junior high school. This came up recently when I realized that a young man who had to read something in front of an audience that contained a Roman numeral (V) was not familiar with Roman numerals. Instead of reading it as 5, he read it as vee. I mentioned the incident to my 13-year-old great-nephew, and he asked me what a Roman numeral was. “Bingo!” He said that was something he had not learned in school, and he had never heard of Roman numerals. So, I gave him several examples of a Roman numeral, and then, as luck would have it, I was wearing my Steelers jacket, and the Super Bowl wins were on the sleeve in Roman numerals. It was a great teachable moment. Recently, a friend of mine announced completing her master’s degree on social media, and I’m assuming she did not reread her post because there were several errors that just didn’t make sense. You know social media can make you look quite stupid and will let you type “your” when it really should be “you’re”, but didn’t we learn that in fifth grade? Often, I’m afraid to say something to someone about incorrect verbiage. In my business, someone will often ask me, “Is an item for sell?” I so wanted to say, do you mean “is it for sale?” But I have learned when it’s best to keep my thoughts to myself.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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