Why the British Education System has it all WRONG!
As the new year approaches and we think back on the happy times of the past year, the sunsets, the laughs, the puppy dogs, and look forward to the new even better, lovely, adorable, and fun year to come, I take this time to COMPLAIN LOUDLY AND ANGRILY (or at least in all caps).
Here’s a HUGE pet peeve of mine:
The year, 2008, should be pronounced, “two thousand eight” or perhaps if you’re weird, “twenty oh eight” but NOT “two thousand and eight.”
It seems that British schools may be teaching their children to say the “and.” What do I say to that: “It’s just plain wrong!” The word “and” should not be said when speaking dates, or hymn numbers, or page numbers.
Mrs. Jones, my authoritative first grade teacher taught me about this, and she taught me good. Mrs. Jones said, “Only use the word “and” in a number when it refers to a decimal. (e.g. “159.57 is one hundred fifty-nine AND fifty-seven hundredths)
Ministers make this mistake all the time when they announce hymns. They’ll say, “The hymn is three hundred and sixty-eight.” If the say this, they are wrong. It would then be appropriate for the congregation to scream the correct hymn number in the correct way and refuse to sing until grammar justice prevails.
The hymn is “three hundred sixty-eight.” What’s with the “and?” It’s extraneous, confusing, and improper. Why? Because I’m American, and Mrs. Jones said so.
And while I’m at it, please pronounce dates after 2009 (that’s two thousand nine with no “and”) in the way we’ve been speaking for years.
2010 is twenty ten NOT two thousand ten
“Two thousand ten” is lengthy, silly, unsustainable, and just plain wrong.
If you haven’t heard of Grammar Girl, check her out here. Her most recent show is on dates. She’s generally pretty good, when she’s not WRONG!
Ok, caps lock off. I feel better now. Must calm down…
A bittersweet homecoming
It feels strange to post the obituary, but it also seems appropriate. My Grandfather died on the 22nd. I’m heading back home from the 31st to the 8th, much of which time will be spent bonding with the fam on the drive to and from Lake Charles (I just hope Ian will shower.) It will be good to be with family, attend the service, and remember Grandaddy. He really was a remarkable guy. More reflections later, perhaps.
Obituary for H. Richard Copeland
The Rev. Dr. H. Richard Copeland died December 22, 2007, at his home in Houston, Texas. He was 86. A minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Dr. Copeland was pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Lake Charles, LA, from 1964 to 1984.
“Dick” Copeland was born in Ferris, TX, and reared in Mexia. He was enrolled at Texas A&M College when the United States entered World War II. He enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor and served four years in the Army Air Corps. He was discharged as a First Lieutenant. He held degrees from Texas Tech College (B.A), Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (B. D., M.Th.), and Rhodes College (D.D.). He was pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Brownsville, TX, from 1951-1955, and of Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, TX, from 1955 to 1964.
Dr. Copeland was married for 32 years to Betty Lou Loveless, who died in 1976. The couple had three children: Brant S. Copeland, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Tallahassee, FL, Leslie Copeland Taylor, an attorney in Houston, TX, and Brenda Copeland Thompson, an English teacher in Lake Charles, LA, who died in 1977. He was married for 25 years to Shirley Slack Martin of Lake Charles, who died in 2003.
Active in church and local affairs, Dr. Copeland served on the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church, U. S., and as the Convener and first Moderator of the Synod of the Sun. He was a commissioner to four General Assemblies (national meetings). Dr. Copeland’s example of faithful preaching and attentive pastoral care inspired fourteen women and men to enter the Gospel ministry during his pastorates.
Dr. Copeland is survived by his sister, Ellen Stead of Richardson, TX, daughter Leslie Copeland Taylor of Houston, TX, son Brant S. Copeland, of Tallahassee, FL, and grandsons Darrell, Eric, and Carl Taylor, and Adam and Ian Copeland, as well as members of his second family: son Robin Martin of Lake Charles and daughters Anne Mann and Nancy Key.
A Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 1801 Second Avenue, Lake Charles, LA, 70601,at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, January 4. Pastor Fred Seay will preside. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Betty Copeland Student Aid Fund at the church.
It's ok to be boring
Lucas was wrong. Or at least, that’s how I remember it.
I’m vaguely recalling a debate in a college English course after reading Dave Egger’s “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.” In the discussion, I mostly praised the book, in large part out of admiration of Egger’s amazingly interesting life. Then I said, “Nobody would ever want to read a book about my life.” My friend Lucas disagreed, and a fight broke out. I had a few inches on him, but he was pretty scrappy.
I still think my life is pretty boring, but I’m ok with that. I love days at home. I enjoy new novels more than video games. I drink more coffee than beer.
And now, according to this quiz, of a list of spiffy theologians, I am a most like John Calvin. Not Moltmann, not Luther, not Finney, not Tillich (ok, I’m not that cool), John bloomin Calvin.
I could now explain why Calvin was actually a really interesting guy who led an amazing life in and outside the church, but I’m sure you wouldn’t be convinced. And that’s fine. It’s ok to be boring.
Party at Our Place
One of the many benefits of being at Assistant Minister in Scotland over Christmas is the many wonderful gifts. In Cumnock, as Noah shows here, whiskey is a popular Christmas item. Megan and I ended up without a drop of whiskey, but did receive several tasty bottles of wine. And one or two chocolates….
I don’t really know what to say except, “Wow!” WOW!
If you were wondering, all told these chocolates contain 39,930 calories (scratch that…I just found another box) 40,480 calories. That’s the equivalent of 20 days of one’s recommended daily caloric intake if one is eating only chocolate all day long. Did I say I thought I’d gained a few pounds in the past few months?
P.S. If you are one of the kind folk who gifted us with chocolate, we are very grateful and do not wish to seem otherwise. We simply invite you to enjoy the humor of this photo with us, and then come over for a cup of tea and, well, you guessed it: have a piece of chocolate…..or two….or three. Would you like another?
Book Lovers Beware
Did you get a Kindle for Christmas?
I didn’t, which is cool since I didn’t ask for one and I don’t think it’d work over here anyways. If you somehow haven’t heard about the biggest adult-sized present this year, I say it’s probably the Amazon Kindle, a revolutionary book-like device (or the Wii, but that was so big last year so doesn’t count).
If you haven’t heard yet, a Kindle is a “digital content reader” or real fancy electronic book thingy. It can hold hundreds of books, access magazines and websites, and weighs very little. If one had a Kindle at the breakfast table, for instance, one could read the NY Times, see recently updated blogs, access wikipedia, and read any book sold by Amazon.
I can hear Granny now: revolutionary? That’s a big claim and it’s not really what the word means.
Perhaps, but…. Ok, I’ll liken this Kindle to the iphone for a minute. The iphone is less revolutionary because of what it is itself–a pretty sweet phone plus a whole lot more–but because of what it will do to the market. Now that consumers have phones that so easily do so much, with screens so large and no numbers taking up 50% of the interface, with accurate touch-sensitive screens, the phone design market will experience a revolution.
Now will the Kindle make a similar splash? I’m both skeptical, and really want one.
Folks have decried the death of the book for years. Palm pilots were supposed to do it, then laptops with good screens, and then mobile phones with large screens. But the old fashioned paper book is still going strong (they’ve had a record year in Britain). But the Kindle may finally crack the code.
Why? Because the kindle gets it. It has all the functionality I’d hope for in a book-like device. For instance: (1) the Kindle display reads like a book rather than a computer monitor, (2) with Kindle, you can buy anything Amazon sells instantly and usually for a discount, (3) Kindle weighs little and looks cool (ok, not really cool, but cool), (4) free wireless access to wikipedia (need I say more?)
Over the past few months, I’ve really missed my book shelves. Just thinking about the possibility of taking all those books with me in a smaller-then-laptop device gets me, well, as excited as a very non-excitable guy can get. All those books in a device the size and weight of a New Yorker–amazing!
I heard a fascinating interview a few weeks ago on the BBC (can’t find link, sorry) about a guy who’s just written a book predicting the death of books. I only heard half the interview, but he did present an interesting argument. Old fashioned paper books will always be with us, but they will improve in their look, feel, binding, etc. Paper books, to compete with e-books, will become even nicer told hold in your hand, to gift, to put on the coffee table. E-books, then, will become the quicker, easier, mainstream version.
Let’s face it: he’s probably at least partly right. Sure, the revolution may not happen as a direct result of Kindle, but it will happen. Consider what record players looked like even 30 years ago, and look at an iPod today and consider its functionality. E-books will, eventually, gain a functionality that surpass what we can even imagine. Come across a cool concept while reading–search for similar ones with the same device. Don’t know what that word means–double click and see the definition. That chapter remind you of a movie you’d like to see–order it wirelessly to the same device. That meal sound tasty–have it delivered to your door.
Only time will tell whether the Kindle is sputters like attempts before, or whether it sparks a revolution. The cost for Kindle–$400–is probably a bit high for any really fast-paced change. Just think, however, when they are affordable to all. If everyone had a Kindle, think how many book downloads Amazon would register per day. Until then, I’ll imagine my bookshelf in Decatur, continue my google.com/books searches for sermon quotes, and hope for a bookstore gift certificate.
Sermon: Food Trough Festivities, Luke 2:1-20, Christmas Eve
Here’s the Christmas Eve sermon I preached, well, on Christmas Eve. Actually, I didn’t feel particularly good about how it was received. Though the congregation was huge, they were mostly visitors or rare attenders so the atmosphere felt less like a friendly congregation worshiping and more like a gathering of folks seeing a concert. I could say more, but I’m off to Christmas lunch. Cheers.
Food Trough Festivities
Luke 2:1-20
How many of your know the television show Sesame Street? I used to love that show–still do, in fact (though Megan doesn’t like me to watch it). I’m a big Ernie fan. I find Elmo hilarious. And every time I watch it I learn something new. One of my favorite parts of Sesame Street is a segment in which they give the viewers a little quiz.
Four items will appear on the screen, each in a different corner. And then someone will sing the song:
Three of these things belong together
Three of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn’t belong here?
Now it’s time to play our game (time to play our game).
And you’re supposed to guess which item of the four doesn’t belong. I’d like to play a few rounds with you this evening. So, since Tom refused to install a big screen TV in the pulpit, I brought along some low-tech sheets that will have to do.
Here’s four things, which one of them doesn’t belong with the others?
… Continue Reading
Christmas Eve Clicking
I need to write a sermon, preach a sermon, attend a wee get-together, and open some presents, though it will be against every fiber of my being to open them a day early. Boy, I’m a good husband.
Here are some links to keep you busy this Christmas Eve.
- Fun NY Times piece on US and UK Christmas desserts.
- A Slate slide show on creches.
- And I can’t believe I missed this for a few weeks. I barely deserve to be called a Tallahasseean. My perspective: the sooner the better.
Connect Online
