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Wednesday, October 20, 2004
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YOUTH WANTS TO KNOW...
A Regular University Diaries Feature This month, Youth Wants to Know... Does bad spelling really matter? There was that artist [see UD post dated 10/7/04] who misspelled all those names of artists and writers in her mural... which was embarrassing, for her and for the library that commissioned her work. And yet the upshot is that she's getting more money than she would have if she'd spelled the names right, because the library's paying her extra to fix everything! So does bad spelling really matter, Doctor U? Yes, kiddies, it does. I know I'm sounding like an old scold, but it actually does matter. Let me give you an example, hot off the press, of the trouble you can run into if you can't spell. Today's Denver Post has an article about how desperately the University of Colorado is trying to decrease the amount of student drinking on and off campus -- there have already been two student deaths from alcohol poisoning in the Colorado system this academic year (it's only October). CU has for ages held the rank of America's Number One Party School (it recently slipped to a respectable Number Nine). The university's administration is doing everything it can think of to deal with the problem. So...here's how one local news outlet sums up the situation: "CU is trying to reign in student drinking." See how the reporter got in trouble? He ended up saying the opposite of what he wanted to say, and making UD laugh at him! Two bad outcomes! CU has reigned in drinking long enough; it wants not to reign in drinking, but to rein in drinking. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Actually, the struggle between the administration's desire to rein in, and the student body's desire to reign in, drinking (one student comments that they'll all have to start drinking harder to regain the Number One title) has caused a bit of a ruckus in the last few days. CU's vice chancellor of student affairs, annoyed by the party hearty remarks a number of students made to another Denver Post reporter, wrote angry letters to each of the students mentioned. The letters pissed off the students, their parents, and the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union. |