Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Vector]

I was using collegiate dictionaries for my spelling lists in second grade.  It would have been a distinct problem--what you're suggesting now is the blunting of the upper level of intellect.  I'll admit that I brought the dictionary from home, but it would've been a hell of a lot more convenient to have one in class.

Wait, what?
(To the best of my knowledge) Most children's dictionaries exist as slightly-toned-down versions of normal dictionaries anyway. I had them throughout 5th and 6th grade; they're just normal dictionaries without genitals and obscenities. They also usually have a heftier 'adjectives' section for each entry, at least the ones I used. I may be thinking of the more aptly named 'Junior Writer's Dictionaries' on second thought, but those fit the purpose just as well.

Still, I'd like to know what sort of words you'd be using (in second grade!) that could only be found in collegiate dictionaries.

acetylsalicylic acid, hexylresorcinol, zygodactyl, blasphemy, and so on, and so on.  I doubt that the first three, at the very least, would be found in your standard children's dictionary.

[smigenboger]

nah, this is more along the line of what happens when you repress a human action that will find it's way to the surface. These children may idolize oral sex if no one will allow them to understand it.

[Apostolic Nihilist]

acetylsalicylic acid, hexylresorcinol, zygodactyl, blasphemy, and so on, and so on.  I doubt that the first three, at the very least, would be found in your standard children's dictionary.

In... second grade? That's impressive. Very impressive, even. I'm sure if you asked most second-grade teachers how to spell the first three they would struggle (no offense to second-grade teachers; at my school there are several teachers who struggle with you're/your and regularly misspell words), much less actually define them. I didn't know what hexylresorcinol was until I looked it up.

That's probably another fault with school systems (in general): it caters to the mean. Those who are at either end of the scale suffer because of it. Toward the lower end, they'll shuttle students off to special programs/classes, but few schools will provide additional material for those on the higher end.

There are probably solutions that I'm not privy to, but I don't see any easy way for the government to correct this.

[CobaltKobold]

Assert similar experience.

As long as this doesn't start some trend of banning words deemed questionable (it had better not -- I have faith in you, Americans), I fail to see a reason to be annoyed. It seems like it's just something that'll get the serious anti-censorship people riled up.

Just a note: I'm not encouraging this behaviour, I just fail to see a problem with it. On a purely fundamental level, it's wrong, but realistically, it's not going to cause any trouble.

You're ok with individual wrongs so long as they don't start trends? 

[Vector]

acetylsalicylic acid, hexylresorcinol, zygodactyl, blasphemy, and so on, and so on.  I doubt that the first three, at the very least, would be found in your standard children's dictionary.

In... second grade? That's impressive. Very impressive, even. I'm sure if you asked most second-grade teachers how to spell the first three they would struggle (no offense to second-grade teachers; at my school there are several teachers who struggle with you're/your and regularly misspell words), much less actually define them. I didn't know what hexylresorcinol was until I looked it up.

That's probably another fault with school systems (in general): it caters to the mean. Those who are at either end of the scale suffer because of it. Toward the lower end, they'll shuttle students off to special programs/classes, but few schools will provide additional material for those on the higher end.

Spoiler: A long and self-absorbed wall of text (click to show/hide)

Yes, well.  That's the trouble: I'm on both ends simultaneously.  I've been in two classes for the deaf and one for the gifted; zero remedial, many honors.  The teachers could never figure out what to do with me.  On the one hand, I could wipe the floor with pretty much any other student in the school, even those they specifically brought to try to give me some competition.  On the other hand, I hid behind furniture, could never explain how I got any of my solutions, and spent most recesses either walking in circles talking to myself or jumping off of ledges over and over again.

So, what do you do with a girl like that?  You hope that the "good" part of her brain can pull up the "bad" part, since you're incapable of teaching much to either.  That someday, you'll be able to convince her to memorize definitions of words, rather than just spellings.  Eventually, she'll sort through things enough that she can tell you why an answer is right, rather than simply knowing.  Maybe she'll be able to build her own face-processor.  Maybe she'll meet intellects that rival her own, so she'll stop being so violently frustrated.  It will all fall into place in time: her comprehension of mankind will match her development of literary theory.  Her instinctive mathematics will be matched by an easy comprehension of proof.  She will no longer be obsessive.  She will no longer be repetitive.  She will no longer rub tables when stressed or take powers of two, from 0 to 100.  She will not dance the fibonacci sequence or cry because the lights are too loud.  No trouble with 5-minute schedule changes.  No flailing meltdowns when confronted with asymmetry.  She definitely won't almost go insane from loneliness.

Brilliance and normalcy, in one glowing package.

But it's not your problem, because the disparity between her talents and struggles is simply too great.

Forgive me.  I'm extremely bitter.  Coping better than I was until recently, but bitter.

[Armok]

((Will she also stop talking about herself in third person? Also, have you considered using something like Gödel numbering to somehow use that intuitive sense to generate proofs indirectly, or does that involve TO much arithmetic?
Hmm, depending on a few factors (including but not limited to that story actually being about you) I find myself interested in perhaps discussing math over PMs or something.))

[Cthulhu]

Did you put that whole post in parentheses?

[Jude]

From what I've heard of in the American '50s, weren't womans' legs a socially created sexual item, at least much more than now? America seems to only see breasts when either taking a shower or having sex, turning them into a sexual object.

Women's legs are still a "sexual item" because they're sexy to look at

Just not as sexy as boobs and ass, and we've gotten more permissive so media can go further in their titillation now

What I'm getting at is if breasts really were put on a public blacklist, the public would take another part of the body and sexualize it, like how legs were in the '50s. If they too were to be blacklisted, then something non-sexual (such as eyebrows?) would take its place?

It's not like body parts get "sexualized" that men didn't like to look at in the first place

[Jackrabbit]

I'm betting Midriffs make a comeback.

[Leafsnail]

I'd say that culture does have an impact - 100 years ago or so it was a woman's ankle that was meant to be the unspeakable area, and other cultures can ascribe beauty to different body parts (for an extreme example, think of the foot fetishism in ancient China).

[smigenboger]

Lets all hope midriffs make a comeback

[Jackrabbit]

It's not like they're not already a spot many people find attractive.

Although I bet if your midriff is flat you're a pedophile for showing people it.

[cowofdoom78963]

Why the hell are you calling it a midriff?


Its a stomach!

[Jackrabbit]

Midriff sounds... sexier...

[Creaca]

Bellys are only sexy if they're rocking a nice belly button. Or, managed to get some sexy well defined abs.

Or both...