No, I wasn't referring to viewing re-runs of The Omen or Frankenstein or Werewolf movies. IT's because a supposedly leading College promoting education in English has committed a fundamental English breach in its expensive advertising, and occasionally interrupting my enjoyment when its PROMO AD came on. THE HOWLER is so JARRING I thought I would wait for two weeks before I write about it to give a chance to those people at VISION COLLEGE to wake up to the Howler and take remedial action. Silence.
THis Howler -- a mistake in English that makes one yell out in pain, so jarring to the ears when spoken! It may even make Desi hit the roof but I can't afford the repair! IT's bearable for ordinary folks, but in DEsi's vocabulary, not so for a tertiary institution (and Desi I'd humbly add...) as it would have many experts (and a paid Advertising/Public RElations Agency) oversighting such matters, and that HOWLER should have been detected by now. Don't the staff view their own advertisements aired over TV? Hey, it's an expensive affair, and THIS WRITE UP BY DESI IS A SORT OF CSM (COmmunity Service Message) to improve English proficiency in NegaraKu..
I won't tell you now what that Howler is, will leave thee alone to detect it before I come back to the subject, alright? That's a rhetorical question, but if you want to answer it, I don't mind because if you are keen to improve on this language, I'm thy fRiend.
As I mentioned in my last two posts, I am taking a break from socio-political writes, so it's back to desiderata.english. I teased by stating I would go to Haiti -- which is a play of word -- as I meant it to be the PLURAL FORM of Hiatus (some prefer Hiatuses, I won't disagree...), got it?
Now digressing a bit or a byte, but there's RELEVANCE which you will also detect later:~~~
from rhymes.org.uk:~~~~~~
Nursery Rhymes Lyrics and Origins
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Mondays Child Rhyme
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Nursery Rhyme & History
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Those of my Esteemed Readers who know Desi well, could have guessed I like to sing, so you could have bumped into him at the Karaoke joint near the Temiang Corner, also adjoining a KFC outlet in SEremban, known as Furong in Mandarin.
Digressing further, let me reproduce from my first week's writes a sort of Background piece of my intentions/aims of starting this Blog on The Ides of March way back when...
Back to my stated Objectives as revealed in my first three Posts from March 15, 2005, to date they are, in gist:
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I shall be touching on subjects broadly categorised as desiderata.english; desiderata.civilsociety; desiderata.truth -- generally with the ultimate objective of promoting the love and appreciation of outstanding writings in English; the cultivation and promotion of human traits and endeavours to build a civil Malaysian society, and finally, if possible, embark with fellow travellers in this journey called Life in the pursuit of Truth, that undefinable yet essential and desiderable, in my opinion, ingredient in the civilization process so that the human race continues to uplift itself beyond and above the banal, the demeaning and the destructive actvities that now pervade, and in some societies, even dominate human activities worldwide.
DESIDERATA will take another bre k here as he woke up at 5.15AM to do this piece; I have to hit the hay again as I have an important BF date to keep....YL, Desi @6.10AM
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I have HIGHLIGHTED in red this line in the nursery rime
Back to my stated Objectives as revealed in my first three Posts from March 15, 2005, to date they are, in gist:
**
I shall be touching on subjects broadly categorised as desiderata.english; desiderata.civilsociety; desiderata.truth -- generally with the ultimate objective of promoting the love and appreciation of outstanding writings in English; the cultivation and promotion of human traits and endeavours to build a civil Malaysian society, and finally, if possible, embark with fellow travellers in this journey called Life in the pursuit of Truth, that undefinable yet essential and desiderable, in my opinion, ingredient in the civilization process so that the human race continues to uplift itself beyond and above the banal, the demeaning and the destructive actvities that now pervade, and in some societies, even dominate human activities worldwide.
DESIDERATA will take another bre k here as he woke up at 5.15AM to do this piece; I have to hit the hay again as I have an important BF date to keep....YL, Desi @6.10AM
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I have HIGHLIGHTED in red this line in the nursery rime
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
BECAUSE yes, today, someone out dare, sorry it's mainly folks associated with VISION COLLEGE, will feel AWFUL (If ****DDC is used here, I'd spell as Awefool, see?)
After airing for weeks, none of its staff (Hey you bright sparks among the student community, similarly Ignoramus like cows?) detected that the last word in my Post's title up there should be in the PLURAL FORM, that is, COLLEGES, with an "s" that was clearly missing in its advertising message (If DDC were to be used here, that missing letter "s" would be spelt as "ass", sorry I digressed again!)
Similar examples, correct here, to compare with:
One of the BOYS had gone missing in the woods.
One of the CHILDREN is absent from class today.
IF you left out the "s" in BOYS,or substitute CHILD for CHILDREN and read aloud by the unknowing lecturer, the sentences would be so "JARRING" it would make the language purist at the British Council scream, no?
To my mind, HAD there been a bright spark among the VC studentS detected the MISTAKE and brought it to the attention of the College authorities, they could have rewarded him with a Scholarship. So if you are a student there, and now bring Desi's CSM to their attention, they may yet gift thee a "minor" scholarship!
NOW, going back to the nursery rhyme/rime, I suggest you catch Desi at the Butterfly Valley karaoke tonight from 8.00PM and I will try my best to entertain you with Wednesday's Child, indeed a "child of woe", Matt Monro's version. There was this movie I saw way back when this was featured as the theme song in "Quiller's Memorandum", haunting and exquisite. I like Matt's singing for HIS ENUNCIATION of the WORDS, and Desi shalt end his write today with quoting from one of Bee Gees' hitS, and "Words are all I have to take your heart away! " ~~ YL, Desi
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