Editorial
The North Grenville Times
So, I find that really annoying situations were the word “so” is used. One is to emphasise: “It was so cold, I could hardly breathe”. The other is when you are explaining, when you are linking cause and effect. Example: “I was very cold, so I went inside”. Do you see the problem with the latest menace? They use “So” at the beginning of a sentence as if they were completing a thought - but there is no thought at all! I would understand it if they were saying something like: “I had a favourite red toy when I was young, so red is my favourite colour”. But no! The “So” is just thrown in there, without any rhyme or reason whatsoever. Why do they do this? It is almost as bad as the overuse of the answer given (primarily on CBC radio interviews for some reason) in almost every situation: “Absolutely!”. “Is red your favourite colour?” Answer: “Absolutely!”. “Does this strike you as strange?” “Absolutely!”. And the thing is, that “absolutely” is often
by David Shanahan So, it seems that more and more people are beginning to jump on a certain bandwagon. So, I am worried about trespassing on Pat Babin’s “Grammar Minute” toes here, but I feel I must speak out about this latest outrage to the English language. So, it involves people who insist on beginning sentences with the word “So”. You hear them on the radio being interviewed about something or other. They may be experts in a particular field, or just an everyday Canadian being asked a few simple questions. But they begin their answer with...”So,...”! For example, the question may be: “What is your favourite colour?”. The answer comes: “So, I’ve always liked red.” Question: “Is there any evidence for global warming?” Answer: “So, there appears to be some reason....etc.”. Now I can think of two
not the right word to use in the context, but does anyone mind? Absolutely! Is this worse than that other bugbear of mine - “irregardless”? You know this one: “I intend to go ahead, irregardless”. This is really a confusion with the word “irrespective”, and it actually says the complete opposite of what the speaker means. It is, in fact, a double negative: the speaker wants to say that he will go ahead without regard to opposition. That is, regardless of opposition. Irregardless really says, without-without regard. My head is now hurting, but, irregardless, I shall press on. So, I have yet another cause of complaint, hand wringing and cries of despair. People on the radio, again, are misusing prepositions: you know those little words that indicate direction, or association of some kind. Words like to, from, with, etc. I suffered greatly in school trying to learn proper grammar and the correct use of words. So, (linking word) when I
hear newsreaders, or other media types, say things like: “Spokes persons associated to the Government said...”, my teeth start to grind together in painful ways. Using the right preposition can be vital to the correct understanding of a sentence. “Throw that grenade to me” does not mean the same as “Throw that grenade at me”. The main difference, aside from bad usage, has to do with whether the pin is still attached to (not with) the grenade in question. There are two ways of dealing with this onslaught of bad English usage. One is to try and fight against a growing functional illiteracy in modern society, one which threatens to make our communication increasingly problematic. We can become known as fanatics and crackpots, demanding that some semblance of proper usage be maintained, if only by the normally authoritative sources, such as the CBC. The other approach, of course, is to sigh, and say: “So, what?”.
few more editorials. Thank you for probing these important topics in building a flourishing community. Harmen Boersma
government and corporate actions, are largely useless for the purpose given the expense of litigation. And the large corporate media are only interested in making a splash by reporting disasters far from our shores as opposed to pointing to serious problems in their own back yard; problems for homeowners in Beijing, for example, as opposed to problems faced by rural homeowners in Ontario . One solution is to look to the government closest to us and require leadership from it. We must require not just a branch plant of the provincial government, but a Municipal Council that supports the people of this area. A Council that will loudly and critically decry, as well as resisting provincial laws which damage residents of North Grenville, using every tool available. A Council
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Facilitator appointed for Kemptville College on hold by Beth Nicol The facilitators appointed by the government to work towards a long term solution for Kemptville and Alfred Colleges have been put on hold according to a statement by MPP Steve Clark on Twitter at press time on Monday, May 5. Earlier in the day, it was announced that the appointment of facilitators for Kemptville and Alfred Colleges had been made. Grant Crack, the MPP for GlengarryPrescott-Russell, confirmed the appointment of Lyle Vanclief for Kemptville College and Marc Godbout for Alfred. Lyle Vanclief is a former Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food for Canada (Liberal Party 1997-2003) and is graduate of the OAC University of Guelph. Marc Godbout is a former MP (Liberal Party 2004-2006) and a former Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education. A provincially appointed facilitator has been requested repeatedly by Leeds and Grenville MPP Steve Clark, the Kemptville College Renewal Task Force and local politicians to work with the KCRTF to determine long term plans for the future of the college. We will continue to wait and watch for additional information from Queen’s Park and we will keep you informed.
Letters to the editor Dear Editor: A few comments on your editorial on authority. Authority is a good and necessary concept in human society, don't you agree. Hopefully it is exercised with love, goodwill and wisdom. The great American thinker John Dewey proposed the democratic way of life and consequently flattened traditional ranking of authority and elevated the authority of the individual. Has it created a better society? Another helpful way to think about authority may be to understand that society has a social architecture: family, school, business, church, state, etc, as subdivisions of society. Each has its own form of authority which can only be exercised within that subdivision. Within the family, parental authority is only effective within the subdivision of the family.
Within the state, civil authority is only applicable in the subdivision of the state. Because the state covers a larger geography than other subdivisions, it is easily assumed that only the state has authority. It has the police and the army to enforce it. Naturally these subdivision touch each other and often interact beneficially. The family supports the school, the state provides for families, the business serves organizations. These multi relational networks enrich our society and our lives. It is worthwhile to consider where authority comes from: is it endowed from a higher authority or is it granted by the vote of the majority? How does that work in the family, the business, the political party, the church, the marriage, the school and the state? Voila, material for a
Dear Editor: Another excellent article on the nature o f g o v e r n m e n t , D r. Shanahan. Politicians at all levels have forgotten, if they ever knew, their duty to the people whom they tax. You have eloquently and briefly outlined that duty and its origins in political thinking. In effect, the population exists now to feed the ever-growing appetite of government and its powerful corporate allies, or so it would seem. The interests of individuals are not of real interest to these powerful allies. The courts, which could provide relief to those being damaged by
May 7, 2014
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table and in the halls of power at Queen's Park. With the help of those who are working to once again make government more responsive to the needs of taxpayers, I feel confident of success. Jim Bertram Candidate for Council
Open letter to the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville Could some priority be placed on the marking of the stop line markings for the new 4 way stop junction (Hurd/Somerville County Rd 18, Clothier St)? There continues to be quite a few instances whereby some drivers, despite your very good signage, are ignoring them, or are just not registering their meaning!! I, myself had a close call, yesterday when a driver came Mailing Address P.O. Box 35, Oxford Mills, ON, K0G 1S0
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which will alert the people of the area of the need to fight for the rights they in theory possess, but in practice are on the point of losing. A Council which will motivate people to commit resources to the fight to defend the rights of taxpayers instead of lying down in defeat when harm is done to our neighbours and fellow taxpayers. Let's test that notion of being a "caring community" by actually caring . I sincerely hope people will seriously attend to the coming election. And I undertake, if elected in this October's Council election, to maintain and enhance further, my own record of speaking out in representation of those who are not being heard by government. My only goal, in fact, in running, is to make room for the voice of North Grenville residents at the Council
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