Weirdest character you've ever danced with?

[pygmalion]

Everything seems so new when we were little. That's why watching the old Disney animated features with a little kid is so much fun.

That Gumby history is a worth-while read for us. Seems that they were new when I saw them in 1956-1958. However, there were also some new productions in the late sixties, so you're covered on that one too. I don't remember what show I saw them on, but I do remember watching Howdy-Doody -- as a kid I never understood why they kept calling the snack bar a "canteen"; I knew full well that a canteen was something you carried water in during a hike. And I also remember watching Pinky Lee's kid's show and was surprised seeing him again in a HBO burlesque special in the 80's (he was in the classic skit: "Scotch?" "No, Pekinese.").

I suspect I was seeing reruns, since I was in the preschool set and watching them at ten or eleven in the morning. They probably weren't new shows. They were new to me. That stop action animation seemed like such amazing technology to me at the time. :shock: How DID they get those clay dealies to move? I was fascinated. Very young and easily impressed, too.

 

[pygmalion]

I'm kind of a grammar geek, having started with German in high school and college under a couple old-school teachers (two years of high school German taught me more about English grammar than 12 years of English ever did) and now having moved on to computer languages. So I tend to shy away from arbitrary rules and view grammar more in terms of how the language is structured and just what meaning is being conveyed by a particular construct. I suspect it might be my German training that leads me to trying to pack as much into a single sentence as possible [grin].

Just thought you might enjoy -- or at least find interesting -- a site I found a couple days ago. It's the alt.usage.English FAQ at http://www.english-usage.com/faq.html , from where I had gotten the antonym for "distaff" (whew! I nearly ended that with a preposition!). It also lists several usage disputes, word and phrase origins, etc.

Thanks for the site. Will check it out.

I used to absolutely HATE grammar until I had Mrs. Klock, the world's best ninth grade English teacher. She taught grammar in an interesting way. She said it was more a series of observations about what works in a language tha a set of dusty old rules. That approach reached me. Mrs. Klock was great! And she introduced me to lots of great literature, as an added bonus.

I find, lately, that I have developed two sets of grammar rules that I use. First, there are the formal, Strunk and White rules, that I use when I'm writing for adult, formal consumption. And there is the totally informal, somewhat ungramatical writing style that resembles a conversation with a friend. The second version is full of sentence fragments and all sorts of other errors, LOL. But at least it doesn't "sound" stuffy. :wink:

 

[cocodrilo]

Totally off the dance subject, but one of my college kids had a POKEY KEY CHAIN! When I asked him if he knew what character it was, he said he had no idea... :cry:

 

[pygmalion]

Pokey was actually cooler than Gumby. Gumby had a power/control complex, IMHO. Pokey knew how to go with the flow. :lol:

 

[cocodrilo]

He was much cuter, too! :wink:

 

[DWise1]

I'm kind of a grammar geek, having started with German in high school and college under a couple old-school teachers (two years of high school German taught me more about English grammar than 12 years of English ever did) and now having moved on to computer languages. So I tend to shy away from arbitrary rules and view grammar more in terms of how the language is structured and just what meaning is being conveyed by a particular construct. I suspect it might be my German training that leads me to trying to pack as much into a single sentence as possible [grin].

Just thought you might enjoy -- or at least find interesting -- a site I found a couple days ago. It's the alt.usage.English FAQ at http://www.english-usage.com/faq.html , from where I had gotten the antonym for "distaff" (whew! I nearly ended that with a preposition!). It also lists several usage disputes, word and phrase origins, etc.

Thanks for the site. Will check it out.

I used to absolutely HATE grammar until I had Mrs. Klock, the world's best ninth grade English teacher. She taught grammar in an interesting way. She said it was more a series of observations about what works in a language tha a set of dusty old rules. That approach reached me. Mrs. Klock was great! And she introduced me to lots of great literature, as an added bonus.

I find, lately, that I have developed two sets of grammar rules that I use. First, there are the formal, Strunk and White rules, that I use when I'm writing for adult, formal consumption. And there is the totally informal, somewhat ungramatical writing style that resembles a conversation with a friend. The second version is full of sentence fragments and all sorts of other errors, LOL. But at least it doesn't "sound" stuffy. :wink:

Guess I just naturally sound stuffy, then. [grin]

I'm a strong advocate of teaching foreign languages in school. For me, a grammar is the structure of a language and the way that the language works and the key to using that language. But since we learn our first language before its grammar, we don't normally recognize what a grammar is for until we learn our first foreign language. Before then, unless we have had an exceptional teacher, grammar is just a bunch of meaningless rules that you either already know or that you don't use but remember only long enough to pass the test.

Personally, I cannot imagine what life would be like restricted to just one language. Kind of like life without dancing?

 

[salsachinita]

Hey, guys! What are wierd characters....? Every time I visited this thread I was kinda excited at the thought that there would be funny stories to read .........

 

[Sarah]

Hey, guys! What are wierd characters....? Every time I visited this thread I was kinda excited at the thought that there would be funny stories to read .........

Wierd characters are people who would rather discuss grammar than dancing. :lol: HTH.

Cheers
Sarah

 

[pygmalion]

Fine. I confess. I, too, am a weird character. :lol: