use Perl

• 2 + 2 isn't whatever you want it to be (Score:2)

  by merlyn (47)

  For this, some chastised me, saying all people make language errors, and we shouldn't judge people based on their cultural writing styles.

  At some point in the last 20 years, "how a person feels" overtook "whether or not the work is effective" in our school system. Not sure how, or precisely when. But this is the result. We've got a bunch of people who temporarily feel happy, but then go on to lead miserable lives because they aren't told that some things work and other things don't, and that life isn

  --
  

  • Randal L. Schwartz
  • Stonehenge
  • Re:2 + 2 isn't whatever you want it to be (Score:1)

    by jordan (120) on 2002.09.26 10:39 (#13337) Homepage Journal

    • At some point in the last 20 years, "how a person feels" overtook "whether or not the work is effective" in our school system.

    
    

    Yes, and it's insidious.
    

    Back when I was a child, we were taught "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me." This good adage wasn't actually taught in schools, but transmitted by society.
    

    My daughter was taught in the public school "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can break my heart." The clear implication being that psychological damage is far more dangerous than physical assault.
    

    This attitude sets us up for a kind of tyranny, I fear, as nobody will speak for fear of offense and anything you say might be offensive to someone.

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    • Re:2 + 2 isn't whatever you want it to be (Score:3, Funny)

      by gnat (29)

      Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can break my heart

      Note to self: teach William better versions.

      Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words are merely a clumsy discrete representation of a multidimensional continuum of internal images and emotions

      and

      Sticks and stones will break your bones and words are how I'll frame your friends

      and

      Sticks and stones will OW! FUCK! THAT HURT! THAT'S IT, MOTHERFUCKER, YOU'RE DEAD!

      --Nat