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rr ¢ "ne steed baa GAT? vasa Tara 10 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, June 20, 1989 )if The Top by Rob Streich Da lowdown on the lousy way we gab, kinda. "Today class, our subject is the English language, Canadi- an dialect, Ontario idiom, Greater Toronto Area jargon. Off the top, let me establish that | hold no claim to being a grammatically superior speaker (or writer for that matter) than anyone else. | make frequent mistakes, and not simply for ar- istic license as | once heard someone use as an excuse. The English language is one of several Germanic languag- , es, better d Singita as Anglo-Saxon. It is also one of the most widely used languages for all of its young years (compared to ancient oriental languages like Cantonese which have had four or five thousand years to develop into their present form). It is my humble submission, that English is only Just out of infancy, and it is experiencing the growing pains and influences of different cultures and new ideas generated by technology. As science discovers more the need to label more precisely grows. The popular way to deal with this is the creation of new words which have only the unique meaning one has ascribed to them. New concepts are often drawn from root words in the sci- entific language of Greek. New diseases are labelled universal- ly by the discoverer i.e. Marfan Syndrome was found by Marfan. Beyond the obvious potpourri of words from different lan- uages, creeping into common usage, | have heard it suggested at our great language is losing its backbone, its structure. - For expediency sake, many people don't use articles any longer or substitute slurred phrases for the, a, an. "Going da store Hon- ey, anything you'd like?" What's going next prepositions? | dont want to blame my schooling, but once | had grasped the basic concepts of nouns, verbs, adjectives and ad- verbs, no one tried to teach me anything more. When | went to Journalism school | thought, "this is my big chance, now | will arn grammar and sentence structure.® Wrong. They too as- su that we knew it all, and here | go making more mistakes. | have a cartoon on the wall of my kitchen which shows a lady protesting on a street comer saying, "I am fasting until nouns like access and impact are no longer used as verbs." While | am not personally planning to take things that far, it would be nice for me and other people to tighten up their sen- tence structure and avoid taking on the unfortunate phraseology which is taught through popular television - "How'r ya." | opened a dictionary to a common slang term, "lousy". The word has one proper definition listed and two slang uses. Lousy of course means to be full of lice - why seven year old boys con- sider girls to be taboo, often confused with the 'cootie' beastie. How do we use the word? (1) To be mean or contemptible, as in "that was a lousy thing to do." (2) To be abundantly sup- plied, as in "The gallery was lousy with priceless paintings." The first definition seems awkward while the later two feel very comfortable. In a generation or two, the proper definition will be oy wh with our blessing. Our great grandchildren will not even know that there was any other form of usage. Our speech may seem stilted and as funny to them as olde English is for us today. But think of the benefits. Dictionaries will be smaller, and people will quickly say what they need to - gnarly! Port Perry Counselling Service MEDICAL ASSOCIATES, 462 PAXTON ST. 4 YR Maureen Salkeld, B.A., M.Ed. CO RELY -- PSYCHOTHERAPY -- exo" -- MARRIAGE & FAMILY COUNSELLING -- -- DIVORCE MEDIATION -- 985-075 -- STRESS MANAGEMENT -- -- DAY or EVENING -- Coming to ... PORT PERRY SATURDAY, JULY 8th, 1989 ¢ Loyal Orange PARADE To start at PALMER PARK at 1:30 PM PARADE ROUTE: Water Street, up Casimer, turn on Lilla St., then on Clark, onto Ella Street, then down Queen St. to Park. Bands will play in the park gazebo before and after parade. An Aquaintance Party will take place at the Chamber of Com- merce tent. Everyone is welcome. Letter S to the editor Just a few questions & thoughts To the Editor: The following is a multitude of curious questions and thoughts I have on various sub- jects that have been brought to light recently. Just why is it that it takes a specific request from the Mayor before the Po- lice lay charges in regards to law breakers, eg. Test Hill, snowmobile bylaw (Winter 89/ 90 presumably). Why was nearly everyone amazed at the June 5/89 snow- mobile bylaw meeting that the Police have the use of four snow- mobiles? Do they exist, has any- one seen them? Should we be calling the May- or to request radar traps in Ap- ple Valley, Lilla St., Hwy 7A, the Oshawa Rd., etc. to curb the speeders that endanger our and our childrens'lives? Maybe so. Why is it that property taxes went up by 20 to 48 per cent? Not only were we all reassessed to '84 values, but then a general increase as well. Something smells in Port. Can you just im- agine our tax bill when they do it to '89 values--lookout.Toronto doesn't have market value as- sessment, so why do we? Why doesn't the Township install steel posts at the en- trances to the walkways in Ap- ple Valley to curtail the cars, motorcycles and snowmobiles illegal and dangerous use of the walkways? Is the Township anxious to be sued by any in- Jured parties for milliona of dol- lars, apparently so as they were requested many months ago. ease don't say due to budget cuts, that lame excuse wouldn't hold up in court especially not after the current tax hikes. These were just a few of the questions/thoughts I have had in recent weeks and no doubt others have had the same or similar ones. Maybe I'l] see a re- sponse in the paper to some of them. Yours Truly, N. Thompson, Port Perry. Scugog's an honest community To the Editor: I would just like to say what a pleasure it is to live in such an honest community. Here is an ex- ample of what happened to me recently. On the long weekend of May 20, I thought I would take my daughter downtown for a walk and catch the sidewalk sale along * with the 75 cent hot dog & pop sale sponsored by the B.I.A. (Business Improvement Association). To make a long story short I bought two hot dogs and drinks at the stand in front of the Post Of- fice. I gave the boy behind the stand a twenty dollar bill and at { Karisme Communications * WORD PROCESSING * FAX SERVICE * PHOTO COPIES 192 Queen Street (above the Post Office) 985-0300 FAX: 985-9357 ORT PERRY auto glass & trim that point it started to rain fairly heavy. Without thinking I grabb- ed the hot dog and drinks and took off with my daughter to get shelter from the rain and left my change on the table, not realizing it just then. That evening 1 went to the Country Corners Cafe for fish & chips and then realized I did not have my change. I went past the Post Office but everyone was gone, so I thought I would just cut my loss. A few days later a customer Pat knew was in the store and she told him what had happened to me since he was con- nected with the event. He in turn 399 Queen St. &, : WITH THIS COUPON a 985-8507 - MOBILE SERVICE - GUARANTEED WORKMANSHIP 3 Y Tare georst NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER & FALL REGISTRATIONS Stonemoor provides a Child Enrichment Program for children 18 mths to 9 yrs. Open year round from 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM. Full and 1/2 days available. Nursery School Program for mornings only. Professional Trained Staff. Nutritious Hot Lunches & Snacks. Air Conditioned Premises. Stimulating and Adventurous Outdoor Play Areas. For further information phone ... 985-0800 * * » # Specializing in Early Childhood Education «# « # « went back to Ken Currie who was the chair person of this event. Ken then mentioned this at the B.I. A. meeting and on June 8 Pat called me to say the B.I.A. had return- ed my change and left it with her. The boy at the stand had remembered me leaving my money on the table. If this had happened in a larger community or city I would not likely have got- ten my money back. So once again, it is nice to live in a community that is so honest and sincere. Yours truly, Yvonne Spofford od Port Perry, Ont. 139 WATER ST. . 6 HIGH STREET PORT PERRY