Saturday, March 03, 2007
Grammar Police, Idiot Brigade
So I'm a bit OCD about grammar. I was reading an article written by a fellow student, on a topic near and dear to my heart, but had to stop midway through when I encountered the following: "...as an American who's parents have no insurance..." But nothing makes me crazier than when I know I'm fucking up, but don't know why.
So this is a question for anyone out there who knows better than me: am I doing that/which correctly? I think of it this way: THAT specifies, WHICH defines - "That chair, which is red," etc. Or am I still recovering from my DCPS days?
Speaking of public schools, Virginia governor Tim Kaine is going halfway towards doing the right thing with regards to Gardasil and students in his state: he will sign a bill requiring that girls get the vaccine, but not if their parents object. Why, you ask, might parents object to their daughters being protected from a deadly disease (cervical cancer)? Well, because having the vaccine might encourage them to be sluttier, of course! There's no evidence that this will be the case - most American adults don't know what HPV is, let alone pre-teen kids. But who cares? This is America. we don't need evidence!
Sorta similarly, the death of a Maryland 12-year-old, due to a tooth infection which spread to his brain, has put the focus on poor people's lack of dental care. This is a major issue, but generally gets forgotten in discussions of health care coverage. I'm not really *that* poor, but I haven't been to a dentist in about six years, because I have no insurance, and couldn't pay for it. Another reason we need national coverage!
So this is a question for anyone out there who knows better than me: am I doing that/which correctly? I think of it this way: THAT specifies, WHICH defines - "That chair, which is red," etc. Or am I still recovering from my DCPS days?
Speaking of public schools, Virginia governor Tim Kaine is going halfway towards doing the right thing with regards to Gardasil and students in his state: he will sign a bill requiring that girls get the vaccine, but not if their parents object. Why, you ask, might parents object to their daughters being protected from a deadly disease (cervical cancer)? Well, because having the vaccine might encourage them to be sluttier, of course! There's no evidence that this will be the case - most American adults don't know what HPV is, let alone pre-teen kids. But who cares? This is America. we don't need evidence!
Sorta similarly, the death of a Maryland 12-year-old, due to a tooth infection which spread to his brain, has put the focus on poor people's lack of dental care. This is a major issue, but generally gets forgotten in discussions of health care coverage. I'm not really *that* poor, but I haven't been to a dentist in about six years, because I have no insurance, and couldn't pay for it. Another reason we need national coverage!
Labels: dentistry, Gardasil, grammar, HPV, idiocy, insurance, OCD, poverty., school, teeth, Virginia
