to be numerate

[Rick Barr]

MW's Unabridged has an entry for it, and so does MW's Collegiate. There's
also the celebrated book called "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its
Consequences"* *(first published in 1988), written by the American professor
John Allen Paulos.

-- Rick


On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 10:59 PM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      to be numerate
>
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>
> Is the term "numeracy" used in USA akin to the term "literacy"?  So that
> one should be "numerate" as well as "literate".
>
>
> From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> The portmanteau of "numerical literacy" was coined in 1959 by the UK
> Committee on Education, presided over by Sir Geoffrey Crowther.[1]
>
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>
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> ----------------------------------------
> > Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 21:12:31 -0400
> > From: hwgray at GMAIL.COM
> > Subject: Re: Clashing slang
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > Subject: Re: Clashing slang
> >
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> >
> > The version that I've heard was from '50's Yale. AFAIK, these songs
> > were unknown in Saint Louis, as was "diddle" in the relevant sense. A
> > friend went off to Yale in '54 and came back knowing the version of
> > the song that, sadly, continues to run through my mind. Further
> > deponent sayeth not.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 3:29 PM, wrote:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society
> >> Poster: ronbutters at AOL.COM
> >> Subject: Re: Clashing slang
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> In Iowa in the 1950s he did not bang her, he DIDDLED her.
> >> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Wilson Gray
> >> Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 13:41:14
> >> To:
> >> Subject: [ADS-L] Clashing slang
> >>
> >> Back in 1949(?), I read a story by Damon Knight entitled, "Not With a
> >> Bang." This title struck me as so hip that it introduced me to, and
> >> made me a fan of, T.S. Eliot, one of Saint Louis's most famous native
> >> sons. Only a few moments ago, however, did it strike me that this
> >> title is a pun.
> >>
> >> The story is about a jerk, probably the last man on earth, who
> >> ultimately fails in his efforts to seduce a woman, probably the last
> >> woman on earth, so as to begin the repopulation of the world with
> >> humanity.
> >>
> >> _Bang_ as a slang term meaning
> >>
> >> "engage(ment) in sexual intercourse"
> >>
> >> does not exist in the BE of my generation. However, by sheer
> >> coincidence, the old, (white) college drinking-song with the words,
> >>
> >> "He banged her once / He banged her twice / He banged her once too often
> ..."
> >>
> >> was running through my mind. Then... *Flash!* It hit me:
> >>
> >> "This is the way the world ends / *Not* with a_bang_"!
> >> --
> >> -Wilson
> >> –––
> >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >> –Mark Twain
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > –––
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > –Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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