Slanty letters . . .

[Charles Doyle]

To carry Jonathan's recounting (of the M.D. who did not know
the term "italics") a step farther:

A few years ago a policeman neighbor of mine (probably in
his late 30's) was taking a freshman English course by
correspondence.  He came over to my house to consult with me
about a particular workbook exercise, which called for
identifying the parts of speech of the "italicized words"
(so-designated) in some sentences.  Not only was my neighbor
unfamiliar the term "italicized"; he was unable visually to
detect which words looked different from the others
(more "slanty").

There's a lesson there for workbook-makers.  Old-fashioned
underlining has its uses!

--Charlie



---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:16:18 -0700
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: Has it truly come to this?
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>Yes.  (I believe I mentioned last year the experienced M.D.
of my acquaintance who was unfamiliar with the
word "italics."  He called them "slanty letters" and was
impressed that I had a big word for them.)
>

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