national writing day

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/21/2009 11:57 AM, Dennis Baron wrote:
>it's a fake quote, Joel!

Which, the Lamar Alexander or the William Berkeley?  8-)

But thanks for alerting me not to look further.  It was quite
believable -- especially if no Republican except Olympia Snow voted
for the Congressional resolution.  (Although I now see that specific
votes were not recorded.)

Slightly apropos:  Some months ago I predicted to a friend that one
of the two Mane women Republican senators would soon switch to
Democrat, thereby giving them a filibuster-proof majority.  I was
blind-sided by Arlen Specter, whom I never would have guessed --
hadn't he spoken out, and been a swing vote, for confirmation
of  Clarence Thomas?

Joel

>____________________
>Dennis Baron
>Professor of English and Linguistics
>Department of English
>University of Illinois
>608 S. Wright St.
>Urbana, IL 61801
>
>office: 217-244-0568
>fax: 217-333-4321
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>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron
>
>read the Web of Language:
>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
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>
>On Oct 21, 2009, at 9:58 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>Subject:      Re: national writing day
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Dennis,
>>
>>I'm sending the Web of Language article to two teachers of ESL I know.
>>
>>1)  For your quotation from Sen. Alexander:  I didn't find it
>>Googling.  And the paragraph is not in the Web article -- were you
>>unable to verify it?  8-)
>>
>>2)  It might be amusing to add Virginia Gov. William Berkeley's 1670
>>remark upon printing (and "free schools").  I found the following via
>>Google Books in _Religion in America ..._ by Robert Baird (1844),
>>page 147, footnote:
>>
>>"Sir William Berkeley, in 1670, in replying to the inquiries
>>addressed to him by the Lords of Plantations, says:
>>'I thank God, _there are no free schools nor printing,_ and I hope we
>>shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought
>>_disobedience,_ and _heresy,_ and _sects_ into the world, and
>>printing has divulged them, and libels against the best
>>government.  God keep us from both!' "
>>
>>3)  And to add a comment about prohibitions against printing the
>>Bible in the vernacular, and against the hoi polloi reading it.
>>
>>Joel
>>
>>At 10/21/2009 12:31 AM, Dennis Baron wrote:
>>>There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>>>
>>>It's National Writing Day. I wrote today, did you?
>>>
>>>Senate Resolution 310 proclaims today, Oct. 20, as the National Day
>>>on
>>>Writing. Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English,
>>>the
>>>National Day on Writing seeks to promote personal, professional, and
>>>civic writing in all its forms and celebrates writing by establishing
>>>a National Writing Gallery to display all the writing created on
>>>National Writing Day.
>>>
>>>The Senate resolution passed only because nowhere in its text are the
>>>words "health care" or "communism"; there is no mention of the colors
>>>red or pink; and so far as the administration's leftist agenda is
>>>concerned, left-handed writers are specifically prohibited from
>>>receiving government funds for any writing-related activities.
>>>
>>>Speaking against the resolution, however, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R.,
>>>Tenn.) attacked the National Writing Day for promoting socialism. As
>>>Alexander told a gathering at the Hoover Institution, "The
>>>Resolution's second whereas clearly states, 'Whereas the social
>>>nature
>>>of writing invites people of every age, profession, and walk of life
>>>to create meaning through composing.' That says it right there, the
>>>'social nature of writing' -- writing is a socialist activity."
>>>
>>>Read the rest of this post on the Web of Language: http://bit.ly/weblan
>>>
>>>
>>>____________________
>>>Dennis Baron
>>>Professor of English and Linguistics
>>>Department of English
>>>University of Illinois
>>>608 S. Wright St.
>>>Urbana, IL 61801
>>>
>>>office: 217-244-0568
>>>fax: 217-333-4321
>>>
>>>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron
>>>
>>>read the Web of Language:
>>>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>>>
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>>
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