"Don't Say Gay"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Doesn't "indoctrinate" usually have distinct brainwashing connotations
nowadays? Particularly when applied to children?

Totalitarians "indoctrinate" schoolchildren. We "educate" them.

JL

On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:41 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Don't Say Gay"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Feb 16, 2012, at 8:30 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>
>> On Feb 16, 2012, at 8:15 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>
>>> That's the name of the Tennessee bill that prohibits the discussion of
>>> any gay issues in schools prior to 9th grade. But this is not why I am
>>> forwarding this. John DeBerry (D-Memphis) made an argument in support of
>>> the proposition:
>>>
>>>> The basic right as an American is my right to life, my right to
>>>> liberty and my right to the pursuit of happiness. Within that includes
>>>> being able to run my home, raise my children as I see fit and to
>>>> indoctrinate them as I see fit.
>>>
>>> What got my attention was the beginning of the second sentence, "within
>>> that includes..." that treats "within that" as a subject.
>>>
>>>    VS-)
>>
>> Interesting catch. And it sounds perfectly normal, evidence that grammar is a construction fabricated from patterns in speech.
>
>
> BTW, this doesn't feel like "within that" is the subject.
>
> To me, it feels like "within that" is preposed as a topic and "includes" somehow is "is included." I can't justify it, though.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
>
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