"Don't Say Gay"

[Laurence Horn]

On Feb 16, 2012, at 11:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Doesn't "indoctrinate" usually have distinct brainwashing connotations
> nowadays? Particularly when applied to children?
>
> Totalitarians "indoctrinate" schoolchildren. We "educate" them.
>
> JL

This is Tennessee we're talking. Besides, if we're indoctrinating them with The Truth, what could be wrong with that?  What are you, some kind of God-hating Darwin-loving socialist?

LH


>
> 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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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