Grammar

[Richard J Senghas]

So much for any heartening aspect....

-RJS

At 4:01 PM -0500 6/14/06, Robert Lawless wrote:
>Richard. You might not be so generous in your interpretation if you 
>had heard the extremely threatening tone of the father's voice and 
>seen the fear in the boy's face. I believe the underlying message 
>was, "You've ruined my day, and I'm going to beat the shit out of 
>you when we get home." Robert.
>
>At 11:05 AM 6/14/2006, Richard J Senghas wrote:
>>
>>[Unsolicited social commentary:  It is heartening to see a parent 
>>realize that giving less to such a child may be a more effective 
>>way to foster appreciation than continued escalation of gifts in 
>>the hope of finally pleasing a child.  I sure hope the father's 
>>actions ended up being consistent with the rhetoric, otherwise it 
>>seems to descend into shaming, however unintentional, IMHO.]

-- 
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Richard J. Senghas, Professor            | Sonoma State University
Anthropology/Linguistics                 | 1801 East Cotati Avenue
Coordinator, Linguistics Program         | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
Richard.Senghas at sonoma.edu               | 707-664-3920 (fax)