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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
teachers are a strange lot. once, in a HS honors Eng. class, I wrote a story that had a car 'careering' out of control down a hilly road. it was red-lined, "no such word"; so when I did my edit (something she often asked us to do) I changed the word to 'careening', and was duly rewarded with "no such word". in spite of her, I maintained an interest in words.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear tsuwm: It sounds to me as though the school chose a lousy candidate for an English
honors course. Realistically, qualified teachers for such a course must be hard to find.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
no such wordInteresting, considering the amount of ink spilled over the insistence that careen should not be used when career is called for. For an enjoyable romp through the history of meaning shift, see the Usage Note for careen in the AHD http://www.bartleby.com/61/6/C0110600.html
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>Interesting, considering the amount of ink spilled...
perhaps not all that interesting in that the event happened... oh, just a career of years ago.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I learned the word "careen" from sea stories, where on long tropical voyages the hull
got so fouled, the ship had to be beached, where by tipping whole ship sidewise,
half of the hull was completely exposed for removal of the barnacles, etc. This being
done with ship motionless made it hard for me to see "careen" as describing violent
motion. And having learned "career" as curriculum vitae, which is seldom characterized
by rapid sustained change, I could not find it useful to descrive pedal to the metal
zigzag driving.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The extended meaning of careen came about from the leaning over of sailing ships due to high winds and/or heavy seas. This can be done in slow motion, but for it to happen to any other sort of vehicle, high speeds are normally required. That careen took over the duty of career is hardly surprising considering the lack of rapid sustained change normally associated with other definitions of the latter term.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Actually, Faldeggio, I did understand you, but wanted to make sure that I had understood correctly. It was so hard to believe that a teacher would not know that a kookaburra was a bird. I'm still shaking my head. But that's why I kept asking.
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
Commiserations, tsuwm. For me, it was getting the "no such word" redlining through "implode", used correctly, in the equivalent of 3rd grade. 
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Here is a site with a list of 17 species of diving ducks. Click on one of the species in the left coulumn for a photo and biological info (there are three types of mergansers listed). And click on the "Swans and Geese" link, Dub-Dub, for the answer to your question about their difference from ducks (there's also a "brant" link there): http://lavoieverte.qc.ec.gc.ca/faune/guide/html/canards_plong_e.html
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
The page cannot be found
careening along, it's deja vu all over again...
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