An interesting thing happened to my wife this afternoon. She and my oldest son went to pick up one of his friends and take them to the local skateboard park. As you can imagine, because my son Andrew is 16 and learning to drive, and because he friend is also 16 and learning to drive, the conversation wound its way to cars.

Andrew told his friend that he was learning to drive my 4Runner and he was also learning in Liz's Acura. He said that the only car he hasn't driven was my S2000. Liz interjected that it's a manual transmission and first he's learning to drive the other two.

At that point Andrew's friend said that he has driven a manual transmission. We are very friendly with his parents and know that they only have cars with automatics so Liz asked him which car has a manual. He promptly answered that it was his aunt's Acura TL. Liz, who has a TL, told him that they are only available in automatic. His reply was that it has a manual too, it has the sportshift option. Wow.

Liz, who drives a manual very well, was flabbergasted. She said that its not a manual, there's no clutch, all you are doing is shifting an automatic. His reply was that he was shifting so its a manual. Liz didn't know what to say. It was clear that Andrew's friend truly believed that he was driving a manual transmission.

My question is this, have we so watered down everything that things have lost all of their traditional meaning? Have we allowed our young people to see things so differently than we do? Have we allowed them to fool themselves into believing things that are so obviously wrong? Have we allowed the meaning of things to change?

The fact that it was an automatic transmission posing as a manual is just an example. I have heard kids talk about how they are doing well in school with a C average. I have heard Andrew's friends complain about how hard they are working at the end of a 4 hour shift. I have heard an awful lot of things that make me wonder, "How can you say that? How can you think that?"

Have perceptions changed that much?

 

Eh. Kids always have vocabulary problems. I even remember a specific time when I was very young when I didn't understand the word "bastard" and used it at a bad time. Got my cousin in trouble for that.

Alternatively, some kids think they're doing terrible if they don't get an A+.

Just normal kid/growing-up stuff, I think.

 

Maybe Andrew's friend has never been in a manual transmission car. He's in for a rude awakening someday!

 

The kids of today have a whole different understanding of OUR (vintage) language.
I was listening to my two grandson's (ages 9 & 8) and they kept saying they had issues with a friend of theirs. When I asked what "issues" means, they didn't know.

 

Ralper, this is fairly normal teenage behaviour. I too have a pair of "know it all teenagers" under my roof.

As with any learning process, youth unfortunately learns how to copy (sometimes incorrectly) before it learns how to understand and think independently.


Yes, it's a fine line between getting smug satisfaction when you can show them how ignorant they are, and trying to help them to mature without hurting themselves.

 

It is watered down. Our children and our grand children are being raised in a PC society. Everything must be expressed in the most innocuous terms lest we offend. Play dates, issues, agenda, etc. What a bunch of BS. People should still be able to express themselves.

Rant! Rant! Rant!

 

An aside, the 2004 TL is avaiable with a full-up 6 speed manual, as was the the CL-S in 2002 and 2003 (I think).

 

Yes.

More situations showing the assimilation of our culture by the ing politically correct mindset.

 

Consider the language used by the various adult S2000 owners here on this board... Specifically, in regards to the type of transmission used on the paddle-shifted Ferrari 360 Modena. Is it a semi-automatic? Semi-manual? Squential? SMG? Clutchless manual? I've seen all of those used, and there's always debated on what to properly call these devices.

Does that mean that our modern language is becoming "watered down"?

I also don't understand how a kid saying a car with a manually operated automatic transmissions (hehe) is a "manual" has anything to do with political correctness and suppression of personal expression... (Reference Gov Arnold's "girly men" comment. How watered down is that, eh? )

 

[QUOTE=Elistan,Jul 23 2004, 09:18 AM] I also don't understand how a kid saying a car with a manually operated automatic transmissions (hehe) is a "manual" has anything to do with political correctness and suppression of personal expression...