Is "starting the car" turning the key (which we all do), "pushing the starter button" (which S2000 owners do), or "crank starting (which old MG driver's such as your Dad did, at least on occasion). As with all things, times change, transmission change, definitions change, etc. I've driven the paddle shifter Caddy - was it manual, was it automatic, was it F1 driver what-to-be, who knows. Heck, I remember shifting "fluid drive" transmissions..... One should not over think this stuff.

 

Ah, got it.

Let's see... "Have we allowed the meaning of things to change?" Well, basically, yes. Notice that we're not speaking Middle English anymore. The way Shakespere uses English is very different from you and I. Tell somebody from the UK that you're going to a "strip mall" and you'll get a really weird look. We probably even speak in a different manner than our great granparents. This isn't a matter of things being "watered down," it's simply the normal evoltuion of language.

 

Don't get me started:

In a society that no longer leaves children back but promotes them to the next grade.

Sports like little leaque baseball that no longer exist as we knew it? No one pitches, they hit off a a tee?

Years ago people in the Commonwealth of Virginia complained that parallel parking was too difficult and therefore should be removed from the driver's test?

 

<rant>

From a recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal by a prominent American politician. In keeping with the non-partisan policies of this forum, no names will be named. Suffice it to say that this politician has unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination of one of our two major parties. I'll only discuss who in PM's or emails, not in the public forum. The editorial was about greenhouse gases and global warming.

"But, compare this to the costs of inaction. According to a U.N. study,
every ton of greenhouse gas emitted into our atmosphere costs each American
up to $160 per year -- and we are currently emitting billions of tons each
year"


Now, I'm not the best educated guy around, but I did complete junior high school...

"Each American" means me. I'm one American, so it costs me personally that much.

"each ton costs each American up to $160/year...billions of tons each year" let's see, $160/ton * 2,000,000,000 tons/year (billions means at least 2 billion, right?) = $320,000,000,000 per year for my personal share of the bill. Damn, I need a raise. How about you? How are you going to pay your $320,000,000,000 per year share of the cost?

OK, there's that "up to" mealy-mouthed weasel phrase. How about 1.6 cents/ton. That would make the $160 number an overstatement by a factor of 1,000,000 percent. Lets see $0.016/ton * 2,000,000,000 tons/year... My share would still be $32,000,000 per year; damn, I still need a big raise. How about you?

Obviously, one of two things happened here:


1. This politician believes what he/she wrote. He/she received "social promotions" to maintain his/her "self-esteem". The system is so watered down as to be unworthy of any support. This person should have remained in junior high school until he/she quit school, but is a college graduate.
2. This politician is sitting back smoking big cigars and laughing at the American people, because in the aggregate we're a bunch of stupid sob's who'll never catch on to this kind of thing.

H. L. Mencken was an optimist.

</rant>

 

Short answer..yes everything is watered down, bland, tasteless and pureed for your enjoyment. PC and the emasculation of males has seen to that.

But...keep in mind that your great grandpappy thought a manual transmission was reins....

 

What do you expect? Half of all Americans have below-average intelligence!

 

If it worked for our President, why not everyone else?

Dean

 

My daughter and I had a knock down-drag out last night because she felt that college grades were unimportant as long as she got the degree. I was unable to impress upon her the error in her thinking

On a lighter note... George Carlin has some great examples of how words have been changed and watered down. (Usually by using more syllables) He observed how "shell shock" became "battle fatigue" and finally "post traumatic stress disorder"; toilet paper became "bathroom tissue", "the bomb" became a "nuclear device", constipation became "occasional irregularity", blind became "visually impaired", stupid became "minimally exceptional", a doctor became a "wellness provider", and poor people who lived in slums are now economically disadvantaged individuals living in substandard housing.

 

If she's still comsidering the academic track that you told me about, she's in for a rude awakening.
For my advanced Biology classes a GPA of 3.0 or better is required to take the class. All Biology grad schools that I'm aware of also require a minimum of 3.0 to get in, and the GPA must be maintained at 3.0 or above to remain in the program. Also, grades in each class must be 3.0 or better for the class to count toward graduation.

Dean

 

this one's my older daughter... already at college. She seems to think that since she's at such a hard school, she can't be expected to do as well as she did in HS.

Fortunately, the younger one still has a GPA of 4.3 (You can go over 4 these days in HS )