Date:    Tue, 21 Apr 1998 13:12:22 -0600
<br>From:    "Donald M. Lance" <engdl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU>
<br>Subject: un- & -ate
<br>
<br>The User's Manual for UULite 3.0 says "One of UULite's main objectives is
<br>to simplify the process of undecoding files on the Mac."  Passim, one finds
<br>"uuencoding" alongside "uuundecoding."  Some time ago I remember seeing
<br>"unencoding."  Geek grammar rules?
<br>
<br>On the front page of the Fri, Apr 17, issue of USA Today, there was a story
<br>referring to some members of a group doing certain tasks and others
<br>administrating the program under discussion.  I failed to save the paper,
<br>and my memory has failed to resurrect details of the story other than the
<br>bare facts focusing on the word to which I'm drawing your attention.
<br>
<br>Tom Creswell's comments on prescriptivism were good.  Prescriptivism isn't
<br>all bad; it's actually what we all operate with much of the time, in
<br>language as well as in other activities.
<br>
<br>I was away for three weeks and have some comments on topics no longer being
<br>discussed on ads-l.  Freshman (and even sophomore) comp courses are
<br>interesting cultural phenomena.  A substantial part of comp courses is
<br>acculturation, with writing being a secondary vehicle in the education
<br>process.  Note the kinds of readings that English departments tend to
<br>require for these courses -- not what the students would have chosen, but
<br>what the literature and rhetoric professors think our young SHOULD read.
<br>And they are asked to write papers that aren't like anything else the
<br>students will encounter in their working lives, though these essay
<br>assignments serve as a check for the instructor to see whether the student
<br>has dealt the assignment appropriately.  Not always, of course, and not
<br>always so cut-n-dried.  In research universities with big English
<br>departments, TAships also have an acculturation function for graduate
<br>students who are learning how to be English professors.  (I went to a Jim
<br>Sledd session at CCCC, so some may think my brain got infected with some
<br>Sleddian nonsense that is reflected in this posting.)
<br>
<br>DMLance
<br>