The teacher says the voting was because the class was learning about voting and tallies.
The mom of Alex's best friend - who was reported to have originally voted for him but was pressured by the teacher to change his vote - confirms the voting lesson and also that her son had wanted to vote to keep Alex.
quote:Iowa-based author Gail Pursell Elliott said what happened sounds like "mobbing," which involves group public humiliation and embarrassment.
"The children in that class learned how to mob someone — from the teacher," said Elliott, who wrote "School Mobbing and Emotional Abuse." "This type of thing shatters a person's self-esteem."
The teacher has taught for 12 years, 9 at that school.
quote:Barton (the mom) said Tuesday morning Alex was officially diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
I teach a Primary class (Sunday School for children) with 4- and 5-year-olds. I sometimes take the next class when the teacher isn't available, so can have kids ranging from 4 to 7 or 8 years old. I do understand what it's like to have a kid's behavior mess up the whole class, but I would never make the other kids turn on the one that is misbehaving. In fact, I only remember one occasion when I actually took a kid out of my class because he was so disruptive. (Then I felt bad later because his dad said he wouldn't get treat that day.)
I have been the recipient of bullying throughout most of my K-12 years and know what it's like to be treated like that. I would never do that to a child. This horrifies me.
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: The teacher was retiring after the end of the next year, but she couldn't answer my question: "If you hate children so much, why did you become a teacher?" She ignored me.
Honestly, that's a "Have you stopped beating your dog yet?" kind of question. She ignored you because it was out of line. I would have walked out of the meeting. Any administrator worth his or her salt would have questioned your presence, not allowed the meeting to continue, or excused the teacher from what was obviously intended as a gang-up session.
I'm not saying you're wrong about either particular case. I'm willing to grant that the woman was as much of a witch as you say. Please take the rest of my post not as a criticism of or response to you or your post, but one teacher's response to the "why are you teaching if you hate kids" cliché, which most teachers have had leveled at them at one time or another.
In every case I've seen, and therefore, I'd predict, in the vast majority of all cases, the teacher that one person swears is without any merit whatsoever and without a nurturing bone in his or her body has plenty of people who think he or she is a saint and the most gifted teacher ever. One man's poison and all that. So while it seems self-evident to you that someone is a monster, and you're free to judge her as inadequate, presuming to know her motivations and her feelings is [generally] out of line.
I have had parents and students say of me that I hate children, that I have no business teaching children, and that I'm not mature enough to be working with children. I assure you that those who feel that way are in the minority. I have also had students tell me that I was the single most positively influential teacher they ever had, that I did an excellent job preparing them for college, and so forth. Those who come back years later to say these things are more gratifying than I can convey. Clearly, though, what works for some doesn't work for all.
If a student or parent tells me I am untalented or unsuccessful at what I do (which has happened) I'm hurt, but it's their right to judge for themselves. I try to take comfort in the more numerous people who have had more positive things to say. When they presume to know what is in my heart, though . . . why I teach or whether or not I like kids, I find it much more inappropriate. I personally would never stand for being treated as the teacher in your anecdote was. I have hung up on people who were abusive and I have ended meetings that I thought were as well.
So, I wasn't wrong and it was nothing to bite your tongue over.
Just because something isn't always done, doesn't mean it isn't sometime done.
And by the way, the correct punctuation for ATM is not A'T'M', it's A.T.M.. Further ATM as it stands in not correct, but is commonly accepted. Basically, we are just too lazy to add the 'dots', and I'm OK with that.
Hoping you understand that I'm not really taking this seriously.
Posts: 803 | Registered: May 2006
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posted
I volunteered many hours in my son's kindergarten classroom this year. There were two students in particular that were quite challenging and the teacher did get frustrated with them but she never let them see her frustration. Sometimes their behavior held up the class. NO 5 year old should be treated like this boy was treated. It doesn't matter what other measures the teacher had taken or how disruptive he had been. If it had been that much of a problem then the teacher should have been talking with the school administration about getting an aide to help with the student or someone but should never have taken out her frustration on the child. Yes, Alex has problems - his behavior in the video from the Early Show is fairly typical for high functioning autism. The school was aware of his problems, the mother was aware, the teacher was aware. There are appropriate ways of handing a special needs child and the teacher's Survivor style abuse is not one of them. I don't care how frustrated she was or how many other things she had tried it is no excuse. Believe me, my own children have frustrated me to no end but I don't abuse them. If she had hit the kid with her fists instead of her words she would have been out in a heartbeat (at least I can hope). Choosing words as her weapons doesn't lessen the emotional impact on this boy and his classmates.
Posts: 1132 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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The teacher says the voting was because the class was learning about voting and tallies.
Wow. What an idiot.
quote:As to the news of Portillo being reassigned, Barton responded, "That's just a slap in the face."
It isn't, really. Being pulled out of the classroom and reassigned to do clerical work in the county office is a big deal, and usually the precursor to being fired. (Unless the case proves to be without merit, which seems pretty clearly to not be the case, here.)
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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So, I wasn't wrong and it was nothing to bite your tongue over.
Just because something isn't always done, doesn't mean it isn't sometime done.
And by the way, the correct punctuation for ATM is not A'T'M', it's A.T.M.. Further ATM as it stands in not correct, but is commonly accepted. Basically, we are just too lazy to add the 'dots', and I'm OK with that.
Hoping you understand that I'm not really taking this seriously.
What you don't seem to understand was that Jon Boy wouldn't have posted anything at all if you hadn't mentioned typos, and that Jon Boy was posting in good humor, not an attempt to insult. Basically since you joked about typos, he mistakenly assumed you were somewhat secure and able to take some ribbing. Also, everything you've said about punctuation is pretty much wrong. For instance, most major style guides do not put periods in terms like ATM. * And no, typo's is not a contraction. The plural of typo is typos, not typo's.
You know what mistake I make all the time? I use "it's" possessively. It's not that I don't know better; it's just second nature, I guess. If someone called me stupid because of it, I'd be pretty pissed. But if someone calls attention to it lightheartedly in the context of my already mentioning punctuation and/or typographical mistakes, I wouldn't be.
* EDIT: To clarify, ATM is an acronym. Most style guides use periods on abbreviations, but not on acronyms.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:I am a bit concerned about the mother's part in this.
The child is having behavioral issues at school, and at a previous school.
Yet it takes the school to suggest testing for medical reasons.
At the risk of being controversial, there often seems a connection between the behavior (including things like aspergers syndrome/autism) of the child and the parent/home atmosphere.
Also, not all children who misbehave continually, especially boys, are not necessarily 'neurounusual' (or whatever Tante called it). Sometimes they're just bored or antsy kids. This kid clearly has friends in the class, so he's capable of normal relationships. He doesn't seem to have a learning disability (or it's not mentioned.)
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
The kid has one friend in the class who the mother describes as the only friend he's ever had.
He is also now officially diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder and ADHD.
As I mentioned before, this is not at all unusual for children not to be tested for these things until a professional recommends it. It is hardly evidence that the parents are negligent. These things generally don't become evidently distinct from normal developmental differences until about the time kids each school age. The parents may have known something was wrong but not known where to look for help. A doctor who sees the child for only a few minutes may not observe symptoms that would indicate a serious problem.
These things are not easy to diagnose. As I said earlier, I personally know parents with this type of disorder who spent years trying to find out exactly what was wrong.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
I did not mean that the parents are negligent in identifying their child's problem. I agree that a doctor familiar with seeing certain symptoms will likely identify a problem much faster than parents who have watched their child grow and thus accept any idiosyncrasies in their child as part of him rather than symptomatic of a disorder.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:I agree that a doctor familiar with seeing certain symptoms will likely identify a problem much faster than parents who have watched their child grow and thus accept any idiosyncrasies in their child as part of him rather than symptomatic of a disorder.
That's not always the case. Especially in situations where the child isn't the first one, the parents are the first ones to note that something is "different" - before major school issues come up. I've known parents who've had to fight to get a real evaluation while the professionals they're dealing with write off what their concerns as a simple maturational issue.
It really can go both ways.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
*nods* yeah you can add another parent to your list, sndrake. As a first time mom (and very young, I suspect that was part of it), three different pediatricians blew me off. Thank goodness for CT .
Teshi, I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. I don't think anything is off the table as far as autism research goes but I also don't think I've heard anything along the lines of the home environment causing autism or aspergers. Autism spectrum disorders are not behaviors - they are developmental disabilities that are described by a set of symptoms. So you lost me at "the behavior (including things like aspergers syndrome/autism," I think.
Posts: 1676 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
I did not mean to imply that doctors are more likely to notice a problem a child is having than parents. That wasn't my point at all.
The parents I've known who have children with developmental disabilities (particularly those who function normally in many ways) have generally had a very difficult time getting a proper diagnosis. And its not because they haven't been trying. Its been my observations that most doctors aren't very good at diagnosis and unless you've got something on the top 40 list you or a good idea what's wrong yourself, the doctor is unlikely to figure it out.
So the parents have known that something wasn't quite right, that the child had some unusual problems but they don't know what to do because the doctor likely tells them its just a phase and they should wait to see if he outgrows it. Typically the pediatrician spends only a few minutes with the child so they don't get much of a chance to observe behavior.
A school Principal on the other hand sees all the problem kids, possibly regularly in her office so she has a great deal of experience with kids with various types of developmental disabilities. The kid ends up in her office several times and she starts to notice that he behaves a lot like another kid who has X. She suggests this to the parents who are relieved to finally have an idea where to look for answers and immediately make appointments to have the kid tested by a specialist for X.
Its a familiar story. This kid is lucky to be diagnosed while he is in kindergarten. I know several kids with developmental problems who weren't properly diagnosed until they were quite a bit older.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Fact is, I agree with a lot - probably most of what you've written in this thread.
The point you just made about kindergarten being a time when many kids get evaluated is a valid one - and it can happen later as well.
Not that I got any labels, but I became much more of a subject of concern - and obviously odd - when I left elementary school for middle school. The loss of over half of my old schoolmates, the new environment, the completely new social system to learn -- way too much for me to deal with and even appear minimally competent at it.
In elementary school, I was considered a little odd, a proscrastinator and underachiever (lazy got mentioned a lot, too). But not too far from the norm.
Middle school was the start of the descent into social and scholastic hell.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by fugu13: Threads, I think you're just going to find yourself backing even further into a corner. Some students will correct their behavior with a mild scolding. Others won't correct their behavior without significantly larger disciplinary measures.
Okay, I think I understand where the problem is now. I phrased my idea too broadly and ended up including situations that I wasn't even thinking about. I don't have a problem with adjusting punishments to a child in response to how successful the punishments are and the child's past behavior. I think every child should start out on equal footing.
Posts: 1327 | Registered: Aug 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi: At the risk of being controversial, there often seems a connection between the behavior (including things like aspergers syndrome/autism) of the child and the parent/home atmosphere.
Leave my mother out of this.
Nah, I get what you're trying to say, and I agree with your next paragraph.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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quote: the teacher that one person swears is without any merit whatsoever and without a nurturing bone in his or her body has plenty of people who think he or she is a saint and the most gifted teacher ever.
Icarus, you ain't kidding. We've still got parents back home who would swear to you that the middle school band teacher didn't molest that girl - even though he admitted to it.
I know a gal whose whole job is to keep eight mainstreamed ESE students from failing math and science. She says the hardest part of her job is to get the teachers to cooperate with her. One of them goes so far as to refuse to tell her when she's having quizes even though one of the kids can't read and needs his assignments to be read to him. Only a third of her teachers regularly share their lesson plans with her and another third do some of the time, usually late. A third of her teachers can't be bothered to take advantage of an extra resource that takes some of the pressure off themselves. How much sense does that make?
She's in a middle school, so I respect that they're dealing with 150 or so kids every day. I get that lesson plans are annoying and stuff comes up and you can never really plan for everything. (And dear lord why should you have to? Shouldn't life have room for spontaneity?) It's completely ignoring a resource that's designed to take some of the burden off that I don't get.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
I reread this article and read a couple more across the web.
The kid screams when he's in the car while she is taking his sibling to school, but she isn't taking the kid back to this school. Good for her!
Posts: 575 | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:Glenn Arnold, Icarus is talking about a legal right. Whether or not one thinks it's a moral right is a different matter.
I'm not talking about a moral right, or about Icarus' contract. I'm talking about a federal law that says that teachers and schools DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to deny a student the right to an education.
quote:I have the right to insist that a child be removed from my class indefinitely.
No you don't. You have the right to ask for the school to begin due process to PROVE that the student cannot be accommodated in your classroom. The burden of proof is on the school. If the school fails to do this within a definite time limit (I think it's five days), the student has every right to come back into your classroom and there's nothing you can do about it. Contract be damned.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Glenn Arnold, Icarus is talking about a legal right. Whether or not one thinks it's a moral right is a different matter.
I'm not talking about a moral right, or about Icarus' contract. I'm talking about a federal law that says that teachers and schools DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to deny a student the right to an education.
Removing a child from my class does not deny the child the right to an education. It just means the school must find another setting for it to take place in.
quote:
quote:I have the right to insist that a child be removed from my class indefinitely.
No you don't. You have the right to ask for the school to begin due process to PROVE that the student cannot be accommodated in your classroom. The burden of proof is on the school. If the school fails to do this within a definite time limit (I think it's five days), the student has every right to come back into your classroom and there's nothing you can do about it. Contract be damned.
Thank you for your scintillating legal opinion. You're wrong.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: You know what mistake I make all the time? I use "it's" possessively. It's not that I don't know better; it's just second nature, I guess.
I used to make that mistake all the time too. But then, when my sister was learning Polish, she explained to me about cases. Just like how we change verbs based on what tense it is, in Polish they change nouns based on what case it is. My sister explained that in English, we only have cases with the pronouns. (so like: He, Him, His)
That's when I learned why "its" (possessive) has no apostrophe: The same reason "his" doesn't have one either.
Back on topic...
I'm really interested in this, and how it turns out. My sister changed her class one year in elementary school because the kids in her class were so mean. But a teacher? ... Matthew 18:6Posts: 172 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ladyday: Teshi, I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. I don't think anything is off the table as far as autism research goes but I also don't think I've heard anything along the lines of the home environment causing autism or aspergers. Autism spectrum disorders are not behaviors - they are developmental disabilities that are described by a set of symptoms. So you lost me at "the behavior (including things like aspergers syndrome/autism," I think.
Ditto.
The notion that autism is somehow caused by a lack in the parenting has been disproven. Quite a number of years ago.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:The notion that autism is somehow caused by a lack in the parenting has been disproven. Quite a number of years ago.
I don't want to elaborate but you helped somebody I know out quite a bit here. That sounds awful and snarky, but I'm actually sincere. Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Acknowledging that we have our own little unrelated side conversation going on, perhaps though you missed my last line, which, by the way, you quoted.
"Hoping you understand that I'm not really taking this seriously.
And if you want to get into a case of Dueling Dictionaries -
American Heritage - Third Edition - CD-ROM
Typo's - ty·po n., pl. ty·pos. Informal. A typographical error.
It also recognizes - "Typo." where the period is part of the word indicating an abbreviation.
Also, ATM in not a acronym, it is an abbreviation and as such the periods are appropriate. It is only in common informal usage that the periods are left out. Which, as I said, I have not problem with.
Again, it's just a joke, lighten up.
Posts: 803 | Registered: May 2006
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If it were an abbreviation, it would normally be followed by a period, if the usage was formal. If the abbreviation were standard usage (typo, info) then the period is not necessary.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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To be an acronum, the resulting letters must spell a word in and of themselves, even if it is a made up word.
WAC = Women's Army Corps
RADAR = RAdio Detecting And Ranging
ATM is not a word, not even a made up one. Notice you/we do not pronounce it 'ATOM' or similar. It is simply a listing of the first letters of the full name 'A', 'T', 'M'.
Being an abbreviation, it is most correctly A.T.M., but common usage and simplicity have transformed it into simply 'ATM'.
Further, as I illustrated from the American Heritage Dictionary - typo. and typo's are both correct, as are 'typo' and 'typos'. Though I admit, 'typos' is probably the more common usage.
So, I was only sort of wrong.
Who likes to debate and discuss, and is a paid up member of the "Loyal Order of Nitpickers" (LOON for short, which is an acronym) but really doesn't care .
Posts: 803 | Registered: May 2006
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posted
Typos is the more common usage by a giant margin. So much so that I've never seen anyone use typo's purposefully until you did a few days ago. Which I'm still convinced wasn't on purpose but was, rather, a typo. Ironically.
Also, I know several dozen people who pronounce ATM 'atom'.
Also, I don't really care, either. I just like to see what lengths you'll go to to convince everyone that you didn't make a common typo, but instead prefer a ridiculously uncommon usage.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I do care. Typos is the correct pluralization of the word typo. It's not "more common usage"; it's CORRECT.
Abbreviations include acronyms. Blue, I suggest you look at the wikipedia page on acronyms and initialisms. It's lovely and informative.
Typo. Typos.
(Not a LOON, but have done kajillions of pages of transcripts for scientists, various government organizations, and lawyers. Nitpicking required. Grammar and spelling perfection life-threateningly mandatory.)
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Well, as long as we seem to be 98% agreed that this teacher was an idiot, I suppose we can fall into distractions.
Wikipedia - Acryoym and Initialisms
You mean like this -
...restricting acronym to pronounceable words formed from components (letters, usually initial, or syllables) of the constituent words, and using initialism or alphabetism[8][5] for abbreviations pronounced as the names of the individual letters."
Which means I was first right because 'acronym' are ABBREVIATIONS. And secondly, I was right because ATM is not, even by the Wikipedia definition, an acronym; it is, at best, an intitialism.
Next, my use of "typo's" was intentional, and not a typo. Next, next, like to or not, most common or not, "typo's" is correct according to my dictionary.
Though most people took it as Possessive, it was in fact, a contraction of the plural phrase 'typographical errors'. And as it is considered correct by my dictionary, regardless of the level of common usage, it is, none the less, correct.
How do words like typo, typos, and info come into common usage? Simply out of shear laziness. But again, I'm pretty much as lazy as the next guy, so I don't have a problem with that.
That same is true of ATM. It is not A.T.M. out of laziness, which being lazy myself, I don't have a problem with.
So, like it or not, I was right in using "Typo's" as a contraction.
Like it or not, I've established from two sources that ATM is not an acronym.
Next 'typo', like 'info', is not a proper words but is lazy slang fallen into common usage, and as such, is only considered an informal words.
Am. Heritage. 3rd Ed -
ty·po n., pl. ty·pos. Informal. A typographical error.
Also, being a LOON, I will go to great lengths to argue the most petty and unimportant point, especially if I feel I am right.
quote:Originally posted by Carrie: Um, doesn't your dictionary say the plural is, in fact, "typos"?
Well, I'm only continuing this because it's a dull boring rainy day, and because I'm a LOON in every sense of the word. If people want to continue talking about this teacher and student, I will back off.
Now, Carrie, as to your comment above, that would only be relevant IF I were saying that 'typos' was wrong. I am indeed NOT saying that.
What I am saying is that, while 'typos' is more common, "Typo's" is still correct and as such is not an error or mistake.
quote:Originally posted by BlueWizard: And secondly, I was right because ATM is not, even by the Wikipedia definition, an acronym; it is, at best, an intitialism.
This is not an accurate summation of the Wikipedia article for several reasons. In fact, the article lists ATM as an example of a type of acronym.
And again, most style guides do not call for periods between letters of acronyms or "initialisms." The only place where a period is standard is in abbreviations formed by dropping letters of words (eg. abbr.).
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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"This is not an accurate summation of the Wikipedia article for several reasons. In fact, the article lists ATM as an example of a type of acronym."
And this is far less accurate than my statement. The only example using 'ATM' is in reference to a recursive or redundancy syndrome and has nothing to do the "ATM" itself. But in which a word that is being abbreviated is also repeated, as in
ATM machine
which is in reality -
Automatic Teller Machine machine
So this is NOT defining ATM as a acronym even though it uses the word acronym, but is instead describing a redundant or recursive nature of some abbreviations.
And most style guides don't call for periods in such abbreviations, because laziness as fallen into common and acceptable use.
Incorrect use becomes correct when its common use becomes so overwhelming that the style guides realize they have lost the battle and merely accept it as ...well... acceptable.
What is technically correct and what is acceptable modern style are not necessarily the same. Technically A.T.M. is correct; stylistically ATM is acceptable.
Also, note that Wikipedia claims that functional definitions of abbreviation, acronym, and intialization are not etched in stone; they are subject to varying interpretations.
But regardless, you are going to have to try a lot harder than that to convince me that ATM is an acronym by any definition. The heart of the common definition of an acronym is the the resulting letters spell out a new or imagined word that makes some sense in its own right. LOON for Loyal Order Of Nitpickers for example. 'Loon' is a word on its own. WAC for Women's Army Corps, while not a true word, still functions as and is spoken as a word. AWOL (ay-wall - Absent With Out Leave) is not a true word but functions as a word-like phrase that has an underlying meaning.
The basic and common definition of an Initialism is that the letter of an abbreviation are spoken in sequence, such as 'A', 'T', 'M', or 'C', 'D', or 'D', 'V', 'D'.
quote:RAS syndrome stands for "Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome," and refers to the use of one of the words that make up an initialism or acronym as well as the abbreviation itself, thus in effect repeating that word. It is itself a humorous example of a redundant acronym.
I've already acknowledged that it used the word 'acronym', but it is not by any means defining 'ATM' as an acronym, but instead using it to illustrate a type of redundancy or recursiveness that occurs in abbreviations.
From your own quote above -
" ...and refers to the use of one of the words that make up an initialism or acronym as well as the abbreviation itself,..."
So, in this case, 'ATM' is an illustration of redundancy as part of a syndrome that just happens to have 'acronym' in its name, but it is by no means intending to define 'ATM' as an acronym.
I already gave the common and standard definitions of 'acronym' and 'intialism', and ATM is at best an initialism, but only by the most extreme stretch of any definition would one even remotely consider it an acronym.
posted
Just to set the record straight: I can't find typo's listed as the plural of typo in any dictionary, including Random House Unabridged, The Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and The American Heritage Dictionary, third edition. So, Steve, if your argument is that your American Heritage third has typo's, then I'd say either you're misreading it or your dictionary has a typo.
Furthermore, typos is not an abbreviation or contraction of typographical errors. If you think it is, then I'd say you misunderstand the workings of English morphology. Your explanation adds an extra step to the cognitive process and posits an underlying form that many people aren't even familiar with.
Add to that the fact that you exhibit a pretty naive understanding of the way usage and style work. Slang really doesn't have much to do with laziness, and slang is not the same as informal usage. And as Icarus pointed out, most style guides do not favor A.T.M. over ATM. The only style guide I know of that uses periods like this is The New York Times Style Guide. It's not an issue of laziness becoming the norm, but of readability. Fewer periods make for less visual clutter and, theoretically, better readability.
You are right on one point, though: ATM is an initialism, not an acronym. Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of words, like radar and scuba. Acronyms are a type of initialism, but not all initialisms are acronyms. ATM, FBI, and the like are merely initialisms.
So go ahead and revel in your rightness on that one thing. As for the rest, though: you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
I'm not dying on this hill, I'm just wounded but I expect to make a full recovery.
I have American Heritage CD-ROM dictionary installed on my computer, and it shows "Typo's" which in any case is as valid a contraction as any.
My search of Dictionary.com turns up "Typo's", typos, typo, typo-, and typo.. All of which are classified as informal which means they are not really words at all, as I have already pointed out, but are lazy informal shortenings of common words that have become acceptable not through correctness but though shear quantity and commonness of use. And, as I have also said more than once, I don't have a problem with that.
Let's face it "ain't" ain't a word, but it is still in the dictionary. How did it get there? Well, it was so commonly and frequently, though incorrectly, used, that it became an informal word in the process and the dictionary had to recognize it as such.
The same it true of 'typo' and 'info', they are not proper words, but they have fallen into such common and frequent of use that dictionaries had no choice but to accept them as, again, informal words.
Next, while not much of an indicator, 325,000 instances from a Google search for "typo's" would seem to agree with me, including 'National Public Radio'. Though again, admittedly, that is not much of a test, and massively more people use 'typos'.
None the less, like it or not, "typo's" is still a valid contraction even if it isn't a formal word. I've never denied that 'typos' is a valid and common plural of the informal 'typo', but I'm standing fast that "typo's" is a valid contraction for the phrase 'typographical errors', and that is whether it is in the dictionary or not. And I've never denied that 'typos' is far more common, but that fact alone does not make me wrong.
As far as how A.T.M. and F.B.I became ATM and FBI, again it was through shear volume. A.T.M. and F.B.I. are correct, they are just not common any more, but they were at one time. You say yourself that A.T.M. is not favored, but not favored doesn't mean wrong.
I do agree, too many periods clutter things up, but it is still a matter of laziness that brings less cluttered forms into common use. I suspect in the beginning the easier forms were resisted in formal writing, but again, shear volume overrode correct style. What was once an error is now accepted, and rightly so, it is far easier both from the perspective of writing and reading to use the more modern forms. I don't have a problem with that, I'm as lazy as the next guy.
So, wounded on the hill as I may be, no one has yet to prove to me that "typo's" is not a valid contraction of 'typographical errors'.
And, as 'typo.' is considered correct, it would seem that 'typo' is an abbreviation. Again, acknowledging that the period was dropped for simplicity, but reminding you that it was once there, just as it was for info..
You've made a strong argument, but you haven't convinced me that I'm wrong, partly because you are arguing the wrong point. You seem to think the question is whether "typo's" is a substitute for the informal and PLURAL 'typos'. I never claimed it was. All I've ever said is that it is a valid contraction of 'typographical errors'.
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I prefer "typoes."
Bzzzt. Challenge! But there is a valid Scrabble anagram in those six letters (tepoys). I'm sure this is helpful to everyone.
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
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You know, it occurs to me that a wonderful way of responding to completely nonsensical posts would involve pointing out the valid Scrabble anagrams that could have been generated instead. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: You know, it occurs to me that a wonderful way of responding to completely nonsensical posts would involve pointing out the valid Scrabble anagrams that could have been generated instead.
I have been resisting exactly this temptation for about, oh, three days.
quote:Originally posted by Icarus: Thank you for your scintillating legal opinion. You're wrong.
Wow, you really put me in my place by providing support for your argument. I'm sure you'll do equally well when you get sued by someone's parents because you removed their child from your class.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I already supported my argument. It's in my contract, it's in my faculty handbook; you have not contradicted this, and you misunderstand what denying educational opportunities means. You provided no support for your argument in your last post--or wait, were THE CAPITAL LETTERS INTENDED TO BE ENTERED AS EVIDENCE?! Therefore, your post merits no evidence in reply.
No student has an inalienable right to be in my classroom. We have lots of other classrooms and other settings. Our administration informally exercises this right from their end all the time--when there seems to be a huge personality conflict, where a kid is getting in trouble with the same teacher all the time, they frequently move the kid, even if the teacher has made no such request.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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For instance, most major style guides do not put periods in terms like ATM. * And no, typo's is not a contraction. The plural of typo is typos, not typo's. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Anyway, I'm happy to help.
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