Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Words Gone Wild

Ray: I couldn't help it. It just popped in there.
Peter: What? *What* "just popped in there?"
Ray: I... I... I tried to think...
Egon: LOOK!
Ray: No! It CAN'T be!
Peter: What is it?
Ray: It CAN'T be!
Peter: What did you DO, Ray?
Winston: Oh, shit!
Ray: It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Poor Ray. It’s so disappointing when something that has provided comfort and help to you for much of your life reveals its dangerous side. It actually just happened to me. This was the culprit:



This is what you get when you tell your students that the thesaurus is a wonderful resource to help them liven up the vocabulary of their essays:

Our superlatives keep our experience on a constructive note.

Whatever we do, there is always an urge that commences us to adventure with an unknown end.

Or, maybe I’m just secretly worried that he’s actually written it correctly, and it went over my head.

12 comments:

Wendy Ramer, Author said...

"Whatever we do, there is always an urge that commences us to adventure with an unknown end."

Awkward sentence, but I get it. And I agree.

The Invisible Seductress said...

Agreed...There always is!

Rick said...

That book is called "The Synonym Finder"? That's the best he could think of to replace the word "Thesaurus"?

Theresa Milstein said...

Rick, his dictionary is called "The Look Up Word Place".

Hannah said...

Okay, let me just say, Ghostbusters is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Their essays read like our official signs.
Enjoyable post. Thanks.

Have a good day, Boonsong

Bethany Elizabeth said...

:) I used to have that problem - sort of! I would read shakespeare and have to write an essay on it... and my essays were always, shall we say, a little flowery. :D

kathryn said...

What? I mean.....seriously. What??

I was fine...reading along on this here post....when I got to some bold lettering...and then.....???

Anonymous said...

The first sentence, I'm pretty certain could be nominated for a Raspberyy. But the second one, I'm not sure if it is incorrect. Maybe it is over my head and I'm just a simple bumpkin. - G

Talli Roland said...

I was distracted by the Marshmallow Man and memories of Ghostbusters. Oh, Ghosbusters, how I love you!

Anonymous said...

What grade do you teach?

That writting would have went over my head too...LOL! I had to read it like 4 times...

Anonymous said...

Ghostbusters is still one of my favorite movies of all times. And I use Dictionary.com for my synonym finder. And this just in: Cindy Crawford is still hot.

Stephen Tremp