19th August...

...happy students (jumping), further Facebook drama, arguments over coffee and completely appropriate use of the English language...


'Much madness is the divinest sense-
          To a discerning eye-'

          Emily Dickinson.




On the 5.29 train back from Wakey, drinking the last bit of flask coffee, which is not mixed with milk, and tastes like tar -I imagine. The train smells of urine. It is not pleasant.

Today I spent the morning interviewing A-Level students at Wakefield College. Despite recent suggestions that they would be drowning their sorrows in the cafeteria and contemplating lives that consisted of nothing but university rejection and general drudgery, they seemed surprisingly chipper. 

I don't believe that the student who has worked hard, researched their university choices wisely and not over-estimated what they can achieve is going to miss out. Yes, sometimes there are unfortunate circumstances, and those who are now going through Clearing might find themselves without a place -but this happens every year. Something has gone wrong in the advice they have been given, if they haven't made the offer for their insurance choice and in this have failed to achieve their minimum expectations.

Newspapers have been commenting that the students most likely to be photographed with their results tomorrow are of a very particular breed -female, blonde, middle-class, often twins, usually Oxbridge. It is very likely that they will be jumping, results and Ugg boots in the air. I don't have a great deal to say about this, I just thought I'd throw it in there. It's so true.

Other general comments on this week's news:

Former Israeli soldier Eden Abergil might not have meant to cause a 'political statement' with her disgusting Facebook pictures of hand-cuffed, blind-folded Palenstinian prisoners, but she would do well to realise that a lot of the time the politics of the situation are superfluous. Before the obvious political ramifications are considered, Abergil should consider the fact that these men were probanly going through some of the most traumatic moments of their lives. Who would be taking photographs in this situation, for anything other than journalistic purposes? And what kind of psychopath would upload them onto Facebook -for entertainment? It seems to me that Ms. Abergil could do with a lesson in basic humanity.

An English professor has been removed from a New York City Starbucks for 'refusing' to use their own particular brand of language.

Lynne Rosenthal asked if she could order a multi-grain bagel. 'Yes,' the cashier replied. 'Would you like butter or cheese?'

Ms Rosenthal refused to answer, saying that she wouldn't compromise her 'plain English'. After she refused to answer the question a ruckus occurred, the police were called, and she was removed.

I agree that sometimes language needs to be kept traditional, and I also cringe when ordering a Venti Americano in Starbucks. But it seems that Ms. Rosenthal was being equally as pretentious. The cashier simply asked her if she wanted butter or cheese. Some customers do not want butter on their bagels; some do.

It sounds like a valid question to me, not an abuse of the English language. And clearly causing this argument didn't do Rosenthal any good either, because she left without her bagel. Maybe next time she'll try using that most plain of English words -'no'.