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Times -Advocate, March 16, 1983
Imes -
Times Established 1873
Advocate Established 1881
Amalgamated 1924
dvocate
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
& North Lambton Since 1873
Published by 1.W. Eedy Publications limited
LORNE EEDY
Publisher
JIM BECKETT
Advertising Manager
BILL BATTEN
Editor
HARRY DEVRIES
Composition Manager
ROSS HAUGH
Asti tint Editor
DICKONGKIND
Business Manager
*CNA
i
I'
Published Each Wednesday Morning at bleier, Ontario
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386.
Phone 235-1331
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Canada $21.00 Per year; U.S.A. $56.00
C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC'
A step backwards
Exeter council's attempt at avoiding the pitfalls
of piece -meal budget approvals suffered a setback last
week when approval was given to the area fire board
to proceed on the purchase of a new rescue van.
Having previously decided that the board's budget
should be deferred until such time as the town's over-
all budget picture was set, the purchase approval
caught some members off guard and they had actual-
ly endorsed the move before realizing what they had
done.
The irony of the situation was that the motion was
presented by finance committee chairman Bill Mickle,
who in the past has been quite adamant in his stance
that all town, expenditures must be weighed against
each other before any final decisions are made.
There was probably little doubt that the purchase
would have been approved in the fire board's budget,
but as a major capital expenditure it should have
received the scrutiny of council members in light of
other budget expenditures that may turn out to be
equally or more pressing.
It is a retrograde step in the budget practice of
council.
Excuse for the weak
A part-time teacher recently convicted on 16
counts of defrauding the unemployment insurance
commission defended his action with the argument that
"everybody does it".
His argument drew a stiff rebuke from the
presiding judge, who contended that as a teacher, the
accused should set a model for his students. The
teacher's reply to that was "everyone cheats."
As demeaning as the argument may appear, there
is a growing concern for the attitude that the only sin
in cheating or breaking the rules is in being caught.
Attitudes, unfortunately, are not something that
can be legislated. They reflect the teachings and ac-
tions of those with whom people come in contact, either
directly or indirectly.
However, only the weakest can excuse themselves
on the grounds of ignorance as right and wrong,
regardless of what they see or hear going on about
them.
Campaign approaches
Springtime in this part o1 Canada besides the
reawakening of nature, means campaign time for the
Canadian Cancer Society. Daffodil days and bike-a-
thons and door-to-door canvasses are as recognizable
to generous volunteers and donors as the familiar red
sword symbol of the society itself.
However, this spring, unless householders and
businesses are alert they could find themselves mail-
ing donations to an organization that sounds and has
a logo similar to that of the Canadian Cancer Society,
but isn't.
It is the Cancer Research Society Inc., a Quebec -
based organization that has its headquarters in
Montreal.
Literature pertaining to the Cancer Research
Society Inc. is now turning up in the area. The promo-
tional materials are very similar and anyone glanc-
ing at the material would believe it to be from the
Canadian Cancer Society.
The Cancer Research Society Inc. is generous in
its use of red ink which is also the trademark of the
Canadian Cancer Society, and its red sword symbol
which includes a circled cancer sign could easily be
taken for the society's red sword.
As far as anyone can determine The Cancer
Research Society Inc. is an honorable organization.
However, donors should realize that most of the funds
it collects stay in the province of Quebec, although the
literature accompanying the appeal for funds also lists
universities in British Columbia, Manitoba, New-
foundland and Ontario as recipients of grants and
fellowships.
We wouldn't for one minute suggest anyone should
not give a donation to the Cancer Research Society Inc.
However, at the same time, they should not confuse
it with the Canadian Cancer Society which will be mak-
ing its annual appeal for funds in the next few weeks.
Goderich Signal -Star
Illiteracy level not surprising
Several universities, recognizing the
deplorable level of illiteracy among many
of the students seeking admission to the
higher halls of learning, have establish-
ed pee -entrance examinations.
Surprising as it may seem to those who
have been contributing towards the high
cost of education, as many as 30 or 40 per-
cent of the high school applicants fail the
pre -entrance tests.
It is indicated that well over one million
Canadians are functionally illiterate.
They cannot write or read English at any
more than a grade eight level. Many can-
not read and write at all.
While the major fault must rest with the
education system, it must also he con-
sidered that the environment in which
people live has something to do with the
incessant attack on the English language.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in
advertising. Product names blatantly at-
tack the correct spelling. It is not surpris-
ing that a junior grader has problems
even spelling the word cat correctly when
he sees an advertisement for a product in
which the spelling is altered to kat.
Advertising slogans also cause ir-
reparable harm.
Now, however, there is a group attemp-
ting to bring some sanity back into pro-
per English. The Society for Advance-
ment of Good English (SAGE) awards an
annual Dunce Cap of the Year to firms
which attack the language.
The award for 1982 was given to Kraft
inc. for "persi'•tent and conspicuous
abuse of the English language in the com-
pany's advertisements. The award com-
mittee cited "It's more cheesier" and
"You did good" as examples of wording
that brought the dubious trophy to Kraft.
SAGE feels that its existence is serving
a useful purpose. The awarding of the
Dunce Cap to Wendy's Restaurants in
1981 resulted in the company cancelling
BATT'N
AROUND
with the editor
ar .....3"'? s. acs
a campaign that featured the slogan
"Ain't no reason to go anywhere else."
Young people are bombarded daily,with
hundreds of other examples of spelling
and grammar abuses in the spoken and
written word and there is little doubt that
the work of many English teachers is
quickly negated by the actions of people
who should know better and he more con-
scientious in their efforts to defend the
language.
• • • •
The English language, of course, is
recognized as being one of the most dif-
ficult to master, primarily because it is
filled with rules and the long list of cor-
responding exceptions.
It is a virtual nightmare for even the
more intelligent among us. Small wonder
that kids with learning problems have
difficulty.
There's a new problem being faced by
people who work with words. No longer
can we easily solve grammar on a sex
basis.
One of the constant problems is in
reaching agreement in number between
"anyone" and "their". In the past, the
solution was easy. The "anyone" could be
correctly (from a grammatical sense)
followed by "his"; as in "anyone who
missed his copy of the newspaper can pick
it up at the office".
The English language, unfortunately,
fails to provide a neutral pronoun and
those who choose the masculine connota-
tion have to be prepared for the accusa-
tions of sexism.
The solution is to use his/her, he/she,
etc., sacrificing precise grammar to
avoid any changes of sexism.
So, more and more people are opting for
the "anyone" and "their" and thereby
creating yet another confusing situation
for those who are attempting to teach pro-
per English use.
• • • •
The problems are already severe
enough, but there is yet another one
quickly gaining momentum and that is in
the new talking computers.
Until such time as someone develops a
computer which will instruct other com-
puters in correct use of the language, we
will have to face the prospect of coin-
puters spewing out the grammatical er-
rors with which they are programmed by
humans.
So again, the poor English teacher sees
his/her ( their, if you prefer) work go
down the drain when the class dismisses
to head home to compete with a talking
video game that incessantly breaches the
classroom instruction.
Small wonder that we ain't getting any
moresmart in knowin' good English when
it is writ or spoke)
Curse of the 20th century
A newspaper article the
other day reminded me of
one of the inexorable laws
of modern life: Things
multiply in inverse pro-
portion to their use.
It is a simple fact, and
we've all been through it,
that there are certain
things in life that multip-
ly like rabbits, and others
that invariably disappear
forever.
No matter how hard you
try to get rid of pennies,
they just build up, and if
you carry your loose
change in your pants
pocket, as I do, after, a
week you are listing heavi-
ly to the right. You pile
your 18 pennies on the top
of the dresser and start
again, and a week later
you have 22 pennies in the
same pocket.
Another multiplier is the
single sock. Start out a
new year with 12 pairs of
socks. In three months
you'll have six pairs and
six odd socks. In six
months, you'll have 12
single socks. After years
of suffering this, I've
counter -attacked. I now
buy 12 pairs of identical
socks, so that after six
months at least I have six
pairs of socks.
Ladies used to have the
same problem, before the
invention of panty -hose.
But this discovery •nasn t
lessened their problems.
In the old days, if they got
a run, they usually had a
spare single to match the
good one with. But now, if
you get a hole in onelegof
your panty -hose, you're
scuppered. Out they go,
the intact one with the
bum one.
Women also have other
multipliers in the singles
division: earrings and
loves. How many women
in this fair land have
seven or eight exquisite
single earrings and four or
five superb single gloves?
It's quite fashionable
these days for a man to
wear a single earring, and
a practical chap who lost
a glove would wear the
other and put his bare
hand in his pocket. But
women don't think that
Sugar
and Spice'
Dispensed By Smiley
tests and bureaucratic
bumph. Makes me feel
like an old badger.
Bottles, particularly
those on which there is no
deposit return, pile up
about as fast as you can
empty them. But prepare
to take back your beer -
way, and the gloves and
earrings proliferate in
their solitary glory.
Old keys multiply at a
fantastic rate, until cup-
board drawers and plastic
bowls are overflowing
with them. We have a
huge collection of car keys
going back to our fifth -last
car, every key to the house
before we changed the
locks, and enough skeleton
keys to outfit James Bond
on one of his capers.
New keys are
diminishers. We have lost
two sets of keys to our pre-
sent car, and sometimes
search for half an hour to
find one of the new sets we
had to order. The new
keys to the new locks
disappeared, and we had
to take off the locks and go
to the key man for new
ones. I wonder where they
are, at this moment? The
new ones that is.
Paper is definitely in the
multiplier list, especially
if you are a writer and/or
teacher. As both, I sit to
write this column in a sort
of tunnel between two
massive piles of paper
higher than my head.
When I sit down to mark
papers, I'm in another
tunnel between essays and
Should be a
All right. Last week i
commented about politics
a little bit. This week I'd
like to draw to your atten-
tion, if you haven't notic-
ed it, about the
'Honourable' Donald Mac-
donald, one of the Liberal
party faithful, who is ser-
ving on a commission in
Ottawa. For his part as
chairman of this commis-
sion he receives $800 a
day.
Now if you think that
this is a misprint in this
newspaper maybe we bet-
ter rephrase it. For a
typical 8 hour day the man
is receiving $100 per hour.
When the press ques-
tioned him about it, he
laughingly remarked
something to the effect
that he figured he was
worth it. I'm afraid i can't
agree with you, Mr.
Macdona Id
case of empties, and there
are always two missing.
Where did they go? Is
there a guy, or a dame,
hiding behind the furnace
who sneaks up when you
are beddy-byes, drinks
two of your beers, then
eats the bottles?
For the ladies, the
wrong shades of lipstick
and half -empty bottles of
nail polish multiply along
with saucers for which the
cups have disappeared.
Wire coat hangers
reproduce like rats. The
other day, while attemp-
ting to get my coat out of
the closet, I knocked down
six empty hangers. I
carefully fished them up
from among the parts of
the vacuum cleaner, took
another 40 empty hangers
off the pole, tied thein all
together with cord, mar-
ched calmly into the base-
ment and hurled them in-
to the woodpile. Two
weeks later, I knocked
down eight hangers while
getting my coat, andsat
down and wept tears of
fury and frustration.
Pencils multiply, but
there's never one in the
house when you are trying
to take down a long-
distance phone message.
Odd buttons multiply
until it seems like a button
factory. But when you
need two the same size
and color, forget it. You
have six thousand buttons,
no two alike.
You think you don't take
many snapshots. Been to
the attic lately? There are
twelve boxes of them up
there, right from your own
baby pictures, through.
your courting days, into'
your own children at
every stage, and about
five hundred of the grand-
children. But -just try to
find that especially good
one you wanted to send to
Aunt Mabel. Completely
vanished.
Shoes multiply. My wife
has about thirty-six pairs,
most of them out of style,
just like that outfit she had
to get the shoes to go'with.
She has to tear my com-
fortable old shoes out of
my hands to put them in
the garbage. Igo to a half-
price sale, buy three new
pairs, and they sit there,
stiff and stark, while I go
on wearing the old shabby
ones.
Stamps run out;
magazines pile up to the
ceiling. Bills and receipts
multiply while bank ac-
counts diminish. Por-
nography flourishes as sex
drive diminishes. Televi-
sion channels multiply
while their contents
diminish in quality.
Workmanship diminishes
as cost of it soars.
And I've just touched
the surface. How about
acid rain and fish? Or
safe, salted highways and
holes in your car?
Was it always like this,
or is it just a curse of the
twentieth century? Make
up your own list; two col-
umns, one headed
Multipliers, the other
Diminishers. It will shake
you.
major issue
minimum amount of
money.
How would you like to
try living on $500 a month
Perspectives
By Syd Fletcher
1111111111111111111111111111111111
i really don't care if you
were making that much in
private life as a lawyer.
That has nothing to do
with the issue.
There are over a million
people in this country who
are out of work right now
and surviving on a
as are- some people on
disability pensions?
flow would you like to be
a widow in this country
trying to find a decent
apartment to live in, hav-
ing to watch every penny
she spends, while you
pocket the money she and
her husband paid out in
taxes over the years?
It seems to me about
time that a committee of
common citizens should
be set up to oversee the
wages and benefits of
elected representatives
and see that they no longer
are given the authority to
set their own salaries. If
necessary the issue should
be put to a country -wide
referendum.
An even better techni-
que would make it com-
pulsory that any wage in-
creases by our lawmakers
could be passed only, and'
1 mean only, just before
any election iso be called.
At the very least it
should be a major issue in
the next election.