Ashlyn Stops By For A Couple Of days
Ashlyn finished her school break and flew back out west to begin her next term at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. She stopped here for a couple of days to “chill out” (her words) before diving into the hectic life of a coed living with a bunch of girls. Today we drove her to Rexburg, had lunch with her (where this picture was taken), dropped her off, and came back home. She plans to now go straight through until she graduates in July, 2009.
BYU-Idaho has a kind of a tri-mester system where a third of the students are on their break each trimester and the other two-thirds are in classes. Ashlyn’s term starts in mid-April and goes through mid-December. We had a fun visit while she was here and she got plenty of sleep (I think that’s the definition of “chill”). Notice the new hair do … she’s trying out being blond for a while.
Butchered English Grammar?
While we were in Rexburg we had lunch at a sandwich kind of an eatery. While paying the bill I noticed this sign next to the cash register saying, “No bills higher than $20 thank you!” My first thought was, “How high is a twenty dollar bill? Would that height be measured in inches, feet, or miles?” That got me thinking about language skills and whether or not this wording was correct. I certainly would have said, “… bills larger than $20…” and put a period between “20” and “Thank”. I spent about an hour trying to find online a reference to substantiate the way I would have worded the sign. I found some oblique references, but nothing really substantial. I’ll probably give up the search and declare my wording as being the correct English grammar!
Rider Up!
Last Saturday was our first really nice Spring day. After doing some work outside in the yard, I pulled the motorcycle out of the garage, gave it a good washing, and then took a short hour-and-a-half ride. Very enjoyable, but when I got ready for bed, I had some muscles complaining. I definitely need to do some more riding to get back in shape…. (big grin). Today the weather went back to winter with huge winds and a high temperature of 43 degrees. Today was also the day to take the bike in for service … it’s annual spring cleaning. Naturally, the day would be cold and windy for the ride over and this afternoon for the ride back. I’m definitely a fair-weather rider!
All of these pictures are using a new WordPress Blog feature for pictures. If you click on the picture, a new window / tab will open with the picture and some words specifically about the picture. Click on that picture to see a full-sized picture.
re: the higher/larger bill question.
Both are correct (semi-correct, actually, since “No bills higher than $20” is a sentence fragment) and here is my explanation:
The given sentence has omitted implications. How one fills in the implied words determines which modifier is used.
For example:
“No bills of a higher denomination than $20 are accepted here.”
versus
“No bills of a larger value than $20 are accepted here.”
(And you are completely correct; there should be a period after $20!)
Poor language usage on signs is a particular pet peeve of mine. On campus at ISU there is a sign over a water fountain that says:
No “spitting” in this water fountain.
Every time I pass the sign I feel a little irked. Quotation marks are not for adding emphasis! The sign suggests that what is being done in the fountain is not actually spitting. I shudder to think what might actually have been done in the fountain, for which the word “spitting” is being used as a euphemism.
Yes, I am a grammar curmudgeon. 🙂
Thanks for the comment … I’ve decided I’m going to start taking pictures of poor grammar on signs. There’s plenty to choose from!
Thanks!
Roland