I can't really speak for the forum as a whole, but I can speak for me and my geeky and non geeky friends combined: no one (especially high schoolers) gives a shit about reading books. 1, maybe 2 of my friends read for fun. One of my friends read just about every Stephen King book he could get his hands on last summer. Since finishing that endeavor, he hasn't read since. I read Harry Potter, and seldom else.
Maybe if you read more, you would know that you just used the word seldom incorrectly. The phrases you were looking for were "little else" or "seldom anything else". Yes, it is snarky, but I am studying to become an English teacher. I like Harry Potter well enough, but it is sad when you only read work written for children. To me, you might as well have said "I read Berenstain Bear books, and little else."
Hmm, would "seldom otherwise" have been valid? It would have a slightly different meaning, but, though I am not sure, it seems to me that it would also work.
Hmm, would "seldom otherwise" have been valid? It would have a slightly different meaning, but, though I am not sure, it seems to me that it would also work.
Seldom speaks to a frequency of action, not a quantity of it.
I'm afraid I've only read the first of the Prince of Nothing books so far. Its not my fault, my friends keep throwing other books at me! I'll start on volume two as soon as I finish Learning the World.
Seldom speaks to a frequency of action, not a quantity of it.
Thus, you just used an incorrect suggestion, since saying "anything" doesn't refer to how frequently you do something. I'll admit to using it wrong, though.
Also, comparing Harry Pottern to Bernstein Bears is just fucking retarded. There are numerous reasons why it's a retarded comparison, but I trust that the people here are intelligent enough to figure it out without me making a list.
Seldom speaks to a frequency of action, not a quantity of it.
Thus, you just used an incorrect suggestion, since saying "anything" doesn't refer to how frequently you do something. I'll admit to using it wrong, though.
Also, comparing Harry Potter to Bernstein Bears is just fucking retarded. There are numerous reasons why it's a retarded comparison, but I trust that the people here are intelligent enough to figure it out without me making a list.
Though it maybe unfair to compare Harry Potter books to Bernstein Bears Books, Harry Potter books are by no means very good books. I've read five of them, I think, and they were very entertaining and fast to read in English, even though it is my second language. But compared to other novels J.K. Rowling, at least in my opinion, doesn't write very well at all. She does write fast paced, which makes the story thrilling, but she is incomparable to other/ "better" authors.
In my middle school, we got a little heat from dodgeball after a 6th grader knocked out a tooth (he tripped, it could have happened anywhere at anytime). While the PTA was arguing, we played a game in class called Sweeper (might have been Sweep Ball). The gym was divided to two teams and no one could cross the center line. Scattered around the gym was every type of non-dangerous ball imaginable, and we had to throw them across the line. Whoever had less balls on their side at the end of a time limit wins.
It wasn't exactly as fun as dodgeball, but it was a pretty creative game of dodging and balls (there was no penalty for hitting someone). Also, it was one of the few times I've witnessed a gym teacher do something intelligent.
Thus, you just used an incorrect suggestion, since saying "anything" doesn't refer to how frequently you do something.
Is that a typo? Did you mean "since saying 'anything' doesn't refer to how much you do something."? If it's not a typo, well yeah, Mrs. MacRoss just explained that 'seldom' is the word that refers to how frequently something is done, not 'anything', 'anything' is the word that shows quantity in that example.
I am a reader, I read. I enjoy books and always have done. What does annoy me, however, is comments that I read slowly. Now I appreciate that Rym and Scott's comments weren't directed to me. They certainly weren't, I'm not reading the recommended book so they couldn't comment on how quickly I'd read it. Still, I'd be willing to bet someone out there is reading it slowly for the same reasons as me. I'm dyslexic and nothing puts me off reading quicker than someone mocking me for reading slowly. Yes, it takes me longer to read a book but I have a higher than average reading comprehension, quite possibly because of the time it takes me to comprehend. I savour. I know this as my girlfriend is a Masters' Creative Writing student who chews through them ridiculously quickly. Don't make a point of it because you can read quickly. It's a little like standing at the end of a street and shouting at the kid in the crutches "Goddamn. Walk already! What's wrong with you? Everyone can walk, yeesh."
I'm dyslexic and nothing puts me off reading quicker than someone mocking me for reading slowly.
The percentage of people reading slowly is a lot greater than the percentage of people who have a problem like dyslexia. Also, as slow as you read, there are non-dyslexic people reading more slowly. I think we do a pretty good job of only insulting people for things that are their own fault. You might notice we rag on fat people and religious people, but we don't go after autistic people and such. The majority of people who read slowly do so because they do not read enough. Remember, the majority of the USA can't comprehend anything written above a 6th grade level. These are the people we are insulting.
I think we do a pretty good job of only insulting people for things that are their own fault.
Yes, in fairness you do. Which I guess is what surprised me. However in this instance and from some comments I see here on this very thread I suspect it's down to a cultural difference. In the UK, at least in my experience which is somewhat biased towards my generation (X/Y), reading is the norm. As such when I hear criticism of reading I naturally assume ability rather than willingness as the willingness is somewhat universal.
If the state of reading over there is as bad as this show and thread have implied then the whole thing depresses me in a completely new way.
Oh well.
Back to The Subtle Knife, which should really be a Book Club recommendation if it isn't already. Though it is a trilogy again.
P.S. I first wrote this post on a localised iPhone that wanted to correct the word reading with Reading, a town in the UK. That annoys me. Firstly functionally, having to correct it. Secondly on principle that the act of reading would be the less favoured usage. How apt.
P.P.S. I then wrote this post out again on my iMac when mobile Safari crashed. I sincerely hope firmware 2 fixes these 'quirks'.
In my school we rarely played dodgeball, we mainly played football, rugby league and hockey in the winter and then a variety of sports in summer, mainly track and field. However every so often we would play a version of dodgeball called fortress ball. This is basically the same as dodgeball, with the centre line dividing the teams and about 5 balls. However there is two large crash mats on each side standing on their ends, you weren't allowed to move these and behind each team was a bench. When you were hit by a ball you had to go behind the other team and could carry on throwing balls at the end of the other team and this carried on until one team had nobody left on their original side of the mat. As for Dodgeball the film, it has the single best cameo ever with Lance Armstrong.
So in my elementary school, skill in dodgeball was revered above all other sports. The school was divided into 3 teams for the year, and the teams played each other in sports every lunch hour (all of the grade 4 to 7's).
Gym Rules: Basically the prison-type formula where when you get hit you go behind the end line. However, there is no getting out of jail. People in jail may grab the ball and attempt to get out people on the opposing team. Catching the ball thrown by someone in jail does nothing - it is merely a change of possession. This leads to strategies of passing the ball back and forth, attempting to catch a specific player in a compromising position. Generally it isn't a bad thing to have one of your "top" players go down early - they can still be fed the ball and do powerful shots from the other side of the court.
Hitting anybody in the head / face is an automatic out, plus you are kicked out of all further games for that session. Most kids in elementary school would end up crying from headshots, so this was intended to limit the abuse of younger kids.
Bounces were fair game, as long as the ball did not bounce off of a flat surface (bench, etc).
Throwing styles: Most people would throw using an overhand throw, but there were a select few that were able to do the sidearm throw. This involved holding the ball like a discus, which would impart considerable top-spin on the ball, causing it to dive down as you attempted to catch it. Several fingers were dislocated as the ball hit them directly on the tip of the finger.
Equipment: The school had one volleyball that was designated as the "dodgeball" volleyball. Because the volleyball had been used for a long time, the surface of it wasn't as slick as a brand new volleyball is, allowing for better grip. It was also a little softer.
The game ends when one team has got everyone on the other team out.
Outdoor dodgeball: When playing outside at lunch (with no teacher supervision), rules changed quite a bit. Generally only older kids played, and a small hard rubber ball was used instead (the size of a softball). Headshots were legal and encouraged, and the only thing that was better than a headshot was groin-shots. One person would be "up", and everyone else would have to line up in an area about 10 feet wide. The person throwing would get to throw until they hit someone, so it was in your interests to make it hurt as much as possible.
I came from a fairly small school system and as such we didn't really have an organized Phys. Ed. program until we hit the Junior High range (i.e. 7th-8th grade). PE was a mandatory class in High School unless you were either on a sports team, in which case you were excused from it for the season in question, or had medical reasons to be excluded. But I digress.
Dodgeball was a rarely seen beast in Junior High for us. I guess the PE teachers didn't want to take the easy road out because they actually taught us the rules behind various sports and then we would play those for a couple weeks at a shot. High School was where the real dodgeball action started. It was typically a Friday activity and usually played at least once a month. The rules varied depending on what the PE teacher called at the beginning of the class period, but some of them were pretty much a given. This was based on an average of 20 or so people in any given PE class.
We would play in the standard gym that had the markings for basketball and volleyball on the floor.
Five balls in the center, teams split evenly - as far as the "teacher picks two captains and then they pick from the lineup" method can be. If there was a massive disparity between the two teams after the first two rounds then there would be team members forcibly swapped at the teacher's discretion.
The balls were usually a 3/2 split on size, the three being 12" diameter playground kickballs and the other two being volleyball-sized balls of the same material.
Play style was "last man standing wins it for the team". Once the last man was knocked out then we reset and a new round started.
There was no "prison", per se. If you got knocked out, you went and rode the bench until that round was done.
Usually we skipped the "basket of fate" rule to bring your whole team back, but if the teach felt there was a stalemate going on he could change the rules on the fly.
The run-up limit was the top of the three-point line on the basketball court. You throw after going past that and you were automatically out.
If you catch the ball thrown at you, the other person is out. It had to be caught on the fly or you could tip it up, but you had to be the one to catch it and you had to snag it before it hit anything else or you were out. Trapping a ball against the wall or floor didn't count as a catch. Sometimes if you caught a ball it not only knocked out the thrower but it also brought back one of your team members, depending on the rules called at the beginning of the game.
Bounces didn't count as a hit - if you weren't good enough to peg an opposing team member on the fly then you didn't need to be on the court.
Intentional headshots were frowned upon and if one was called then the person who threw it was out. This probably would have been mitigated if we had enforced mouth-guards during PE, though.
So, in the school where I went to the main type of dodge ball we played was the prison dodge ball, or the "everyone against a wall" kind. One weird type we had was a medic type. The game was setup like the prison type bust if you got hit you had to sit down where you were hit and stay there. If you got a ball you could throw it at the other team but you had to stay sitting down. To get back in a "medic" who was a special team member on a little skateboard thing who had to scoot out there and drag you back behind the line. The best strategy I had for prison dodge ball was to stay fairly far back so that I can see all of the enemy and dodge fairly easily. Then when I would get a ball I would stay near the side. When someone on the opposite team would throw a ball I would run up quickly in a curve and hit them in the side while they were recovering from the throw. We used to play dodge ball all the time in elementary and middle school. Near the end of freshman year of high school was awesome because we played dodge ball for the last month. On one of the last days we had an awesome free for all game. We had people on the bleachers and we were using all kinds of ammo. It was epic. We had these orange foam balls which were great. I remember someone throwing one from the middle of the gym and smoking someone in the bleachers in the face. Sometimes we would squish the air out of the balls and throw them so that thew would go fast while they were small and then reflate in the air and hit people in the face. Near my end of middle school career they basically outlawed dodge ball because they say that we were "targeting other students." That pissed me off because if you are getting bullied in dodge ball then just don't play. Man, I want to play some dodgeball now!
Comments
BRING IT TO OTAKON! I'LL TAKE YOU ALL! MHAHAHA!
I'll admit to using it wrong, though.
Also, comparing Harry Pottern to Bernstein Bears is just fucking retarded. There are numerous reasons why it's a retarded comparison, but I trust that the people here are intelligent enough to figure it out without me making a list.
It wasn't exactly as fun as dodgeball, but it was a pretty creative game of dodging and balls (there was no penalty for hitting someone). Also, it was one of the few times I've witnessed a gym teacher do something intelligent.
I am a reader, I read. I enjoy books and always have done. What does annoy me, however, is comments that I read slowly. Now I appreciate that Rym and Scott's comments weren't directed to me. They certainly weren't, I'm not reading the recommended book so they couldn't comment on how quickly I'd read it. Still, I'd be willing to bet someone out there is reading it slowly for the same reasons as me. I'm dyslexic and nothing puts me off reading quicker than someone mocking me for reading slowly. Yes, it takes me longer to read a book but I have a higher than average reading comprehension, quite possibly because of the time it takes me to comprehend. I savour. I know this as my girlfriend is a Masters' Creative Writing student who chews through them ridiculously quickly. Don't make a point of it because you can read quickly. It's a little like standing at the end of a street and shouting at the kid in the crutches "Goddamn. Walk already! What's wrong with you? Everyone can walk, yeesh."
If the state of reading over there is as bad as this show and thread have implied then the whole thing depresses me in a completely new way.
Oh well.
Back to The Subtle Knife, which should really be a Book Club recommendation if it isn't already. Though it is a trilogy again.
P.S. I first wrote this post on a localised iPhone that wanted to correct the word reading with Reading, a town in the UK. That annoys me. Firstly functionally, having to correct it. Secondly on principle that the act of reading would be the less favoured usage. How apt.
P.P.S. I then wrote this post out again on my iMac when mobile Safari crashed. I sincerely hope firmware 2 fixes these 'quirks'.
However every so often we would play a version of dodgeball called fortress ball. This is basically the same as dodgeball, with the centre line dividing the teams and about 5 balls. However there is two large crash mats on each side standing on their ends, you weren't allowed to move these and behind each team was a bench. When you were hit by a ball you had to go behind the other team and could carry on throwing balls at the end of the other team and this carried on until one team had nobody left on their original side of the mat.
As for Dodgeball the film, it has the single best cameo ever with Lance Armstrong.
Gym Rules: Basically the prison-type formula where when you get hit you go behind the end line. However, there is no getting out of jail. People in jail may grab the ball and attempt to get out people on the opposing team. Catching the ball thrown by someone in jail does nothing - it is merely a change of possession. This leads to strategies of passing the ball back and forth, attempting to catch a specific player in a compromising position. Generally it isn't a bad thing to have one of your "top" players go down early - they can still be fed the ball and do powerful shots from the other side of the court.
Hitting anybody in the head / face is an automatic out, plus you are kicked out of all further games for that session. Most kids in elementary school would end up crying from headshots, so this was intended to limit the abuse of younger kids.
Bounces were fair game, as long as the ball did not bounce off of a flat surface (bench, etc).
Throwing styles: Most people would throw using an overhand throw, but there were a select few that were able to do the sidearm throw. This involved holding the ball like a discus, which would impart considerable top-spin on the ball, causing it to dive down as you attempted to catch it. Several fingers were dislocated as the ball hit them directly on the tip of the finger.
Equipment: The school had one volleyball that was designated as the "dodgeball" volleyball. Because the volleyball had been used for a long time, the surface of it wasn't as slick as a brand new volleyball is, allowing for better grip. It was also a little softer.
The game ends when one team has got everyone on the other team out.
Outdoor dodgeball: When playing outside at lunch (with no teacher supervision), rules changed quite a bit. Generally only older kids played, and a small hard rubber ball was used instead (the size of a softball). Headshots were legal and encouraged, and the only thing that was better than a headshot was groin-shots. One person would be "up", and everyone else would have to line up in an area about 10 feet wide. The person throwing would get to throw until they hit someone, so it was in your interests to make it hurt as much as possible.
Dodgeball was a rarely seen beast in Junior High for us. I guess the PE teachers didn't want to take the easy road out because they actually taught us the rules behind various sports and then we would play those for a couple weeks at a shot. High School was where the real dodgeball action started. It was typically a Friday activity and usually played at least once a month. The rules varied depending on what the PE teacher called at the beginning of the class period, but some of them were pretty much a given. This was based on an average of 20 or so people in any given PE class.
The best strategy I had for prison dodge ball was to stay fairly far back so that I can see all of the enemy and dodge fairly easily. Then when I would get a ball I would stay near the side. When someone on the opposite team would throw a ball I would run up quickly in a curve and hit them in the side while they were recovering from the throw.
We used to play dodge ball all the time in elementary and middle school. Near the end of freshman year of high school was awesome because we played dodge ball for the last month. On one of the last days we had an awesome free for all game. We had people on the bleachers and we were using all kinds of ammo. It was epic. We had these orange foam balls which were great. I remember someone throwing one from the middle of the gym and smoking someone in the bleachers in the face. Sometimes we would squish the air out of the balls and throw them so that thew would go fast while they were small and then reflate in the air and hit people in the face.
Near my end of middle school career they basically outlawed dodge ball because they say that we were "targeting other students." That pissed me off because if you are getting bullied in dodge ball then just don't play. Man, I want to play some dodgeball now!