A Perturbed Homeschooler
It is beyond me how a 4th grader searching for the meaning of the word, application, is supposed to grasp this:
The act of applying.
Am I the only person who was taught that one never defines a word using the word itself, or any root or form of the same word?
Santa, please bring me a decent dictionary.
The act of applying.
Am I the only person who was taught that one never defines a word using the word itself, or any root or form of the same word?
Santa, please bring me a decent dictionary.
paper lantern of the day Wednesday, December 05, 2007
11 Comments:
Maybe this definition will clear it up:
A document one fills out, in order to begin the process of employment (i.e, "being employed").
I hate when dictionaries do this, too. It's like looking up any form of the root word sends you on a rabbit chase to finally wind up looking up the root word: apply. Blah.
Quite amusing.
At that point, I'm sure I would have started with hand gestures.
Erin, this is when you need to take matters into your own hands and merely sound it out to find the definition:
App - the beginning of the word "apple" which is a fruit, so the beginning of fruit (a seed)
lic - to move your tongue over the surface of something
at - having arrived
ion - a charged particle
Hence: Application - the point at which a tongue has arrived to and moved over a charged seed particle
Let your intuition be your guide. Remember that I am a product of homeschooling, and this was always my method.
P.S. Don't tell Mom. She thinks I actually used Mr. Webster's mumbo jumbo.
I love words--how they sound in my ear, how they feel on my tongue, how they look on a page.
But I can't define for the life of me.
I was doing ESL tutoring. We were reading Nancy Drew together, and my student asked, "What is looming?"
Uh, looming? You know, it's looming. Like a big mountain. Or a scary fog. Or an upcoming birthday that means you're too old.
You know, looming.
Note to self: Send daughter to the blogging community for handy definitions.
She may flunk all of her SAT verbal questions, but she'll sure have a vivid and colorful imagination.
You guys are better (or at least funnier) than Merriam- Webster any day.
Sorry, I can't help, my dictionary just says "Refer Preparation H".
Erin -- You crack me up, and I miss you. Sorry I haven't stopped by here in a while. Hope you are well.
In my day it meant to put something on something else but now it's not really PC for words to have specific meanings, is it? I mean, doesn't it depend on the application?
Remember...every unique usage requires questioning...which is more succinctly expressed as poxleubx.
Yes Mom, the application of application really depends upon it's application. And employment.
Post a Comment
<< Home