Distracted

Mary went with her dad this morning and came back with Muesli cereal... another reason not to take Willie Robinson with you when you shop. I took the (O')Robinsons to the city centre today, specifically to the Bullring. Mary had to stay home with Helen who has yet to shake her cold. Breaks my heart to hear her cough. I pray she gets better soon... and I will not rest well until she does. On the upside, its nice to literally have a doctor in the house. The highlight of the afternoon for me was a traditional English tea time near the canalside with my in-laws.

Mary, her dad and I went out to eat at Old House at Home. We tried Balti for the first time... good... very "Indian".... but certainly worth another go. We concluded our evening with coffee and deep discussion. I don't know what the ladies were talking about, but the men were discussing whether the Western Classics (including Greek and Roman) should be taught in American public schools; Dr. Robinson being for, me being against. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have had those things, but, practically, I don't think they are as important as many claim. Oddly, I think BK would have been on Dr. R's side because he bemoans (as often I do) how lacking his K-12 education was. I think the majority of people who care about that stuff are hyper-educated, like we three (and it is supposed to be "we", not "us"). Needless to say, the point is moot because it ain't gonna happen.

Now for rapid fire:

1) Anytime anyone has nice things to say about me in a blog, I have to give props and 15 bonus points on an essay grade. But Jon, remember that, in America, its not Lew's name that is used to refer to the water closet...

2) What do I say about our dinner with the 5 Koreans and an Irishmen? The boys, 12 and 10, were bored but polite. The parents, Cha (my student) and Yaeshin, were extremely complementary of us and America. Their two-year-old, Esther, was a doll. Rodney, another student, is an experienced missionary with an understanding of America and and great sense of humor and a lovely Irish twang. They all seemed to like the chili, except for the boys who opted for the pizza (of course).

3) Nice to see comments from J-Dog and Fat Gorilla. Finally found a way rouse y'all, huh?

4) For Jenny P., to listen to UA games go to http://www.730ump.com/ and click on listen live.

5) Its Cadbury Museum tomorrow along with pick-up-the-rental-car-time tomorrow afternoon. Oh,the sheer bliss it will be to change gears with no difficulty, to achieve 60+ mph, to have at least some confidence that we will reach desired destinations. Cars are great... gas is bad.

6) In honor or our coming to MTSU soon, they decided to have Bill Cosby come. Y'all shouldn't have.

7) One last pointless rave. We need a decent plural "you" in English. We used to have one -- "ye" -- a la King James Version. That form died, but now we are one of the few modern languages without a plural second-person noun. As conservatives debate whether or not to translate biblical passages as "Brethren" (archaic), "Brothers" (literal but too specific) and "Brothers and sisters" (too much "filling in the gaps"), a strange thing is happening to modern English -- "you guys" is becoming the informal plural "you". This is no good. First of all, it uses the masculine to refer to a mixed gender crowd (which is the opposite of the rest of the English evolution). Second, we Southerners already have a perfectly suitable form -- "y'all", or "yall" for convenience. It suffices. And many of us have a dislike for the yankee "you guys" even though it is more and more common in the South. I became convinced of our need to resist when I noticed many Brits using this phrase!! Now that is too much American TV!! So, let us put away our silly games and agree upon a proper term. I think we can do that, don't y'all?