Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Make mine a double

Whenever he is asked what he would like for Christmas/his birthday/Father's day, Husband says, 'Whisky.'

He has quite a collection of bottles although he insists that most only have a tiny drop in them - a fact he blames on younger Son, having convinced himself that he couldn't possibly have drunk it all -and that is why he needs more for Christmas. They include his favourites, the smoky, peaty malts from Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Caol Ila and the other Islay distilleries.

As for me, I sit at the other end of the sofa with my glass of water when he drinks them as I can't stand the smell.


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On Shirleen's blog we're discussing words that annoy us or that we mispronounce.

Something that annoys me is modern Bible translations, like The Message, that use unnecessary words. Some things can be more simply stated than in the NIV but with a lot of it, I'm more inclined to the 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' theory. The language is perfectly clear and beautiful.

Last night, for instance, we were looking at the shepherds in the Christmas story and what did The Message call them? Sheep herders. Now I ask you, who calls them sheep herders? That is change for the sake of change and pointless change at that.

Grumble over.

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Astonishment now. I discovered on a website an advert for an essay-writing company. They say, 'Send us the exact question you have to write an essay or dissertation on and we'll guarantee you an essay of 2.1 or first class honours standard.'

Now is it me, or isn't that cheating?

10 comments:

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

That's quite a collection of whisky bottles! I can't stand the drink but I do like looking at the labels. I totally agree with you on the stupid, needless changeing of Biblical language. As for these essay sites, they are amazing [in the negative sense.] When I taught in FE I would watch, rendered speechless, as students shamelessly cut and pasted other people's work into their assignments. I am glad to say that exam boards can spot this a mile off and I know that some universities have computer programmes that can pick out such cheating. I despair of the end result of students' laziness, though, and it's so unfair to those who do their work properly.

Anonymous said...

Just a brief stopover before I move the computer. Perhaps the smell is not that good, but the taste isn't half bad. (grin)

Clare said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Hello Liz, thanks for visiting my blog. I have just been reading your posts and have found them very interesting. I enjoy your style of writing.

On mispronunciation of words (I had a job spelling that!!), it's a real bugbear of mine, so I won't get up on my soapbox at the moment. However, one day I've threatened to write a post about it - watch this space!

I'm sure the cockatoo is going to enjoy Saturday night, especially if some people turn up wearing thongs - she has a fetish about feet in thongs, so that could be quite interesting!

Cheers

Robyn

Joy Des Jardins said...

Liz....that's cheating in my book too. But, I've heard this before. Something's very wrong about that. I'll go one step farther...my daughter, who is a history professor, wrote a book about 3 years ago. She tells me that there is a site that would sell a 9 or 10 page report of her book to students who need this kind of report for a grade...and sells them for $40 dollars per report. My daughter was shocked that they would do such a thing. So am I. What's wrong with this picture? Have kids gotten this lazy...and desperate? What about the student who really does slave over a paper for an important grade? This is a very sad state of affairs as far as I'm concerned.

Anonymous said...

Students can be sent down for plagiarism in this country and graduates stripped of their degrees retrospectively.

Liz Hinds said...

I thought it might be that the student, who maybe isn't very good at writing essays, sent in a semi-literate attempt including all the facts, and it would be re-written for him, but all he has to send is the question.

I am astounded. I assume cheating has always gone on but this is taking it to a new level.

The site UKessays looks so professional and upfront - just like any other business!

Robyn, for one moment there I thought you were talking thongs as in underwear! Now that would have been interesting: a cockatoo with a fetish for thongs.

Stu, is it plagiarism just because someone else has written it?

Anonymous said...

I heard about this on the radio - and (I think) that there will be some sort of leigislation brought out against such companies. How to police it though?

Clare said...

I have deleted my other comment cos you can't read it! Yes it is cheating, and I would never do it but I can see that they would make money out of more unscrupulous people than myself!
(though at this stage, with 3,000 words left to write, a week to write them and a computer which is still broken, I am beginning to wish I was less scrupulous (sp?)) xx

Anonymous said...

@Liz,
"You may quote small parts of someone else's work verbatim, just as long as you cite where you got it from." (JEB, maths class, 1960)

"If I see further than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants" (Albert Einstein?)

"Re-Use as much code as possible (under the GNU) and add your own innovative stuff" (Open-Source Credo)

So yes, Liz, if you pass on the works of someone else verbatim AS YOUR OWN, then it's plagiarism.

Cf: Nikolai Ivanovitch Lobachevsky, a song by Tom Lehrer