Why Lilly? + tiny rant & Mind Tricks

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "David <dfrankiswork at n...>"
<dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> Richard wrote:
> 
> > How is it possible to have read 
> > the books and not know that Harry's mum's name is Lily, or how to 
> > spell McGonagall? 
> 
> Jen has already pointed out that some people are only able to listen 
> to the audio versions.  ...edited...
> 
> ..., what is the reason for the very common spelling of Lilly for 
> Lily?  I can see that McGonagall is a difficult name - I always 
> hesitate over it myself - and many of the other common errors have 
> some sort of common-sense basis.  But  Lily?  Is it something to do 
> with feeling that a word spelt Lily should be pronounced to rhyme 
> with wily?  Is Lilly a name in its own right in the US?
> 
> David

bboy_mn:

A mind is a wonderful but sometimes a devilishly tricky thing. 

I have a mild (undiagnosed) form of dyslexia. Generally, it has never
been a real problem; I've easily adapted to it, but that adaptation
comes with some compromises. Words of a certain length or certain
structure don't register in my mind. Because they are jumbled, my
adaptaion has been to treat them as images. 

I have alway read a lot, that is, a lot compared to all the illiterate
rednecks I grew up with. I have a college degree in science, made the
Dean's list several times, Sigma Zeta Sicence Honor Society, I have a
better vocabulary than most people I know, etc.... But there are words
that I have read many many times, words which I fully understand, but
at the sametime, my mind having converted them into images, I don't
know how to spell them or pronounce them. I know them when I see them,
but that's all.

Next... White Trash. Sorry, not a nice thing to say because the people
I grew up around were good people just as Roseanne Bar (the commedian,
 TV show- Roseanne) is a good person, but just like Roseanne Bar, they
were truly uneducated, redneck, white trash. Sadly, some of them seem
to cultivate stupidity and ignorance as if it were an asset. Plus, I'm
of Norwegian. Ya sure, you betcha' I am. Point? There are certain
speech patterns, idioms, and quirks of the English language that are
ingrained in me; that have been a part of my life of language since
birth, so there is no escaping them. Heaven knows I've tried. 

Now... the English language. Once again sorry, but it is a nasty
language. Based on my limited memory there are 3,000 rules and what...
something like 10,000 exceptions to those rules, and you wonder why
people can't figure out where to put their commas and semicolons. 

Then of course, there are pronunciation and application of the English
language. Pardon me while I tear (tare) myself away to wipe the tear
(tier) out of my eye. ...and a thousand other examples of how the
English language must drive foreigners nuts.

Compound that with the English language being a hodgepodge of all the
other European languages living and dead, and you have a language that
is not the easiest to work with. The Thai alphabet has something like
42 characters, one character for each sound in the language. Where as
any given character in the English language can have a dozen (maybe an
exageration) sounds applied to it. And, I've already pointed out how a
given word ('tear' among many others) can have multiple
pronounciations.  I'm surprised we don't all have ulcers.

Now... political correctness. Sadly... most sadly... political
correctness has corrupted the educational system, as if it didn't have
enough problems are ready. Heaven forbid that some child should feel
bad because they got something wrong. No no... it's much better to
structure classes so that everyone gets a 'smiley face' sticker at the
end of the day. If you don't challenge them they can't fail. What they
forget is that, sadly, if you don't challenge them, they can't succeed.

That combined with a hidden practice that went on for a long time, and
 probably still does. Rather than teach a child or fail a child who
doesn't learn, they pass them on to the next grade anyway on the
misguided assumption that they are picking up something along the way.
I DO NOT blame this on the teachers. This is a problem with
administration. The teacher appeals to the administration for help
because a student is failing, and the administration drops it back in
the teacher lap and say that they are not teaching. While the teachers
and adminstration play political mind games, the student gets lost.
Many many students have graduated for high school completely
illiterate. They can't even read at a basic grade/elemetary school level. 

Surveys have shown that many American student for a variety of reasons
including but also beyond education, can't find Europe on a globe. The
self-proclaimed greatest country in the world, whose students aren't
even in the top ten world wide in science and math (should really look
that one up. Even if it's not precisely accurate, it's still a valid
illustration).

Finally, people just don't seem to care anymore. If they can
communicate in the most basic ways, they are satisfied. Somehow life
has more important priorities than where does the comma go. So the
commas, semicolons, and apostrophes get left behind in a world that
moves much too fast to be delayed by such mundane matters.

So while I can explain the sad state of the English language and why
people make the mistakes that they do, I can't really justify it. 

Sorry for the long rant. Just a few thoughts I had.

bboy_mn