Pet Peeves
PostedMy biggest pet peeve EVER is when people say times when they should say multiply. I know that's weird, but it's really true!! Now, I'm horrible at English and I know that I use improper grammar constantly, but how hard is it to say multiply?? Come on people!! Today in my math class people were putting their homework problems on the board and they kept saying and then you times it by 3. Keep in mind this is a 4000 level math class so these people are math MAJORS. I think what pushed me over the edge though was when my professor said it at least 4 times in class today...."and then you just times it by 2." Well, no. You don't! You can multiply something by 2, or you can do 2 times 2...but we don't times things. You would think that someone who has their phd in math would know that by now...but no...we have to sound like second graders who are still learning what multiplication is. I don't mind as much when non-math people say it, but my professor should know better. Anyway...speaking of math I need to go do the hours of math that I have ahead of me tonight...I hope I get to MULTIPLY lots of things!
yo. i'm a-readin' yo' blizzle. word.
I hate it when people say "I could care less"--it means nothing. I especially hate it when English majors say it; I can't expect the general population to know better. I empathize with your frustration.
I agree with you perhaps more than I can express in words. Today a student asked me if he could minus 6 from 5. I told him he could subtract 6 from 5 and he said, "Oh, you can't minus them?" I think he thought minus and subtract were two completely different operations! You'll be a great teacher, though, since semantics is a big part of understanding math.