CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
I hope things are getting on smoothly for all of you, and that, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you are a perky busy bee like me.
I guess some of you are not done with the Top Shelf Challenge yet, but the photos I have already received prove the Top Shelf is a hoarder maker and not an order maker, as often advertised !
Thanks a lot to all those who have racked their brains to find out what my third 'give-away' item was. Some of you said it looked a bit like a sieve, a colander or a strainer, but what for ? That was a puzzler !! And yet, you were very close !
Congrats, dear Frankie, for helping all of us to solve the mystery of the ULO (Unidentified Lying around Object) !
That do-dad is an egg white separator !
Jeez, did I really buy that, or was it a free bonus gift ?
Separating the egg whites from the yolks isn't that tedious, is it ?
Well, anyway, it has made my 90-year-old neighbour happy. She said that, as she is getting older, her hands are sometimes a bit stiff, and that little gizmo will help her to crack the egg without turning the countertop into a sticky, mini skating rink. Great, then !
The anger I told you about last week ? Vanished into the thin air ! I don't even remember why I flared up and got so jumpy.
Perky Busy Bees are not wired like that.
So, forget about it !
Anyway, it gave me the opportunity to search the Internet and learn more about bees' temper.
An then what was to be a quick web search and started quite innocently turned into a curious bee's cyber field trip.
Have you ever gone on such a Web Tour ?
You know, when you can't resist the urge to know immediately the answer to every bit of trivia that pops up in the course of your websurfing ride !
So, a few sites deep, and, quite a few clicks later, I had fluttered a lot and collected enough nectar and pollen, and was on my way back to the hive.Oops, sorry, that's bees' language ! I mean, I had learnt a lot about bees, bumblebees and beeswax, and was about to turn off the computer and prepare lunch for my sweet honey.
It was high time to unplug myself from Internet, otherwise I would have to go to a rehab center (there are plenty all over the world cause Internet addiction is a growing epidemic).
Easier said than done .......
A last scrolling through the website names to make sure I had not skipped any first rate information about bees.....and of course, I had !
Naughty me ! How could I have missed " The Foreign Language Spelling Bee " ?
Have you heard about that competition in which contestants are asked to spell a wide selection of words, with a varying degree of difficulty ?
A good way for students to practise and improve their vocabulary, spelling and memory skills in a foreign language.
Currently it is held all over the world and is pretty popular.
Quite surprising, isn't it ? All the more, as in the era of texting, spelling and grammar seem to take a backseat to the need to communicate with finger high speed !
Do I sound a bit old-fashioned if I tell you that to learn that there are students all over the world who fret about proper writing has really made my day ?
Can I even go a bit further and confess that spelling and grammatical errors in newspapers and other news media sometimes get on my nerves ! Over-reliance on computer spell-checkers can really ruin an article !
Anyway, don't get me wrong ! I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I often happen to be befuddled by tricky word and conjugations.
So, forgive my 'roaming ' mood, and let me end this chapter on a humorous note.
When I was at university, one of my mates was a die-hard fan of grammar.
In those days, being a grammar stickler did not make you a lonely bookworm, and that girl was anything but a party pooper !
Yet,when she came up with " The Articles in English language " as a thesis topic, her choice left me a bit puzzled.
But, as long as her supervisor had agreed on it, why not ?
One year and a half later, I came across her at the library and asked her about her research.
She told me that actually she had realized her topic was way too broad and vague (??) and had narrowed it to " The definite Article in English
language " !
More definite, indeed ! Definitey !
The noose was tightening ....
Years went by, and once, during an alumni meeting, we found each other sitting side by side. I could not help asking her if she was done with the " THE " thesis.
She answered that she had given up, cause after dozens of nightmarish rewritings, she had at last seen the light at the end of the tunnel, but unfortunately, her poor overaged supervisor had not survived her "quest " for the Holy Article.
He had gone through the tunnel and had seen the light (smart words to say he had passed over) before penetrating all the mysteries of
the THE !!
That's all for this week, folks, but remember :
One grammar rule a day keeps the mistake away
But too many can ruin your day !
( a brand-new saying for foreign language learners)
