Comments on: Praying Where I’m At http://www.hieropraxis.com/2007/08/praying-where-im-at/ Literature and faith, truth and beauty Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:15:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Holly E. Ordway http://www.hieropraxis.com/2007/08/praying-where-im-at/#comment-39 Holly E. Ordway Sat, 25 Aug 2007 06:12:51 +0000 http://www.hieropraxis.com/?p=57#comment-39 Linda, in case my email to you didn't go through - yes, you're more than welcome to use my essay with your class! (Just please include my name and the web address on your handout). If the idiomatic "where I'm at" really bugs you, you have my permission to retouch it minus the "at". Personally, I'm with the "good father" on this one, though... hee hee. :) Ah well, we all have our pet peeves! (Mine mostly have to do with misplaced apostrophes.) Linda, in case my email to you didn’t go through – yes, you’re more than welcome to use my essay with your class! (Just please include my name and the web address on your handout). If the idiomatic “where I’m at” really bugs you, you have my permission to retouch it minus the “at”. Personally, I’m with the “good father” on this one, though… hee hee. :) Ah well, we all have our pet peeves! (Mine mostly have to do with misplaced apostrophes.)

]]> By: Linda M http://www.hieropraxis.com/2007/08/praying-where-im-at/#comment-38 Linda M Sat, 25 Aug 2007 03:05:24 +0000 http://www.hieropraxis.com/?p=57#comment-38 Holly, I love this post and plan to use it in a class on money management this Sunday (if that is ok with you?) I have to admit that I plan to delete that last preposition - even if it is normal and idiomatic, rather than "wrong" in English. This is a pet peeve of mine and I think it makes the user seem uneducated. My priest is forever saying "That's where I'm at" over my objections. He says he does it on purpose, I guess to sound "like folks," but I worry that it make him sound ignorant. So, I will remove the offending word before I print and hand out to the class. I don't want to give the good father any ammunition! Holly, I love this post and plan to use it in a class on money management this Sunday (if that is ok with you?) I have to admit that I plan to delete that last preposition – even if it is normal and idiomatic, rather than “wrong” in English. This is a pet peeve of mine and I think it makes the user seem uneducated. My priest is forever saying “That’s where I’m at” over my objections. He says he does it on purpose, I guess to sound “like folks,” but I worry that it make him sound ignorant. So, I will remove the offending word before I print and hand out to the class. I don’t want to give the good father any ammunition!

]]> By: Holly E. Ordway http://www.hieropraxis.com/2007/08/praying-where-im-at/#comment-37 Holly E. Ordway Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:32:23 +0000 http://www.hieropraxis.com/?p=57#comment-37 Sydney - Thanks for the part before the "...but"! Your grammar observation brings up an interesting point. I'm well aware that "where I'm at" is idiomatic English (what the terms "correct" and "incorrect" mean would lead into a much larger discussion.) This piece is an example of writing for a particular audience and with a particular tone; my formal academic voice would not achieve the effect that I'm looking for here. I imagine that you wouldn't start a business letter with "Hey, what's up?" (which is not correct grammar), but you would be comfortable speaking like that, more casually, with family and friends. It's called code-switching. Actually, the most up-to-date views on language use and pedagogy indicate that it is valuable to recognize and use our different "dialects" or codes; all language learners and writers can and do learn to switch between informal/formal registers, and as writers develop they recognize when different registers/codes/dialects are best used in different circumstances. A writer or speaker who only used a formal register (one of the characteristics of which is an emphasis on prescriptive grammar) would in fact be very limited in communicative ability and nuance. (To allay your worries, yes, I do teach my students the rules of grammar according to standard academic English; I do teach it, however, in the context of what I've just said on formal/informal registers.) All that may be more than you're interested in, but your comment sparked a bit of a "teaching moment...", I admit! That actually leads back into some of the ideas in my post. It's been a great thing to discover that I don't have to use the formal register when talking to God. Sydney – Thanks for the part before the “…but”! Your grammar observation brings up an interesting point. I’m well aware that “where I’m at” is idiomatic English (what the terms “correct” and “incorrect” mean would lead into a much larger discussion.) This piece is an example of writing for a particular audience and with a particular tone; my formal academic voice would not achieve the effect that I’m looking for here. I imagine that you wouldn’t start a business letter with “Hey, what’s up?” (which is not correct grammar), but you would be comfortable speaking like that, more casually, with family and friends. It’s called code-switching. Actually, the most up-to-date views on language use and pedagogy indicate that it is valuable to recognize and use our different “dialects” or codes; all language learners and writers can and do learn to switch between informal/formal registers, and as writers develop they recognize when different registers/codes/dialects are best used in different circumstances. A writer or speaker who only used a formal register (one of the characteristics of which is an emphasis on prescriptive grammar) would in fact be very limited in communicative ability and nuance. (To allay your worries, yes, I do teach my students the rules of grammar according to standard academic English; I do teach it, however, in the context of what I’ve just said on formal/informal registers.)

All that may be more than you’re interested in, but your comment sparked a bit of a “teaching moment…”, I admit!

That actually leads back into some of the ideas in my post. It’s been a great thing to discover that I don’t have to use the formal register when talking to God.

]]> By: Sydney http://www.hieropraxis.com/2007/08/praying-where-im-at/#comment-36 Sydney Sat, 18 Aug 2007 03:01:48 +0000 http://www.hieropraxis.com/?p=57#comment-36 Nice post, but my complaint is about your grammar. You have a Ph.D. in English and teach composition and you use the phrase "where I'm at"? That is appalling. It might be common use, but it is atrocious grammatically. I pity your students. Nice post, but my complaint is about your grammar. You have a Ph.D. in English and teach composition and you use the phrase “where I’m at”? That is appalling. It might be common use, but it is atrocious grammatically. I pity your students.

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