approach_the_correct_food epitome of incomprehensibility So, I'm tutoring some students for a local English writing exam (see standardized_tests). It's a bit overwhelming: one of my classes has three students at once and they're always sending me the homework they've done. The fact that they're doing a lot of practice is good, of course - it's really the only way to pass - but it's a bit overwhelming for me as a not-terribly-organized person. It takes me a long time to correct their homework, and I'm prone to think, "I don't need to do this, I'm not getting paid for it," but then I counter-think, "Well, I get paid more per hour for group classes, and it's worth putting in extra effort to make sure they pass, because it's important for them," and then I counter-counter-think, "But if I try to help everybody, I'll end up getting worn out and helping nobody, or inadvertently picking favourites by spending more time on one person than another just because that person contacts me more or is more insistent." Etc. My current compromise is to tell them I'll look over their homework as far as I have time. It's a dilemma and not fun to think about. But then, the_perks_of_proofreading: one student wrote in a sample letter that a school nutrition program will teach students to "approach the correct food in full autonomy." Note that: in full autonomy! None of this dependent food-approaching stuff. :) 170709 ... e_o_i She also wrote "avoiding dressed food". Even if you're overusing a thesaurus, how do you get "dressed" from "processed"? I'm more anxious than amused now. She knows the structure, but what's if she fails just because her language isn't good enough? I really want them all to pass. 170709 ... unhinged maybe she meant dressed...like cole slaw and potato salad which are usually dressed with mayonnaise...maybe? 170711 ... raze hey, you don't know how often i've seen cucumbers wearing clothes. three-piece suits and the like. i think one even passed itself off as an investment banker and no one batted an eye. 170711 ... e_o_i GOOD NEWS - the three students who kept sending me emails passed. The one who had to retake the test and was getting very tired of the whole thing passed. The last student I had for this test failed, but I only had four classes with him. He has another chance in early November. 170722 ... e_o_i raze: I'm not surprised. Cucumbers grow in shady places. :) unhinged: My boss was talking to C (a colleague) and me at lunch on Wednesday or Thursday. First, he complimented us on being healthy for eating salads. Then he looked at them and told us, in a "fun fact" sort of tone, that our salads weren't REALLY that healthy: C's included strawberries, which have too much sugar, and mine had mayonnaise, which has too much fat. I suppose it wouldn't be good to gulp down mayo by the spoonful, but it's not that terrible. And strawberries? Really?? (This is just a picky example of his pickiness about little things: it gets tiring, whether he's factually correct or not.) Oh oh. Less complainy. The expression "all-dressed pizza", meaning one with both meat and vegetables, exists in Montreal but apparently not in St. Catharine, Ontario. Have you heard it in the States? I am curious. 170722 ... unhinged We don't dress our pizza here. at all 170722 ... unhinged ( i hate when autocorrect capitalizes me) 170722 ... e_o_i I think "dressed" here means to add ingredients (not just sauces) on top of the basics: baked dough and tomato sauce. Then anything else is a dressing. (Maybe not cheese, because fast food places here seem to assume cheese is a necessity. Anything else besides dough, tomato sauce, and cheese, then.) 180127 what's it to you? who go blather from