dumb pe0ple gets a theme s0ng!

This year, Tiger Band's first show is called Sketches of Spain. This show will consist of three songs: Captain from Castille, La Suerte de los Tontos, and Malaguena.

I love saying "La Suerte de los Tontos." It's just a fun Spanish phrase, you know? Well, I decided that the intelligent thing to do would be to KNOW what it was that I loved to say so much. So, I asked our resident Spanish speaker, Jenn exactly what the exciting phrase translated into in English.

"La Suerte de los Tontos?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"That means 'The Luck of the Dumb People' or stupid people," she said.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"T-O-N-T-O-S?" she asked. "That means dumb people or stupid people."

"Wow. I can't believe that."

"Yeah. That's weird that you guys are playing a song about the luck of the dumb people."

"Yeah, I wonder if Dr. Spede knows that?"

Yes... this was the conversation we had. "The Luck of the Dumb People." The funny thing is, the song does not sound like it is about dumb people at all. It sounds like a valiant celebratory piece. It's bold and fanfare like, so I really wonder what the context is behind the song.

Regardless of what the song sounds like, it is definitely the perfect theme song for this blog... It's about dumb pe0ple, and the song is apparently about the luck of the dumb pe0ple... It's perfect.

p0p c0llar, part ii

My friends... he did it again. Sigma No, as he will now be called, popped his collar up AGAIN today. This time, it was much worse though.

First of all, I must remind you that it is July in Clemson, South Carolina. South Carolina summers are known to be muggy, sticky, gross, steamy, and plain old hott (yes, with 2 t's). The Weather Channel documented the high for Tuesday July 20 as 89 degrees.

PLEASE TELL ME WHY THAT BOY HAD ON A NORTH FACE FLEECE!!!
ZIPPED ALL THE WAY UP WITH THE COLLAR FLIPPED UP!

Quite frankly, it didn't make any sense to me, or any of the other counselors. I had to restrain myself from throwing small objects at him. Now that I think about it, had I had a snowball, I would have thrown it at him. He looked prepared enough for a snowball fight.

shame on y0u, andrew...

I am angry about this away message...

I can't remember what happened last night all I can remember is a song that goes like this and when I close my eyes I can see millions of people in front of me dancing and the beet goes like this....boom boom!!

PUNCTUATION PLEASE!

lwickli

I don't know who the hell this chica is, but she put this ad up in the lobby of Smith Hall. Jessica brought it to my attention this evening while we were eating pizza with campers. I had seen it before and had remembered how incredibly appalled I was at the incorrect word used in the ad. It is a casualty of a disgusting southern drawl...

I am looking for two female roommates. If you are interested and/or have any questions, please contact me at the e-mail address below. Also, if you want to take a tour of the house, fill free to set up an appointment. Availability is on a first come, first serve basis.

Fill. Well, I guess I have to give her some credit... she put the comma after "also," which is commonly forgotten. As for that "fill" where the word "feel" should be... I just hope that whoever decides to move in with her can teach her that even though one's accent may change the way a word sounds, spelling always remains the same.

p0p c0llars

WTF? Okay. First of all, it is your perogative if you want to wear something that is not really the norm... Seriously, I don't care. But, it is also my perogative to comment on when I feel something doesn't make sense. Not that what I am about to discuss is really dumb, but I just don't understand it. Maybe I am the dumb one here...

Pop collars. Who decided that it would be cool to take the everyday collar on a Polo type shirt and flip that bad boy up? I know that it was the style a few decades ago... well, at least for the greasy guys with black leather jackets like the Fonz, but someone has emerged and made this past fashion statement present.

The reason that I am commenting on this is because of a camper here this week who flips his collar up all the time. I call him Sigma Nu, after the fraternity. He has really got the whole fratty look down pat... flipped up collar, short khaki shorts, Rainbow sandals, backwards Oakleys when they aren't on his eyes. I mean, I gotta give the man an A for effort... but then I have to subtract a few points because a goal of his is to be in a fraternity at Clemson. I am sorry, but when I heard this, I almost lost it. Bryce said, "He wants to be in a fraternity when he comes to Clemson." Who has that as a goal in life? I mean, yeah, I'm sure people think about it, but it strikes me as a very rare goal. Most people want to be doctors, or astronauts, or firemen... but who says, "I want to be fratty"?

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. So his pop collar graces his neck almost daily... one day it even graced his neck accompanied by Mecca running shorts. Most of the counselors saw that as a red flag... if our friend wants to be fratty, he is definitely going to have to learn that you don't wear our Walker Golf Course shirts with our Fike Rec workout shorts. Well, there are a lot of other guys that hang out with this guy... they are archies, so they are really clicky. One of them is this guy from Atlanta... he tries to be "in," but it doesn't work that much... he is more the Sports Car Club type... you know... pseudo-fratty. Well, one day, he decided to pop his collar too. Well, I mean, judging from the type of person he is and the things he says he does, he is very different from our Sigma Nu friend. However, the popped collar made all the difference! All this metro ATL kid had to do to be on the same level with the prince of $500,000 home suburbia was pop his collar... WHAT A CONCEPT!

So I suppose that is how the whole thing caught on in the first place... Some guy with high social standing did it... maybe in order to advance himself in the eyes of others, or just draw other's attention to him... then, some wannabe decided to copy him, in hopes that it would advance him in the eyes of the guy he was mimicing (did I lose you there?).

In other words, it was all done to be "cool." If you ask me, it would seem that having that extra fabric up around one's neck in the summer time would not be incredibly "cool." Quite honestly, it isn't a great practice at all. The common and neat way to wear a collared shirt is with the collar down. This is the way that corporate America dresses, and therefore, it is the correct way... Now I know that is arguable, but let's be honest... if anyone wants to get anywhere in life (maybe not necessarily into a frat house), then they have to be somewhat professional. I think it would be advisable for our friend Sigma Nu to live out his cool pre-fratty/fratty years as he is, and then toss the style away when his time comes... I'm not tryin' to cramp his style completely... everyone needs their individuality... even though the pop collar practice is somewhat a fad... I guess it's still not a widely accepted fashion statement.

So my verdict... Pop Collars: An individualistic fashion statement (that is oxymoronical enough) worn by those individuals achieving "cool" status. Not reccommended for those trying to make an impression in the businessworld, but highly recommended for those in search of fraternity brothers.

c0mp sci teacher

My Computer Science teacher has no grammatical skills. She can't type to save her life either. This annoys me to no end. "Why?" you may ask. Well, it's because this class is an online class... and I have to read everything that she types to us. I don't get to hear her talk, but instead I get to read mess like this...

Research the web and other sources for voice recongnition software. Write up your findings and tell me if the software will do the following exists (what? I am confused as to what she means here), and if so, what the reviewers say about those packages that are available? (this question mark is not necessary) Sfftware (no ma'am) should be able to: Speak into a microphone attached to my PC, (not necessary) and Have (hmm... a capital letter in the middle of a sentence...) the software generate a text file of what I say. I'm willing to teach the software my voice by vocalizing words of its preference. I'd like it to place punctuation marks, e.g. periods, quotes, when I say the word period, for example. (this should probably be followed by a colon, not a period) I'd like it to begin sentences with a capital letter. I'd like it to insert a specific word, e.g. Moses, whenever it cannot understand what I say. I'd like to substitute speech from a CD or tape for my voice. (all of this could have been listed a lot more clearly) You should answer these questions in your write up and make a recomendation (this word should have two letter m's) based on your findings. Tell why you recomend (once again, "recommend") this software package. Do a spreed (is that the past tense of the verb spree? Now, wait a minute... spree isn't a verb!) sheet to compare your findings alone (an honest typo? We'll give her the benefit of the doubt) with your write up.

But wait... This is the best one: Project #1 You’re Web Site. I AM NOT A WEBSITE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! And even if I was, I would need some sort of article or posessive pronoun there between the "you're"
and the "web."

I'm sorry... I know that is nit-picky, but I just expect more from a lady who is a teacher. I really think that this pet peeve comes from my mom... She used to correct us when we said things like, "I did good on my test," and she always corrected my papers in high school as well as my dad's doctoral dissertation. Just the other day, she and I reprimanded my cousin for incorrect usage of the word perpetrate. I'm sorry for poking fun at my teacher, but I hold myself to the same criticism. I hate sounding and typing grammatically incorrect... it leaves doors open for people to pick at you!

(if this post is messed up, it is because of this dumb new rich text that Blogger has implemented... it is making my posts look as ridiculous as messages from my comp sci teacher)

dumb people v. dumb pe0ple... there is a difference

This is an interactive blog. First, go here. dumbpeople.blogspot.com

Now take a look around this blog. Notice a difference? Yes. MY dumb pe0ple is spelled with a number zero instead of a letter O. The only reason for this is because "dumb people" was already taken by a dumb person. He took the clever name and only wrote 2 entries, and these 2 entries are circa fall 2003. This man has not written in his "dumb people" in 10 months. I think it is safe to say that our friend is not going to write about any more dumb people. It's a shame because from the second entry, I gather that he is a high school teacher, and I am sure that those high schoolers did a few dumb things.

But, I have taken the number zero, a number with no value, and turned it into something... something way more than "dumb people."

tamyra gray

In the first season of American Idol, a diva emerged... No, not Kelly Clarkson. Tamyra Gray. She sang Whitney Houston's "When a House is not a Home" and people were SURE that she was bound to be the first American Idol. Well, that didn't happen. And rightly so. She is a dumb pers0n.

I know you must be asking yourself, why am I picking on Tamyra Gray? Well, Tamyra has emerged once again as a songwriter and singer. Even after BUTCHERING the Star Spangled Banner at the finale of season 3 of American Idol, she has a rising career in the music industry. She is also responsible for the American Idol single, "I Believe," sung by Fantasia Barrino. This is where she proved herself to be dumb.

Now, I could be wrong... and this whole display of bad grammar could be blamed on the beautiful and amazing Fantasia Barrino... but when Fantasia sung this song the Tuesday night before the finale, this is what she sang...

Have you ever reached the rainbow's end?
Did you find your pot of gold?
Ever catched a shooting star?
Tell me how high did you soar

Catched. Dear readers, this is not a word. I do believe a quick grammar lesson is in order...

Kelly can catch the shooting star.
Ruben will catch the shooting star.
Watch Fantasia while she catches the shooting star.
Tamyra CAUGHT the shooting star last night (and then she dropped it when she wrote that song and put "catched" in it).

So, I am blaming all of this on Tamyra, but it really could be my dear sweet Fantasia. I love her though and would never write about her in here... so if it was her, then I am going to assume that she was trying to over articulate and she added the -ed onto catch, because "ever catch a shooting star" makes sense.

If it was Tamyra Gray's fault, I would advise her not to write anymore songs until she does a few more guest appearances on Boston Public and takes some English classes while she is there.