- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
Print 
Smart TalkSMART TALK By Dr. Parley Speake
INUNDATED BY FLOOD WATERS: Journalists, especially in Los Libidos, home of Bedspring Tech, seem almost gleeful to report that American education is in crisis. These are the same writers who don't know the difference between that and which, so need to watch their tone.
Here at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we wish they'd cover the excellent local high school writing program. Every year, local high school students win regional or Texas-wide recognition for prose and poetry. Mrs. Shirley Markem Lowe teaches them well.
Meanwhile, "Scoop" Johnson writes in the Underbelly Prerecorder of peasant farmers seeking safe havens before they're inundated by flood waters.
Most of Mrs. Lowe's students would immediately strike out the redundancies, remembering her mantra, "Make it tight, make it tight, make it tight. Simpler is better."
Scoop's edited copy would describe farmers seeking safety [or havens] before they're inundated.
And why is always flood waters? How many waters are we talking about? Flood will do, anyway. We're smart enough to infer the water, thank you very much.
There. I feel better now.
----
3i39