A Bad Day for Grammar, but otherwise...

I got awesome news from two friends today. All the time we all spend praying for babies in tummies seems to have payed off!

A very close friend had a wonderful and reassuring ultrasound, and got to see her new baby for the first time! Yay, Baby Red and Gold!

And, yet another friend found out she is unexpectedly pregnant. She and her husband have suffered through five miscarriages, and were actively, however unsuccessfully, trying not to get pregnant. (They had recently made the decision to adopt through China.) She is remaining pretty aloof, at least on the outside. But, I know she must be beyond nervous.

Both of these ladies can use your prayers. :o) Add them to the list of moms for whom to pray.

Now, here are the straight up imbeciles who need your prayers for intelligence. These are otherwise intelligent and educated people. Here is a conversation I witnessed at work today, between the Music teacher and (get this) the other Language Arts teacher. We'll call them Flanagan and Farley respectively.

Flanagan: "Yes, I think there is no way he should pass sixth grade."
Farley: "I mean, being honest, I think he is working at a fourth grade level."
Flanagan: "I'll be angry if he goes on to the seventh grade. They either need to hold him back, or send him to a special school."
Farley: "I totally agree. But, then he'd have to deal with the stigmatism."
Flanagan: "Oh, true. There is a stigmatism associated with that."
Farley: "But, screw the stigmatism."
Flanagan: "Yeah, screw the stigmatism."

I am sorry. Stigmatism? Did they mean "the property of a lens that is stigmatic" or "the condition of being affected by stigmata"? Wait, again, stigmatism?

One more for good measure. This one is from our principal, a very well-educated man with many years of education under his hiked-up and monogrammed belt. This occurred at a middle school faculty meeting, in the midst of discussion a particular child renown for behavioral issues.

Middle School Teacher: "Well, where do we draw the line? This child rode a desk down the stairway. Didn't a child get suspended last month for stealing a juice box?"
Principal: "Yes, but that was the result of cumulative incidences. With him, there were many incidences. With this student, the incidences seem unrelated."

Wait - "incidences"? "I think you mean incidents," I screamed in my head, as I cringed along with many others. This offense is less egregious, and both of these I normally would let go. But, the repetition and confidence with which they were used triggered my gag reflex. And, is a school really the forum for such butchery of the English Language.