Canceled or Cancelled ?

[AMP]

CF wrote: "It turns out many school teachers are idiots and/or dont fully explain things to school children. Leaving us poorly educated and misinformed for life."

True, we were taught in Public School that summer is June, July and August, basically known as the teachers union employees summer break.  

In private school I was taught about the  Solstice in the northern hemisphere, the southern hemisphere is 180 degrees out, as most of us now know due to chatting online with folks that live in Australia and other parts of the World.    

SUMMER SOLSTICE: The first day of the Season of Summer. On this day (JUNE 21 in the northern hemisphere) the Sun is farthest north and the length of time between Sunrise and Sunset is the longest of the year.

In the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged. Summer: December 22. Winter: June 21.

EQUINOX:
Two times of the year when night and day are about the same length. The Sun is crossing the Equator (an imaginary line around the middle of the Earth) and it is an equal distance from the North Pole and the South Pole.

SPRING EQUINOX:
The first day of the Season of Spring - and the beginning of a long period of sunlight at the Pole. In the northern hemisphere: MARCH 20 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving northward). In the southern hemisphere: SEPTEMBER 22 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving southward).

AUTUMN EQUINOX:
The first day of the Season of Autumn - and the beginning of a long period of darkness at the Pole. In the northern hemisphere: SEPTEMBER 22 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving southward). In the southern hemisphere: MARCH 20 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving northward).

I also learned that the Earth revolves towards the East. Hard to determine where you are going if at first you do not know where you are or in what direction you are traveling through space.

I also learned in private school that Nikola Tesla invented the radio, not Marconi.   Public schools may still teach the wrong information.

"Nikola Tesla is now credited with having inventing modern radio; the Supreme Court overturned Marconi's patent in 1943 in favor of Tesla."  

Wonder how old those text books were that we had in public school?

We were also told that Christopher Columbus discovered America

[cannon_fodder]

I believe that final claim has been revised to something along the lines of "Columbus was the first modern explorer to land in America and ushered in European conquest of the land."

Which is an accurate statement, if not vague.

[thetysonwynn]

I am a fan of the Oxford comma. For reasons I will not develop here, I think it is more logical.

As for language guides, one has to decide whether he or she prefers a prescriptive or descriptive guide. I prefer a prescriptive reference, which is why I referred to the American Heritage dictionary. In a nutshell, prescriptive guides tell readers how language should be used (and spelled).

On the other hand, descriptive guides tell us how language is being used. The most notable descriptive reference is Webster's. It was back in the '50s (if I recall the date correctly) that Webster's made the switch from prescriptive to descriptive, with no small amount of public outcry.

So, if you want to know how language should be used, look to a prescriptive guide (American Heritage). If you want to know how language has come to be used, go descriptive (Webster's, Wikipedia, the Internets, etc.).

And in the example of "begs the question," I would venture that a prescriptive guide would tell you that is is only appropriate when used in conjunction with a logical argument; whereas, a descriptive guide would say it can be used anytime you want to ask a question.