Other Editorials & Opinions the OtherPress It's Incumbent Season This week’s elections for the Douglas College Students Society are, unfortunately, a joke. We think itbehooves us allas students to examine the reasons why far too many of the executive and representa- tive committee positions are being elected ona yes/ no basis. This sorry campaignis the rotten fruit borne by astudent governmentthat has actively attempted to silence.dissenting opinion, through both legal and illegal means. Now they have gotten their wish. No one cares enough about the DCSS to get involved, except for the small handful of incumbents who now run virtually unopposed. Whoare these people? What do they stand for? Why don’t you care? Voter turnoutin the last byelection was dismal, even by student standards. When a student politi- cian can be elected in a vote garnering less than 1% of student participation, we can safely say not only did the candidate win because s/he got all of their friends to vote for them, butalso the friends were the only ones who voted. That is a disgrace. ‘Unless 50% of students participate in these elections, we think they should be called off and tried again. It is only in the best interests of democ- racy. And until students participate in the process, what we have is not democracy, but an oligarchy created by ignorance. And that willserveno one but thosein power whohavealways wantedit(andkept it) that way. Throw the bums out. the douglas college’s autonomous sindent newspaper - since 1976 az March 31, 1992 The Other Press is Douglas College's autonomous student newspaper since 1976. Being autonomous means neither the Douglas CollegeStudents' Society or the College administration can tell the Other Press what to . Only you, the students, can decide what goes in the paper by ing out. It means that if someone doesn't like us, they can't shut your voice down for telling the truth. We receive our funding from a student levy collected from you every semesteratregistration,andalsofrom localandnationaladvertising revenue. The Other Press is a member of the Canadian University Press, a cooperative of almost 50 student newspapers from across Canada. We adhere to CUP's Statment of Common Principles and Code of Ethics. The Other Press reserves theright not to publish anything sexist, racist, homophobic, or against the principles of good taste. Letters received by the Other Press should be a maximum of 300 words, typed. and contain the name, program of study, and student number of the writer (although the latter can be withheld upon request). The Other Press reserves the right to edit for space constraints. And double-check your spelling and ar: letters are printed uncorrected. The collective is the final arbiter of disputes. PHONE - 525-3542 FAX - 527-5095. Staff This Issue Eatin’ creamed corn - lots of it - was Philip Dobrikin's main purpose tonight, althoughnooneknew why. It would take four moreorangeslices and Trevor MacNeil's tye-dyed leisure suit to point out the difference between the corn fetishand Angela Chiotakos' smelly burps. Dawn Agno really hated them, but not as much as Stephen So liked them. Karen Rempel wanted no part of that silly story, and Haroon A. Khan agreed with her. The strange thing is, Angus Adair couldn't seem toletit go. And Matthew Martin kept jumping on that cat over and over again, even thoughS.A.S. Mohamed asked him not to. Oblivious to the jackhammers cranking across the street, Imtiaz Popat picked the sleep out of his eyes and wished Tim Crumley didn't fart so much. Coordinators philip dobrikin advertising + stephen so & hillary tasker arts & review + angus adair features + vacant graphics - angela chiotakos news + tim crumley office - trevor macneil photos - dawn agno production + trevor macneil sports - marianne berkey editorials & opinion + les bohna classifieds - mike rinneard distribution March 31, 1992 x SQ ‘ 9 c resident for Life Other Letters A Gaelic lesson Dear Other Press, Presumably you won't take offence if I offer some corrections so that next year's issue is perfect? - Slainte = Health (the cus- tomary Irish toast) - Slan Leat (there is no Z in Gaelic) = Good bye -Sassanachis the Gaelic (Irish and Scottish) word for English Other Irish greetings are: Go n'éirigh an bothar leat = may the road rise up to meet you (i.e. may your journey be an easy one). And, inEnglish: May theroad rise up to meet you; may the wind be at your back; and may you be half an hourinheavenbefore thedevilknows you're dead! If you don't have a multicultural week next year, you can always use it in the issue nearest St. Patrick's Day (LA Féile Padraic). Mary Hatch Community Programs & Services Our sincerest apologies. Only one person in the office speaks any Gaelic at all and at the time he was consulted- 4am on Lé Féile Padraic - he was having trouble with English, letalone Gaelic. You are of course correct and we are embar- rassed. We hope you had a chance to read the Bloody Sunday feature. Gerry Adams wrote to thank us for it. Philology and etymology and spumoni Dear Other Press: In her Vancouver Sun article of March 1 entitled, “Finding the Words to Describe English”, Karenn Krangle extensively quotes Richard Lederer, an Oxford English profes- sor in her attempt to project the now hackneyed myth that English is, in essence, a bastardised offshoot oflow German. She describes Lederer as “carefully tracing the evolution of English from a Germanic tongue”, etc. What a tortuous exercise that must have been, especially as he couldn’t avoid working totally against all current evidence to the contrary. It doesn’t really have to be said, of course, but the majority of us who communicate in English have no compelling desire to prove there isanything really world shattering or fundamental about such things as the Great Vowel Shift, and so forth. Neither do we speak in the strictly orthodox style of philologists, semanticists and etymologists and such like purists, for the simple rea- son that, if we did so, all verbal com- munication would inevitably grind to a stop. “Stop”, by the way, con- trary to the point Karenn Krangle tried to make and the hyperbole ofa few language cranks in Quebec, is just as French in derivation as is the word “arrete”. Although “words” are the subjectof thearticle, someconsidera- tion must be given to “form” also. It is therefore amazing that Lederer apparently doesn’t know it is now acknowledged by the highest levels ofscholarship that AngloSaxons had a very limited and much overrated influence in the formative composi- tions of the English language, far less in fact than that of the Romanized Celts, who evolved from the original people of Albion, i.e. England dur- ing its partial occupation by the Ro- man legions. When added to the influence of the Brythonic and Gaelic Celts not subjected to occupation, and the later impact of the French speaking Normans, whoincidentally were authors of the Magna Carta, there is little wonder that less than twenty’ five percent, not thirty as claimed, of the words in the English language are of Anglo Saxon deriva- tion. The very preponderance of existing Latin root words, has got to debunk thatodd idea;and, nota bene, these words are only there because they were handed down tradition- ally or in written form by the indig- enous Romanized Celts of England. Another facttoconsideristhenumber of Roman place names which end in -chester or -caster, e.g., Chester, Manchester,Doncaste r,etcetera. These cities were there and flourish- ing before any Christian influence camein, whichagain shows, that not all, or even the bulk of Latin wordsin English weredueto that later advent. Instead of reading the works of Richard Lederer, Karenn Krangle might have done better to perhaps have consulted a higher authority on this subject. It would beinteresting to speculate how and why all this disinformation got started in the first place, considering the degree of mis- chief it has caused over so many years. Perhaps the third stanza from an anonymous poet of the 18th cen- tury might providea clue. The poem is called “The Vicar of Bray” and the quote is as follows: When George in pudding time came o’er, And moderate men looked big, Sir, My principles I chang’d once more, And so became a Whig, Sir: And thus preferment I procur’d, From our Faith's Great Defender, And almost every day abjur'd The Pope, and the Pretender. And this is law, I will maintain Unto my dying day, Sir, That whatsoever King shall reign, I will be Vicar of Bray, Sir! It is sad to think that such moral turpitude could still be inhib- iting of our own generation’s scribes and educators. Happily, they im- ported some forge III of England in whose house and presence German was spoken, and the whole mad Hanoverian period is now only un- pleasant history. Even the Saxe Coburg-Gotha family, now renamed “Windsor”, no longer speak High German at their family gatherings as did their grand matriarch, Queen Victoriaand her consort Albert. There is now no longer any reason or ex- cuse, if there ever was one, to demeaningly curry royal favour to express Eby truth; the truth will keep us free. Tom Phillips former Douglas College employee Hopeful teacher afraid of job loss Dear Other Press: Ihave beena student here for two semesters now and I read the Other Press for the first timeonMon- day, March 23, 1992. Iwas disgusted to find thata paper thatIam forced to support by registering at Douglas College is printing literature that could hinder my career that I am trying toobtain. Whatis this allabout, you ask? I am speaking of question 9 of your heterosexual questionnaire. The question states: A dispropor- tionate majority of child molesters are heterosexual. Doyou considerit safe to expose your children to het- erosexual teachers? If the purpose of the this question was to place fear in the minds of adults regarding the well-being of their children, it worked! Since itis my goal tobecome a teacher, I feel it is disgusting that you would print something like this to sabotage my career. Thus, I am requesting that you return my $9.00 that have paid into your newspaper and feelit would only be appropriate that you make subscribing to the Other Press an option instead of mandatory. Are we in a democratic or autocratic society? Laura C. McDonald Douglas College Student