• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    5 months ago

    As someone whose father had a doctorate in English, I grew up reading and being told off every time I mispronounced a word.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        I loved my dad, but he was always a professor, so proper English was a priority. Honestly, that particular aspect of my upbringing is not one of the upsetting or traumatic parts.

        Interestingly though, I recently learned that he drilled something that was essentially incorrect into my head. He grew up in the UK and, when he was growing up, it was proper to write “an historic.” Here in the US and now usually in the UK, it is “a historic.” I’ve been using “an historic” for decades.

        If you want to talk about the shitty thing about having an English professor for a father, it’s when you show him a piece of creative writing and he responds by telling you about all the mistakes you’ve made rather than what he thinks of it. Again, I loved the guy, but he was always a professor.

        On the other hand, he ended up becoming a film historian and growing up with a film historian for a father is pretty amazing.

        (Thanks on the health front, we’re working on it.)