Comments on: Presentation for Teachers

By: Liz D.

Liz D. — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:52:51 +0000

It's my inner copyeditor, Dan. Besides, I do not hover--I do far more valuable things, like getting that big rowdy crowd at Kitchen Table Math to come read your blog.

By: dan

dan — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:10:40 +0000

Liz has reached out exactly twice in the history of this blog, once over an apostrophe and here over a homonym. I swear, she hovers, just waiting, trying to psych me out.

By: Liz D.

Liz D. — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:36:24 +0000

Oh, Dan, poor Dan, you are just the last in line:

how he kept the reigns around this one

OK, ALL YOU TEACHER PEOPLE, LISTEN UP!

There are 3 homonyms
rain
rein
reign

rain = precipitation. Germanic origin — the earlier spellings do have a g in there (Old English, regn)

rein = a strap or cord to control an animal. Figuratively, a means of control over something.

According to my dictionary, Middle English : from Old French rene, based on Latin retinere ‘retain.’

reign = Middle English : from Old French rene, based on Latin retinere ‘retain.’
Middle English : from Old French reignier ‘to reign,’ reigne ‘kingdom,’ from Latin regnum, related to rex, reg- ‘king.’

orthography contains meaning. If you mix up rein and reign, you are confusing your students.

But if you’ve never held the reins yourself, and sometime dream of reigning…well perhaps I am being too harsh.

See eggcorns

By: Scott Elias

Scott Elias — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:33:59 +0000

I’m humbled, Dan, to say the least. Your comments mean a lot considering how much value you place on effective presenting.

I had a great time building that presentation and an even better time delivering it.