Editor's Note: In keeping with the theme of this week's issue of G21, Good Doctor English has only responded to letters from female writers. It should be understood that in the future the doctor will also respond to those problems posed by students who share his own sex. Though, it must be admitted, he does prefer letters from his female audience (especially when accompanied by photographs)

Dear Good Doctor English,

I am an English student in Costa Rica. I have always thought that articles went in front of nouns like "hospital," "university," and "holiday." But now we have this teacher from England and he doesn¹t use them. He says things like, "Why were you in hospital?" or "He studied at university." It just sounds weird to me. Please help!

Maria
San Jose, Costa Rica


Dear Maria,

The good doctor feels for you. Several years ago he spent a grueling seven months drinking warm ale in public houses along the Kent coast of England, occasionally educating the punters on the history and usage of their native tongue.... More





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POWERSSOUND:

Women of Music

BOB POWERS

MARIETTA, OH, USA - The order came down last week from Our Esteemed Publisher. Following Man Week at G21, we are to pay tribute in our writing to Women Week. Besides not being too happy with a " suggestion" that we salute the ladies, I thought of the fact that my salute goes throughout today and every day to my dear bride. Something must have gone right, because we're still together more than 50 years after the wedding. However, when Brother Rod issues a suggestion, I follow the hint with as much zeal as if my wife had personally voiced the command.

Then when I went through the stacks of new CDs arriving fairly recently, I came up with a single title featuring a singer named Rene Marie. Her next CD comes from the label MAXJAZZ (their publicist insists on capitalizing the name, so I will, too.)

The third release from this excellent singer, " Vertigo," showcases everything from jazz standards to a controversial pairing of Dan Emmett's allegedly racist " Dixie" and Marie's soul-stirring version of the Billie Holiday classic. The pairing will startle some, but it's the music that always counts. In this instance, the music wins out as she makes the unlikely two songs blend quite nicely..... More

THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL "CHILD" EVENT

THE G21 2002 EVENT

A Kingdom of Song

"One is not of this world and the other is out of this world..." Any Kerryman will tell you that there are only two Kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Kerry. Well, now there are three. "The Kingdom of Song" is the title of Peggy Sweeney's new album of Kerry songs. Award-winning Peggy is no stranger to the songs of her native Kerry. Her "Songs of Sean McCarthy" and "More Songs of Sean McCarthy" were a runaway success. And each of her other albums featured at least one or two Kerry songs. The sleeve of "A Kingdom of Song", appropriately shows a map of Kerry. The 15 songs take you on a musical trip from Dooagh to Dingle and from Tarbert to Rathmore.... More

RDR 12.03.01: One of our favorite writers, MAX ADAMS, shares her impression of "Seattle Men."

RDR 11.26.01: RADIO RAHEEM got the assignment of beginning our Christmas contemplations. He decided on speaking to "The Season of Family"

RDR 11.20.01: ROD AMIS explains why it's still okay to be "Just the Way You Are"


MY GLASS HOUSE:

Confessions of The Confessor

NEW ORLEANS, 09 December, 2001 - I've been able to forget a bit about my own guilt for a while because so many people without a Confessor have chosen me as their secular confessor. It's odd, but some people here who don't have a regular religious counselor seem to believe that they can unburden themselves with me. So I get to hear about a lot of mistakes made, bad habits, (failed) attempts to get off dependency on one substance or another.

I guess these folks have sniffed out the Literary Priest, that "angelic" quality I talked about last week, and believe I'm a good Ear. I certainly look world-weary enough, like the defrocked character in Night of the Iguana... More


VOX POPULI:

What? Do I look like A CLOWN to you...?

SUBJECT: you're making us look even dumber

I'm looking at your "Don't Mess with Texas" article, and cringing.

Quick lesson:

Y'all is a contraction of the words "you" and "all." An apostrophe is used to represent the letters that were removed to form the contraction. In this case, that's the "ou" from the "you" -- not whatever you seem to think is missing from between the "a" and the "ll" in "all."

Geez, it's not like it's a semicolon or anything. But if you want that lesson in punctuation too, I'll be happy to provide it.


ROD RESPONDS: Mo,

Thanks for visiting G21 and for writing! We love hearing from our readers. I've passed your message along to Tom Hart, the author in question, who needs no help in looking dumber. Your e-mail, along with any response, will appear on our "Vox Populi" page when it is updated.