Definition and Examples of Feghoots

Definition and Examples of Feghoots A feghoot is a narrative (usually  an anecdote or short story) that concludes with an elaborate pun. Also called  a shaggy dog story. The term feghoot is derived from Ferdinand Feghoot, the title character in a series of science fiction stories by Reginald Bretnor (1911-1992), who wrote under the anagrammatic pen name Grendel Briarton. Observation A Feghoot is  supposed to make you moan... Feghoots arent the most useful form of pun: but they can help you end a story- a big problem for many of us. We tell a great anecdote to our friends, get some  laughs, and things are going well until we realize we have no clue how to bring the thing to a close. What do  you do? Give it a moral? An alternative, the Feghoot ending, summarizes your story in a way that makes people laugh- or even more satisfying, groan appreciatively.   (Jay Heinrichs,  Word Hero: A Fiendishly Clever Guide to Crafting the Lines That Get Laughs, Go Viral, and Live Forever. Three Rivers Press, 2011) Feghoot and the Courts The planet of Lockmania, inhabited though it was by intelligent beings that looked like large wombats, had adopted the American legal system, and Ferdinand Feghoot had been sent there by the Earth Confederation to study the results.Feghoot watched with interest as a husband and wife were brought in, charged with disturbing the peace. During a religious observation, when for twenty minutes the congregation was supposed to maintain silence, while concentrating on their sins and visualizing them as melting away, the woman had suddenly risen from her squatting position and screamed loudly. When someone rose to object, the man had pushed him forcefully.The judge listened solemnly, fined the woman a silver dollar and the man a twenty-dollar gold piece.Almost immediately afterward, seventeen men and women were brought in. They had been ringleaders of a crowd that had demonstrated for better quality meat at a supermarket. They had torn the supermarket apart and inflicted various bruises and lacerations on eight of the employees of the establishment. Again the judge listened solemnly and fined the seventeen a silver dollar apiece.Afterward, Feghoot said to the chief judge, I approved of your handling of the man and woman who disturbed the peace.It was a simple case, said the judge. We have a legal maxim that goes, Screech is silver, but violence is golden.In that case, said Feghoot, why did you fine the group of seventeen a silver dollar apiece when they had committed far worse violence?Oh, thats another legal maxim, said the judge. Every crowd has a silver fining.(Isaac Asimov, Feghoot and the Courts. Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection. HarperCollins, 1995) Pynchons Feghoot: Forty Million Frenchmen Cant Be Wrong Thomas Pynchon, in his 1973 novel Gravitys Rainbow, creates a convoluted setup for a feghoot in the character of Chiclitz, who deals in furs, which are delivered to his storehouse by a group of youngsters. Chiclitz confides to his guest Marvy that he hopes one day to take these boys to Hollywood, where Cecil B. DeMille will use them as singers. Marvy points out that its more likely that DeMille will want to use them as galley slaves in an epic film about the Greeks or Persians. Chiclitz is outraged: Galley slaves?... Never, by God. For DeMille, young fur-henchmen cant be rowing!* (Jim Bernhard, Words Gone Wild: Fun and Games for Language Lovers. Skyhorse, 2010) * A play on the World War I expression, Forty million Frenchmen cant be wrong.Note that Pynchon has fashioned an entire  narrative digression about illicit trading in furs, oarsmen in boats, fur henchmen, and DeMille- all of it in order to launch this pun.(Steven C. Weisenburger,  A Gravitys Rainbow Companion. University of Georgia Press,  2006) My Word! There is a round in the...popular BBC radio panel game My Word! [1956-1990] in which scriptwriters Frank Muir and Denis Norden tell tall stories and funny anecdotes. The essence of one round revolves around a well-known saying or quotation. The participants are asked to tell a story allegedly to illustrate or explain the origin of the given phrase. Inevitably the unlikely stories end in partial, homophonic puns. Frank Muir takes Samuel Pepys And so to bed and makes And saw Tibet out of it. While Denis Norden transforms the proverb Where theres a will theres a way into Where theres a whale theres a Y.(Richard Alexander, Aspects of Verbal Humor in English. Gunter Narr Verlag, 1997)

Ways to Improve Your Resume and Job Search With Expert Cheryl Palmer

Ways to Improve Your Resume and Job Search With Expert Cheryl Palmer During her time at the Department of Labor, Cheryl Palmer saw the need for resume writing and career coaching in the wider workforce. So, she founded Call to Career, a premier resume writing and career coaching service, to fill that need. She spoke with us about job hunting and resume writing. What are some common misconceptions about hiring that you see?One misconception is that if you are over 50, you won’t get hired. Even though age discrimination still exists, it is far too pessimistic a view to think that people over 50 aren’t being hired. People in all age groups, even highly experienced workers, are being hired every day. Much of a job hunter’s success depends on attitude. If you think you will get hired, you will. If you think you won’t get hired, you won’t.Another misconception is that sometimes job hunters think that a recruiter will get them a job. The truth of the matter is that recruiters work for the employer, not for the job seeker. C ertainly recruiters can be helpful in the job search process, but that is only true if they have an opening for which the job seeker is highly qualified. Job seekers need to use a variety of job search methods, including using recruiters, to find that next position.Where do job seekers get â€Å"stuck,† so to speak, in their search? What stumbling blocks are out there?Some job seekers get stuck because they do not clearly define their job target. It’s easy to get stuck if you don’t know what you are looking for. You can’t expect a potential employer to be your career coach. You must decide for yourself what you are looking for, and all of your job search tools need to reflect that goal.Another stumbling block is that it is easy to get sidetracked with other projects you didn’t have time for when you were working. Men especially are prone to get stuck doing their â€Å"honey-do† lists instead of focusing on the job search.What’s the on e thing we should never, ever do on our resumes?Job seekers should never, ever lie on their resumes. For some job hunters, it may seem as though this is the best thing to do, but it is very dangerous. The consequences for a job seeker can be severe. Most organizations will terminate an employee immediately if they find out the person lied. This is true even if the organization finds out years after the fact.Many job seekers feel compelled to lie because they think it is the only way to compete. They may state they have a degree when in fact they never completed college, because they see so many vacancy announcements require a college degree. Or they may take credit for something on the job that they didn’t do because it sounds impressive.But lying is not worth it. If you are found out, not only can you lose your job, but if you are in a field where everyone knows everyone else, you can also be blacklisted.Why is interview coaching so important? What’s changed about int erviews in the past few years?Interview coaching gives job hunters critical feedback on how they are coming across. Many people may think they interview well, but they may not know how they are being perceived. An interview coach can help job seekers fine tune their answers for commonly asked questions and analyze their nonverbal responses.One major change in how interviews are conducted in the last few years is that job seekers can expect at some point in the job search to be interviewed via videoconferencing. Skype is one of the most popular videoconferencing services. Job seekers should prepare to be interviewed through this new medium. There is a different feel with video interviewing than with face-to-face or telephone interviews.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Educational System in Ghana Essay

The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Educational System in Ghana - Essay Example This project stresses that one of the main strengths of the educational system in Ghana is the government initiative. The government is supportive of the education in the country and has provided many schemes and programs that are supportive of education, both at the basic and advanced levels. Further, these programs have also been instrumental in encouraging students to study. For example, the government provides free education to children of school age. The government has also opened a lot of schools in the country so that education is accessible to students who may be located at far away places in the country. The government had enacted the Education Act in 1960, which sought to provide free education to students. This report makes a conclusion that the educational system in the country is benefited by the reform-oriented mentality of the educational planners in the country. This means that reforms to the educational systems have been implemented, which in turn has improved the qu ality of students in the country. For example, until recently, the educational system was mostly based on traditional systems of education, which had its own drawbacks. The reforms that were implemented in the nineties ensured that vocational and job-oriented courses were incorporated into the curriculum. This meant that more students were able to make a living from the training that they received at school and college. Reforming the content also helped in decreasing the number of drop-outs from schools.

Human diversity in working with individuals of minority status Essay

Human diversity in working with individuals of minority status - Essay Example How perceived discrimination against minorities affects the overall organizational behavior, and how supporting diversity negates the negative effects of this discrimination, is the research problem the author has brought forward. The problem statement very well goes with the title the author has suggested and has good scholastic importance. The problem can be well understood by an average reader and the research is not limited to the author’s own aptitudes and ideas. This research seeks to test the chief hypothesis that workplace racial discrimination leads employees to link the organization with procedural injustice. This is the main point the author has claimed in the different hypotheses that he has stated. The author’s main research questions are- why employees’ perception of racial discrimination leads to affected organizational environment? How is it linked to procedural justice or perception about it? And what steps organizations should make to support diversity so that procedural justice is fostered? The author has given an extensive review of literature citing other researchers’ works, and explaining them, in order to support the need to conduct this specific research. He has cited many researches which discuss the importance of diversity and procedural justice in organizations. The author asserts that despite all past research, this study is going to fill the gap in the existing literature by giving even greater consideration toward devising strategies to support organizational diversity. The author has studied literature which is almost current. The design of the research is quantitative. The author, with the help of past research works, has worked upon a grounded theory that explains the link between racial discrimination and overall organizational environment. The methodology used to gather statistics and

Liability for defective construction and design Essay

Liability for defective construction and design - Essay Example However, there are certain stipulations that must be met under different legal systems in order to ensure that the dispensation of justice is fair to all involved parties. The legal code in practice in the United Arab Emirates derives a number of different elements from English law but still has subtle differences when it comes to practice. This paper will look into the various kinds of protections offered under English law and UAE law for tortuous liability on grounds of defective construction and design. The discussion in this paper will be focused on the relationship between the developer (or contractor as applicable) and the end consumer who buys the constructed product or services in order to form a comparison of which legal system provides greater protection to the end buyer. Tortious Liability for Defective Construction and Design A number of legal systems provide for tortious liability for acts of omission and commission practiced by the contractor. It is possible to classify building defects using two clear classifications: patent defects and latent defects. While the former deals with defects that are visible to the contractor, consultant and other involved parties, the latter refers to defects that appear years after the building is complete. As far as patent defects are concerned, the involved parties can detect and deal with the defects as they appear unless the project owner is not satisfied. However, it is possible that latent defects remain and only appear after the building is taken into service. For example, it is typical to find leaking plumbing, easily broken floor tiles and the like once a property is taken into custody. The law does provide for remedies in these situations but such remedies are subject to certain stipulations such as time bars. English Law English law dictates that any defects observed after a takeover of constructed property must be evaluated through the Limitation Act of 1980. It is common practice for the parties involv ed i.e. the contractor and the project owner to agree to a period where any discovered defects would be rectified. It is typical to see contractual agreements between parties that stipulate periods of between one year and two years, after the completion of construction, to deal with any discovered defects1. This would apply solely to latent defects as common practice shows that patent defects are removed prior to building handover by the project owner or end consumer. Another set of circumstances would emerge if there are no such clauses available in the construction contract to deal with defects in the post construction completion scenario. In such circumstances, the aggrieved party has the option to go to a court of law in order to deal with any damages incurred due to the contractor’s actions. It must be taken to note that tort actions for such cases under English law are only possible if the tort claim is brought before the case no later than six years after the damage ha s been caused2. Technically the date that the damage is notice or secured is better known as â€Å"the date of action accrued†3. Here it must be taken to note that the involved parties may reduce or increase the period settled by the Limitation Act (1980) for tort claims to occur. It is common court practice not to interfere with the actions of

International privacy rights a primer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International privacy rights a primer - Essay Example As a worker in the international work place it is increasingly important to ensure that violation of the customer or consumer information does not take place either inadvertently and most certainly not deliberately. Since privacy laws in different countries are varied, there is a need to be sensitive to each country's privacy regulations so that confidentiality of the customer's information is protected. Citizens of developed states as the United States of America and countries of the European Union are particularly sensitive to privacy. In any case, irrespective of the applicability of legal provisions, it is the duty of every employee of the establishment to ensure privacy of the information of the customer gained during professional interaction and ensure that it is in no way compromised. This is as much a moral and ethical issue as a legal one and is thus explicit company policy. Privacy is a cultural context and rights to privacy is defined in modern terms as valid claims made against unauthorized access where a subject has the right to authorize or deny access. This right is based on autonomous choice and is required to be given as a form of informed consent. An individual has the right to control information about his person and behavior. Invasion of privacy implies access to information without consent. There is increased intent and capabil

Brief the UK company on business and national cultural norms in the Assignment

Brief the UK company on business and national cultural norms in the host country - Assignment Example Within an organization, the way how members interconnect, plan and make choices is largely influenced by beliefs, rules of conduct, attitudes, values and norms. Every organization has its own norms, customs, values, expectations and cultures that effect the interaction or behavior of the employees towards administration, associates, colleagues and collaboration between one another to achieve organizational goals. Norms are guidelines set by organizations to workers to be recognized and help them to accomplish its objectives. Members of the organization are directed to learn and follow various proceedings that occur at work and answer to them that expose businesses guiding norms and values (Gannon and Pillai, 2010) There are number of aspects that effect business success and offer its more development and growth. Business activity is directly affected by the values people follow and culture is demonstrated as the edge where certain set of values work. Values, beliefs and attitudes that are occasionally donated to as â€Å"Culture†, has an unchallengeable role in human actions and growth. It appears that in order to contribute in nation’s economic wealth and happiness, there must be a certain set of moral codes and values that assist in doing business (Chang, 2006). Certainly, values play the chief role in decision-building, as they direct attitude to one condition or another. Business success can be influenced by the values of individuals, their attitudes and principles as these features direct their action and behavior. Cultural elements have an important influence on the growth of business. Each society has its own elements of culture (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2007). These factors of culture are demonstrated through: verbal, Nonverbal, religion, Language, manners, actions, education, aesthetics, social society and material elements. Adjustment of these essentials for an international company governs on its degree in