Today is my grandfather’s 109th birthday, so here’s a picture of him and me two or three years ago:

As I’ve pointed out before, May 5 is numerologically appropriate for him because his initials were a pair of Roman fives: “V.V.”

…

Incidentally, I’ve come to believe that we need to stop teaching Spanish in high school. It’s not because it would mean more time for the students to study for my courses, nor because I think it should be taught in middle or elementary school, nor because of any bias whatsoever against the Spanish-speaking peoples of the world. No, it’s simply because I’m just sick of people seeing those two L’s at the end of my name and thinking it’s Spanish. “Vees-car-eyyyy-yo.” Incorrect.

One Comment

twink

14 May 2009 11:31 pm

Or when you spell it out, and they repeat it back to you, they ask, “Was that ell-ell-ELL?”. And I just want to tell them to think back to Phonics class.