Monthly Archives: February 2008

As per

Rant, , , ,

Until I was in grad school I’d never heard of the phrase “as per”. I’m not sure in what context I first saw it, but I know who wrote it. She was a nice 20- or 30-something woman who worked in the food industry or something like that. I believe she may have been an executive assistant, but I’m not sure. She and another 20- 30-something woman were friends and I don’t remember what each of them did for a living, but what they did was very similar and somehow business related.

To get to the point, however, I hate the phrase. It makes no sense. It is supposed to mean “in accordance with” as in “Enclosed is a check for $200 as per our discussion…” but it makes me gag. Why not say “as we discussed?” or “as we agreed”? Why use words that mean little to those outside the business field when writing to someone outside that field?

Whenever I see it I feel as if the person writing it is deliberately being cold and distant or else showing off his or her knowledge of business jargon.

It turns out I’m not the only one who thinks this way.

Not a fun morning

Events, Places

Spent the morning at the MVA in Gaithersburg. Their website has a lot of information — possibly too much. It was hard for me to figure out what I needed to bring as proof of Clare’s address. It seemed we needed more than we had, but in the end all I needed was her birth certificate and SSN card. And I had to sign that she was my daughter.

She studied the manual on the way there and while we waited. It was hard to concentrate because every so often, and in no pattern a bell would chime. This indicated a booth was open. I tried to read, but didn’t get very far and I imagine it was difficult for Clare to read the Rules of the Road.

She missed one more question than allowed, so we’ll have to do it again. Maybe next Wednesday when she has a half day.

Peter Pan Play in Elgin Ends in Evacuation

Musings

The way this news article was written made me giggle. It sounds almost like an Onion article.

ELGIN, Ill. (AP) — A small fire broke out at an Illinois school performance of “Peter Pan” last night, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate at the play’s key moment.

Authorities said the fire happened about the time when the audience is asked to save Tinker Bell’s life by clapping to show they believe in fairies. Instead, a Larkin High School teacher came on stage announcing there was a fire and that everyone had to leave.

No one was hurt badly and the fire was extinguished.  If I remember correctly, the fire station is right next door to the school.