Skip to main content

Big Buts


 

Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?

Here’s a conjunction for your Sunday morning: 

but.



In this tweet Meade High School ESOL program tells us that an upcoming event is in Howard County, but it will be fun.

But? What could they possibly mean? 

We know what you’ve heard about Howard County, but, really: it’s possible to have fun there.

Why but? It feels like damning with faint praise.

I suppose that it means to convey that the trip is a bit out of the way for Meade High School students but it will be worth it.

I probably wouldn’t have written a blog post about this but…

How the Baltimore region became home to cricket stars and one of the country’s largest training facilities, Anish Vasudevan, Baltimore Banner

By the way, those words “Baltimore region” really mean Columbia/HoCo. Using them makes the piece suitable for the Baltimore Banner, I guess. I clicked on the article because I’ve been following the rise of cricket locally. Howard County has been building a number of cricket pitches (six, to be exact) for community use. Columbia is now home to the Columbia Cricket and Sports Complex.

As it turns out, the article centers around Rajit Passey, the founder and owner of CCSC. Here’s a quote from coach Urday Kaul, who works with young players in Columbia.

“Cricket is developing, but it’s developing in a good way,” Kaul said. “If you spread the word and go to the grassroots level, in the coming future you might have thousands of people playing out here in the facility.”

There it is again:

but.

It’s developing but? Why not it’s developing and? Can we not even use the word “developing” in Howard County without qualifying it or apologizing for it? Once you use the word “but” you suggest that there is some other bad way that cricket could be developing. Should I be concerned about this? Should we be on the lookout for bad cricket development? A cricket pitch on every corner? Dangerous-looking types walking the street with big flat bats?

And it just keeps on coming. Reading ahead: 

Howard County has already constructed multiple spaces for cricket, but the sport is spreading: Baltimore County is supposed to get its first designed and designated cricket ground after lobbying efforts by the Saathi Baltimore Cricket Club last year. Construction of the field at Cloverland Park, near Loch Raven Reservoir, would begin in 2024.

Howard County has already constructed multiple spaces for cricket, but the sport is spreading…

Why, why, why? Why would you use 

but?

Why not and? Or how about ending the sentence instead of linking the two ideas? Why this urge to put in one’s own big but where it doesn’t belong? 

I’m not exactly tearing my hair out over here. On the other hand, these things matter to me. If they are not the sort of things that keep you up at night, at least you have learned that:

1. CA is hosting Noche de Baile Latino at the Lakefront on September 16th, and

2. Howard County has six community cricket pitches and a state of the art cricket training complex.

Have a wonderful Sunday and, for Heaven’s sake, watch your but.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more