Q. My daughters and I were recently taking our seats on an aeroplane. From behind us came the recorded refrain ‘If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands’. Several further verses ensued. A toddler was watching something on his dad’s phone: he was too young for earphones. I turned and asked politely for the volume to be reduced or turned off. The dad replied, ‘Well, if you’d rather hear him screaming.’ I simply asked again that the volume be turned down, and it stopped shortly afterwards. No screaming ensued. But might there have been a better rejoinder to the father’s annoying response?
— A.C., London
A. Assuming a mask of sympathy you might have replied, ‘Oh poor you. How did that happen?’ Father: ‘How did what happen?’ You (still wearing sympathetic expression, which is key): ‘That your toddler got the upper hand?’ In this way you would have given him food for thought for the remainder of the flight.
Q. How do I tell my son’s Year 6 young teacher (who is a lovely girl) that she is pronouncing ‘hyperbole’ wrongly? (Like ‘Super Bowl’.) I cannot allow my son to make the same error. In previous years we have had other pronunciation errors from teachers who were trying to teach the Trojan Wars with no classical education, but this one can’t pass. It seems to be a recurring problem and I would appreciate a method of dealing with it.
— L.S., by email
A. Gush up to the lovely girl and give a compliment or two so she is reassured that you are on her side. Then ask if she knows of your own teaching discovery — the website dictionary.com? Bring it up on your iPhone to show how when you type a word into a box to find its definition, you can also press an audio symbol which will boom out the correct pronunciation.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in