*headdesk*

So, I skimmed an article on the mother of that poor girl. Then I skipped ahead to the comments, which appear in one major flavor: "OMG IT IS DISGUSTING THAT THIS WOMAN HAS BEEN HERE 22 YEARS AND DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!", with a side of "By the way, this is why we shouldn't allow any more immigrants!"

Putting aside the fact that, overall, Hispanics are learning English faster than previous immigrants were, which nobody believes even though it is manifestly true; and the fact that it is entirely possible that she does speak English to an extent when calm and collected but decided not to when assailed by reporters demanding to know why she's such a crappy mom and how does it feel; and the fact that learning a new language to fluency in adulthood is just not that easy; I have to ask: really? This is what you guys are taking away from this article? This??? Apparently yes, and it is several people.

As far as tying this to immigration, some people will find anything to drag into their pet discussion. Sheesh.

Well, I learned something today!

I was going over Ana's vocabulary/spelling with her. Her list is all re- words, and I wanted to make sure she understood each of them.

One of them was recapitulate, and I gave her two vocabulary lessons for the price of one by explaining that no, it doesn't mean to capitulate again. Then I gave her the definition of both and a quick etymology, because hey - why not?

Just looked it up now, capitulate comes from the concept of drawing up in heads or chapters (another related word) or surrendering on written terms. That is NOT the mnemonic visual I gave to Ana to help her remember that words with cap like capitulate often have some connection to the head of things. Whoops.