3.10.2006

happy birthday cassie

Today one of our brilliant and gorgeous nieces turns 17. Cassie is the youngest of my sister's and brother's kids. And she's turning 17! Geez.

Allan and I love her a lot and we hope her 17th year is her best one yet.

13 comments:

Marnie said...

Happy birthday, Cassie!

Laura, your sister and brother have kids together? :)

laura k said...

Laura, your sister and brother have kids together? :)

Ewww Marnie, don't be gross!

Is that sentence grammatically incorrect? Or merely ambiguous to those inclined to find ambiguity?

I didn't want to say "all my nieces and nephews" and exclude my sister's stepkids.

Marnie said...

Aw, I'm just bugging you. I think it's one of those unavoidably awkward constructions. I knew you wanted to lump all your siblings' offspring (and steps, definitely) together.

Scott M. said...

I have long been convinced that the English language needs a purely defined order of operation similar to mathematics.

Cassie is the youngest of (my sister's and brother's kids).

versus

Cassie is the youngest of my (sister's and brother's) kids.

versus

Cassie is the youngest of ((my sister's) and brother's) kids.

laura k said...

And sometimes people just need to use common sense.

Kyle_From_Ottawa said...

Off topic:

As an American, I wonder what your take on this story is. I can't imagine a similar situation occuring in the U.S.

This is my (not word-for-word)translation of the article:

_____________________________

Militant Seperatist Edith Gendron can resume her post at Heritage Canada

Edith Gendron, a public servant who was fired two years ago for her seperatist views will be allowed to return to work.

Gendron was fired from Heritage Canada for being chairperson of a local seperatist group. An administrative tribunal ruled that Gendron has the right to lead the seperatist group "Quebec is a Country" while working at Hertiage Canada.

The judgement did consider the apparent conflict of interest. Gendron is allowed to resume work similar to her old position but must limit public statements. She will also recieve back pay for the two years since her firing. Gendron says she is able to seperate her political views from her duties with Heritage Canada.

allan said...

But when you include the stepkids, Cassie is not the youngest. Listing all seven kids by age, she is #5.

mkk said...

We also wish Cassie a very happy 17th birthday! To follow the linguistic theme, though, we are hoping that her 18th year "is her best one yet." You see, she has already lived 17 years, and she is beginning her 18th year. We knew what you meant, Laura, and we wish the best for Cassie, no matter how many years she has lived or which year she is beginning. ;)

allan said...

P.S.: The millenium began on January 1, 2001.

:>)

mkk said...

Allan, I absolutely agree. :)

laura k said...

But when you include the stepkids, Cassie is not the youngest

And that is why I wrote "my brother's and sister's kids" and not "all my nieces and nephews" - because Mark's kids are my niece and nephew, too. Get it?

laura k said...

You see, she has already lived 17 years, and she is beginning her 18th year.

The year in which she will call herself 17, the year in which she will identify has a 17-year-old: thus, her 17th year. To me. :)

laura k said...

As an American, I wonder what your take on this story is. I can't imagine a similar situation occuring in the U.S.

Well... since there's no US equivalent of Quebec separatism, what would the nearest equivalent be?

As far as a govt employer's tolerance of an employee's political activities, that might be down to what state or city it was in. In NYC and other large northern cities, a very high tolerance for politically active employees. In many other places, I would think not.