On Saturday, November 15, 2014 11:41:09 AM UTC-5, Phil Kane wrote:   
      
   > My wife, who is a grammar / usage stickler, considers "a couple" to be   
   > two, not more, and is always on my case about that.  Then again, she   
   > is not a "victim" of the NYC Board of Education.   
      
   I always heard that a "couple" meant two, and only two.  A "few" was more   
   vague.   
      
   As to the NYC Board of Ed, TCM just aired "Up the Down Staircase".  I had   
   mixed feelings about the film, like the school having but a single vice   
   principal to handle 3,000 rough kids, and no in-school security personnel or   
   cops.   
      
   I wonder what the equivalent NYC high school is like today, as copmared to the   
   book and film, in terms of security, behavior, educational level, bureaucracy,   
   etc.  Phila schools are horrible.   
      
   I did realize that in real life Calvin Coolidge HS's, as depicted in the film,   
   a great many of the boys would have been drafted (or enlisted) for Vietnam and   
   a good number wouldn't return home.  One Phila HS lost 54 students.   
      
   In rec.arts.tv, someone mentioned that the book and film, To Sir With Love,   
   which came out about the same time, was far more popular, which it was.  But I   
   liked UP/DOWN because I could relate it to my own urban school experience.  I   
   actually had a    
   guidance counselor like the one shown in the film.   
      
   As an aside, the girl who our student body president went on to a successful   
   business career, at least per Google.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)