The critical laughing section
June 10, 2008
By Sarelyn Radecke
It should come as no surprise that as standardized tests rapidly approach, high school students nationwide are finding themselves increasingly immersed in SAT/ACT preparation books. But what should come as a surprise is that as the need for a good laugh due to test-induced stress rapidly approaches, I find myself increasingly immersed in standardized test preparation books.
School scoop
Sarelyn Radecke
Eastlake High School
Don’t even get me started on the math problems (Jack took 27 apples from Candy; only to get 3 back after she took 8?). Some of the words are just hilarious. Why, though? According to Wikipedia, “p,” “b,” “t,” “d,” “k” and “g” are the funniest sounds in the English language. This shouldn’t be news to any of you – how else could babies sit in appeased silence, randomly proclaim “Gaga!” and promptly burst out in a fit of uncontrolled laughter?
I’m not proud to admit this, but the SAT/ACT preparation books have been my source of amusement for the past several weeks. While brushing up on the vast array of vocabulary words that I am “supposed” to know, I stumbled upon these laugh-inducing words:
- Gubernatorial: This might just be me, but this appears to be just a serious typo of “governortorial.”
- Contiguous: Means “connected; interrupted.” In essence, contiguous is synonymous with continuous but is ten thousand times funnier-all because of the “g.”
- Palpable: Though this means easily perceived; I always get a mental image of orange juice when I hear this word-and yes, I know it’s “palp-able,” not “pulp-able.”
- Guffaw: I like this word because it’s nearly impossible to say it without feeling weird about saying it afterwards. Try it; I dare you.
- Squeegee: Hopefully, you won’t run across this in one of your prep books due to the very fact that it is not a word. Word or not – it still makes me laugh.
I do hope (for all of those unfortunate enough to be taking standardized tests in the near future) that for your sake you don’t remember these words. If you do, however, please attempt to curb your laughter. If you burst out laughing in the middle of your critical reading section, I am almost certain that your outburst will not sit well with your peers – or your proctor. (Peer and proctor – ha!)
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