Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I personally do not mind anyone thinking that I have bad grammar. I believe that it has a bit of a comforting feel to hear minor grammatical errors. If everyone else went around speaking perfect english, then I would always be nervous about messing up and saying the wrong thing. If I would not want this for myself, then I would never do this to someone else. This logic may seem a little confusing or twisted at first, but I believe that most people would agree(or at least understand) after giving it consideration.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Our president (donut) said "we love you guys and we accept" or something like that
we did hassled him for a few days for saying "we love you"
but we understood why we didn't think we were going to be picked

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I've already posted my thoughts on this thread, but I saw this and thought it was too good to pass up.

The back story: I went to Coldstone Creamery with my family [for those of you who don't have it in your area, it's only the BEST ice cream place ever] I had just been discussing with my dad the "graciously accepts/accepts your gracious offer" issue as we're waiting in line, and I happened to look at the tip jar...



...oops!

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

While I was reading your post my wife walked in and suggested we take our daughter to Coldstone Creamery -- she (daughter, not wife) is 10 years old and got braces on her teeth today.

I turned around and said, "I graciously accept!" :D

She didn't get it. Off to the car now.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Contrary to the title of this thread, it's obvious that a person can indeed graciously accept. But if you say that you're doing something graciously while you do it, you're on the edge of contradicting yourself. Graciousness is an attitude and a behavior, not a declaration.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Have you tried Cold Stone's Candy Land creation? It's cake batter ice cream with snickers, M&Ms, and Kit Kats. After having a "gotta have it" of that I would believe anything they told me.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Im sorry but engineering is not the field for conciseness in the english language. I've been told that multiple times by my boss. Once when I asked what a transorb was and the second time in relation to the unit hertz (He was taught with the units cycles/second). Then there is the time I had no idea how to describe what my robots look like. It's one thing to say tri-star but most people would have no idea what I mean by that. If we really wanted to do this the engineering way everyone would hold up pictures.Did you actually give them a tip? I don't think there signing qualifies as graceful depending on which definition you use. Note: I have no idea whether or not they sing in all stores.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

To "accept graciously", as an apology graciously, can mean that what was received is less than expected or originally desired, but accepted anyway in the interest of moving on, or shows accepting the limitations of the situation or of the other party.

"Gracious" here uses the meaning of the word: merciful or compassionate

"I accept graciously the results of this mediation."
"I accepted graciously the disappointing verdict."

I agree, the fact that one is, in the same breath, pointing out this attitude, may be deemed ingracious and so contradictory by some.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

This topic needs to be pinned and/or blasted to all of the teams. I was waiting at IRI on the side for the alliance selection, and I remember some team leaders telling their students to "graciously accept" and it made me a big mad, especially because some of those teams had very Celeb-like members on CD.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Haha that's awesome, they were probably doing it just as a parody on this thread and the whole discussion of "graciously accepting."

I think this is something that's been embeded into FIRST culture. Especially if one team says it at an event, then everyone's going to say it. I don't see this phrase going away anytime soon, but if we ever get drafted, I'll make sure my kids come up with something a bit more creative.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

We had our representative at IRI wear my Mountain Dew bandoleer with four Dews in it. He said "Team 910 will gladly drink to that" and then handed a Dew to each of our partners. :D

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I enjoyed the confusion of mumbles followed by the loud "YES!" at IRI.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

That was interesting. In my 3 years as being our team captian, I have never had that happen as an alliance acceptance. It was a good thing too because I was really thirsty.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I cant believe this still gets brought up no matter how many years past. Its simply the other team that is being gracious for offering their alliance spot to you. Therefore one would say:

"Team XXXX accepts your gracious offer."
or
"Thank you for the gracious offer however team XXXX declines."

So once and for all pick one and use it, and lets make SURE this thread isn't repeated again next year.

You know what actually i'd like to see FIRST members to pick up a thesaursus and look up gracious, or go to http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/gracious and pick a different word and use it in Atlanta.

See you all there, and remember ill be listening!!!

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

It will probably be brought up every year. I would estimate that outside of FIRST, 95% of engineers have bad diction when it comes to non-scientific terminology. An FRC student "Graciously Accepting" isn't an anomoly.

By the way, are we resurrecting the contest for the championships this year?

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

At IRI last year, against the backdrop of splendid examples of creativity in accepting an alliance captain's invitation, I overheard a couple of veteran students grumbling about the situation. "What's with all the newbies? Didn't anyone tell them what to say? Just go 'we graciously accept' and be done with it!" I decided to find their attitude amusing rather than irritating.

You do realize that you are the one who brought it up this time? And that you are the one posting this year on a long-dormant thread? It seems that your goal would have been served well by simply not commenting. :)

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Agreed. Besides, for my ME degree I just have to take 1 english class and 1 speech class. I figure this is to make sure that I am able to talk and able to write. If I needed to write really well, they would require more. However, instead I am taking 3 years of solid math. That shows you what an engineer is expected to know. Ask me a math question, and I will get you an answer.(might not be 100% correct) But give me a grammar question and I am clueless. Engineers talk with math first, and grammar second. It is a fact of life. If you want a crowd with good grammar, look into an english based club. However, if you are just wanting a crowd you can learn something and have fun doing it; well, you are in the right place.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

!!!!how bout TEAM 647 REPORTING FOR DUTY HOOAH!!!!:D

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I think we all should strive to be better than what is expected of us. :)

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Now, the only question is "who decides what is better?"

I personally believe that the quickest/shortest way to convey a thought is the best way. I am a very function over form person. That means that if I must use bad grammar to get my point acrossed, I will. To some, better means being correct. To me, it means being functional.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I think this is why many successful teams in FIRST have found that developing skill sets in many areas help them. If you are trying to present your design concept to your team or to your boss, you must use language to communicate. The better the communication, the better you can convey the concept. If there is a problem with the robot, clear concise language can used to express what is to be determined or needed. Each time the alliances are formed on the field of a FIRST competition, this presents an opportunity for each team representative to put their best foot forward and to have some fun with it. The acceptance competition provides an incentive to be creative and to shine. It's very cool.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Brief Aside:
Communication skills are CRITICAL for engineers. If you cannot communicate an idea effectively, the idea is worthless. If you cannot be persuasive and effectively argue for your ideas virtues, it may be overlooked.

I find it unacceptable for engineers to pull the "I'm an engineer, I don't need to know how to speak" card. I know many engineers, but I've yet to meet one who hasn't had to communicate effectively.

It is interesting to note, FIRST has a number of awards which center on effective communication. Hmmm...

-John

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I personally would like to never hear "team XXXX graciously accepts" again.

There are so many possible things you can say, why repeat that?

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I agree with Jane.

While Molten's observation that university engineering curricula are light on language skills and very heavy on math is correct, the conclusion that engineers don't require the ability to communicate well is unsound. Those engineers whose ideas find widespread application, those engineers who rise to positions of responsibility, and those engineers who inspire others to pursue their profession are the ones who speak and write exceptionally well.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

My point is simply, that there are many things that are much more important then proper grammar. As long as I am able to get my point acrossed, does it matter if I do so with a run-on sentence? I think not.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Careful with that "function over form" idea...that will get you into trouble sometimes. If it's just plain ugly you would be hard-pressed to convince people to adopt it. Examples are found everywhere from human-created music vs computer-generated music, to food made by brilliant chefs, to bridges...

..to the roll-cage on the back of our bot. I needed it to be square with 1" aluminum so we could bolt supports and mounts to it -- yet it wasn't "pretty" so the lead cut the welds and made us bend 1/2" aluminum to which we couldn't mount anything. It's been a "challenge" to overcome this, but I see why it's needed. It's definitely prettier, and image has alot to do with the success of our team in our community (regardless of how we do at competition).

Sometimes even a scientific sentence really DOES NOT MAKE SENSE with the wrong grammar.

============

Diction on the other hand is for politicians and SAT prep courses, IMO. How are engineers supposed to say anything "professional" without a dictionary by our sides when we're put under the spotlight unless our brains really are that wrinkled* with knowledge? It's difficult to determine that the root word "grace" also technically implies humility when the words "gracious professionalism" are used in so many contexts in FIRST. I completely understand why students use "We graciously accept [your alliance partnership]" due to this, even though it technically implies "we are humbled by the fact that you are a higher seed".

At the end of the day though, does the phrase "Team XXXX graciously accepts" really matter?

*Note, "wrinkled" is used here because as I understand it, the brain creates a fold every time it gains a permanent memory. This does not directly imply age even though knowledge often comes with age...unless you're one of those genious-types, which I am not.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

At GLR this year, a Trekkie on one of the teams responded with...

"Team XXXX will willlingly be assimilated into your collective."

The sad part was I was the only one in the stands who thought it was funny.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

My last year as a student I was the alliance captain and we were the #3 alliance. The #2 alliance was our nearby friends 847 and they picked us, having never said anything I just hugged the 847 team member and Mark Leon said "Well I guess thats a yes." I probably made the team member feel a bit awkward, but I thought it was a nice way to accept the offer.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Someone said this at the NYC regional.

I also heard "graciouslly accept".

My favorite though was from rookie team 2344 when we chose them for our alliance.
"yes"

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I'd just like it better if the teams actually stuck to saying "Team XXXX would like to request the assistance..." not "Team XXXX; <FULL BLOWN SPONSOR LIST> and <school associated with team> would like to...."

It makes alliance selections take so much longer than they actually need to, especially for teams with like 20 sponsors. Their logos are (in most cases) on your robot/cart/team shirt. We don't really need to hear them all named every time you refer to your team.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I wonder if we were the only team to say "Team xxxx graciously accepts." instead our president of 2344 was just like "YES!".

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

When I said that I could actually sense a wave of not understanding pass over the crowd. Very sad indeed.

Anyone remember the mountain dew acceptance at IRI last year. That was me too. Not sure it'd be appreciated at official events though.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Tribbles, maybe?
nah - they're messy and don't stay put.
For truth.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

For the right donation, I'd have a team captain recite the New York City phone book.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

team xxxx graciously sponsored by (full sponsors list), would like to graciously accept the invatation graciously given by team xxxx, graciously sponsored by (full sponsor list), and team xxxx graciously sponsored by (full sponsor list).

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

We currently graciously accept.

Could we professionally accept? :p

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

There is actually something less moronic then "graciously" accepting. It's called "graciously declining". Hmmm, how in any way are you gracious if you decline another teams offer. It's happened before.:ahh:

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

This year at GLR I was our team's representative during alliance selections.
I had two thoughts running through my head.
"Please let us get picked" (Thank you 47 and 494!)
and "I need something to say other than graciously accepts"

What I came up with was not particularly memorable but different nonetheless.

"1023 would love to be of assistance."
A direct answer to a direct question.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

If you are broken, it is most certainly gracious to decline an offer. If you are an alliance captain yourself and want to form your own alliance, it's obviously because you think you can make a better match by choosing for yourself. In that case, you could be saving the team picking you from making a BAD decision by choosing you, if you believe the two robots would make a less-than-ideal alliance.

In the past, we've been approached (prior to selections) about a possible alliance, but for one reason or another we believed our robot wasn't very compatible with theirs. We told them so, gave them the reasons, and pointed them toward other teams who were more compatible. We were spared the potential awkwardness of declining when they followed our advice and picked the other team, and they ended up advancing farther in the elimination rounds than we did.

I provide this anecdote to show that, yes, it is possible to graciously decline. If that team had picked us, we would have, because alligning with them would have been a bad move for BOTH teams because of poor compatibility.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

we are the borg resitance is futile

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I swear I am going to have a team called The Borg some day...

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Seen on a VEX t-shirt:

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

How about "respectfully declines"? That's what I would say, although lately my team hasn't even been in a position to accept, much less to decline...

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

That works. It's been used before, too.

Translation of "respectfully declines": "We thank you for the offer, but with all due respect, we don't think this will be the best for either team."

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Bold= my edit. There's no need to sugar-coat it: if you don't go to competition to win (fairly and graciously!), don't go. That's the professional part of gracious professionalism.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

It can be both. If you honestly don't think their team will do well if they pick your team, then it's either team. That's also part of gracious professionalism--making sure your opponents compete at their best.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

SciBorg is close enough :cool:

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

our team is bugged by this strange phenomenon as well. as a joke, we were thinging about "GRACEFULLY" accepting thier offer for an alliance, and do a little ballet or someother move over to where they were standing! just a joke, but i would love to see it happen some day...

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

"418 gracefully accepts!" [pirouette, arabesque]

I would love to see that! I'll bet there is someone on your team who has the moves to make it look good, too. :cool:

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

The drive team rocks. They could manage that.
Don't tell them I said that though....

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Exploding Bacon did that at IRI last summer....complete with ribbon dancing

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Now THAT would be very creative and I would love to see that ;)

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

You get someone to agree to pick us in an alliance on the Curie field, and I think we can make that happen. You just need to give us 24hrs notice. ;)

-Danny

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I guess we have a different definition of "graceful" ;) :P

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I think the obvious follow up acceptance would be:

[jog up to selector, obvious pratfall/trip-up] "Erm, Team 57 not so gracefully accepts...."

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

i was considering in NY if I already knew a team that was going to pick us was to take off my shirt and be wearing that teams shirt underneath

another idea that just came to my mind was choosing by saying
Team XXXX! I choose you!!!

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Oh noes, a Pokemon reference...

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Here we go again... I was wondering when this old thread was going to get beat into the ground again :D

I graciously accept all the futile efforts at proper english. :p

Now get back to work on your robots. :rolleyes:

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Anecdote time...

Yesterday I was visiting Cornell University as part of their "Cornell Days" for accepted students, and during the "Topics in Engineering" discussion, the speaker asked, "How many of you have heard the stereotype that engineers can't communicate?" I thought of this thread as I raised my hand, along with a good portion of the rest of the students. The speaker then said, "Well, we don't believe that lie here. ALL engineers here will learn to effectively communicate their ideas, or else they can't be effective at their careers." (Or something along those lines.)

I just thought it followed some of the discussion of this thread very nicely.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Apparently, BAE can graciously accept...

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

honestly is it that big of a deal to say on behalf of (insert name here) i graciously accept? didn't think so

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

But its so much fun cause the english perfect weenies get in such a tizzy over it: rolleyes:

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I think at Tempest 07' an old team member begged to go up for alliance selections. PINK picked us as first pick and he went up and said, insert rapper voice here: Yeah Yae, then walked away. The announcer stood shocked and said, "I think that was a yes."

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

When 973 was picked our driver said "973 would love to join your Raptor pack." One of the better one's in my opinion, as I despise the term "graciously accept" with a passion.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I thought it was a good line. :)

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

If you are coming to regionals where 2502 is coming in '10, you are in for a little fun exercise. :)

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

118 did a excellent job when accepting 488's invite as the #6 alliance on Archimedes last weekend. The representative incorporated the lyrics from Dope's - You Spin Me Round into his acceptance. It was well done.... as 118's unique alliance acceptances are

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I accept your gracious offer, and encourage everyone to also get back to work on their total FIRST experience; part of which is creating machinery. ;)

Yes - It is.

Ask any potential employer if they prefer to hire people who know English well enough to spot the flaws in saying that one "Graciously accepts", or if they don't care (in this sense) about clear communication.

I predict the vast majority will, and do, care.

Blake

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Did anyone else notice that Paul Gudonis 'graciously accepted' the offer to sell the patents and trademarks to FIRST? Reminded me of this thread :]

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Indeed I did. I thought it made him sound like he felt he was doing the other party a tremendous favor by doing the "buy it for a dollar" transaction.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

In 2008 (07 FTC season), I accepted with a bit of an embarassing "Well, I have no idea why you want to pick us, but I graciously accept".

Anyhow, I'm planning on putting "I graciously accept" on whatever college I decide to attend's letter.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I told our student that was going down for alliance selection to say, "Well, you may not be 46, but we'd still love to play with you." Sadly, he never got the chance to say it.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

At Monty Madness this will be our acceptance if chosen or if we are choosing.
In reference to Brawndo commercials:

"This alliance is blasting off like a dinosaur riding a rocketship and we want youuuuu to be our co pilot!!!!!"

Acceptance: "This alliance is going to be like shaving your chest with a lawnmower!! We accept!!!!"

Oh yea, we're weird.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

At the CT Regional, after a "gracious" acceptance and a "grateful" acceptance, team 1902 pranced and twirled across the field as a lead-in to their "graceful" acceptance. (:

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Well can you graciously decline? I know it's certainly better than saying "That's Lunacy!" and staying in your position on the field, although not GP at all I would find it hillarious, but I would never consider actually doing it.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

You can respectfully decline.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

To graciously decline could be an insult...

If you are applying "gracious" to yourself, it's kind of a misuse of the word. See the earlier portion of the thread. Now, you decline. You're saying, "Because we feel sorry for you, no we won't play with you." It's almost a double insult.

Usually, declines are done as either "We respectfully decline" or "We decline".

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

We tried to convince the student who went to accept at Kettering to just walk up and hug whoever asked us, and then stand next to them without saying anything. She didn't do it, unfortunately. My two favorite acceptances from our past competitions have been:

"We will gladly be assimilated into your collective."
and
"We'd gladly drink to that." Followed by handing the alliance captain a can of mountain dew.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I say we say it in binary.
Yes: 0111100101100101011100110000110100001010
Accept: 01100001011000110110001101100101011100000111010000 00110100001010

No: 0110111001101111
Deny: 01100100011001010110111001111001

and so on

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

i remember back in the days, it was "team XXXX, insert sponsors*, graciously accept." It was out of respect to the sponsors.


For those in archimedes at championships, i made our captain do that...WE ARE BRINGING IT BACK

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Perhaps if you accept but don't say graciously...then are you graciously accepting?

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

ushaha....words....pshh...pish posh....:D

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Le bump.

I like this thread. Hopefully it'll get around this season enough to the point where we can go to a regional and hear "Graciously Accept" a few times maximum during alliance selections.

If anyone has any creative ones they wish to share, have at it!

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

We accept with complete loathing but we must accept because this is probably our only chance of making elims?


Just kidding.

We accept your offer with great honour.

How's that ;)

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

"Sure."

"'K"

"*affirmative grunt*"



I try to say interesting things during alliance selection. I may have a limerick prepared this year, or an epic poem if the team in question is particularly worthy.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Every year I go the field, I have been told I cannot "graciously accept" and saying "we would like to request the assistance of" is incorrect, and "I would like to request the assistance of" is how I should ask teams to join my our alliance.

The grammar errors have never made a difference to me, since these improper terms have become the standard in FIRST. Teams "graciously accept" other teams, and alliance selection students say "we" would like to select, as opposed to "I" would like to select (I say "we" because although I am selecting a team, I am representing the whole team and the selections of the whole team, not myself). In fact, it's always weird to me when someone switches from the usual (unspoken but agreed upon) vernacular for FIRST robotics alliance selections.

I think as long as people are acting professional on the field during selections, it doesn't matter what adjective you use to accept.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Irregardless of people's feelings on the matter, for all intensive purposes it doesn't really matter what you say, as long as you're accepting without taking anything for granite, right?

"It sounds right" and "It's what everybody else says" doesn't mean it is correct or even makes sense.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I like the tradition of saying "Graciously accepts", and we are going to stick with it.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

While I'm fine with creativity, I don't see any problem at all with "Graciously accepts".

The occasional "Graciously declines", on the other hand... ::ouch::

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

How about "The great team of XXXX abstains, courteously."

That's a reference from something, but I don't remember what . The original is "The great state of Virginia abstains, courteously."

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

This reminds me of the time I accepted an offer during FTC alliance selection, I was rushing to figure out what to say (well, First I checked my team number, I still wasn't used to NOT being 1350, then I figured out what to say) I finally said something (I don't remember what) but I stumbled a bit with our team number and the mic was BAD (as in the garbled output actually made it harder to hear what was being said), the point is, the MC said something along the lines of "wait are you accepting or..." so I said, without the mic, "yes, We accept" and nodded for clarity. It was interesting.



I know this was a joke, but I have to do this:

*intents and purposes
*granted

On a side note I have no issue with irregardless as long as the context is appropriate. It is NONSTANDARD, but not wrong per se

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I do have an issue with the term "irregardless." If you break it down, you have "ir," "regard," and "less." Ir is a prefix which indicates negation, regard is the base, and less is a suffix which also indicates negation or lack of. So, putting that all together, we get "not without regard" or more simply, "with regard." It makes no sense to say "irregardless" to mean "without regard."


Heil Webster!

[/rant]

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

How about, "Team xxxx humbly accepts your offer"? Or "humbly accepts your request"?

"Humbly accepts your request, and will endeavor to serve your alliance with honor, dignity and gracious professionalism"?

Oy, now you've got me started....

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

FWIW:
'You Cannot Graciously Resurrect This Thread'

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

I'd like to hear "enthusiastically accepts. . " particularly from my team. :rolleyes: :D

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Twitch... Twitch... shudder...

Though admittedly my first thought in seeing this thread come back was that "No one ever claimed engineers are good at English." I certainly wish we could break that stereotype, but the fact of the matter is that 90% of engineers hate writing and aren't good at it.

And another thought is that many of the kids that get up there are so nervous that I'm impressed they can manage any form of correct or incorrect English. Its hard to be in front of a crowd that large, especially when your team's entire destiny may be on the line!

But good points all around. We should be doing everything we can to make a good impression on all those that come for the finals of the event. Figure out a way to train your students to use English good! (::sarcasm::)

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

That is a reference from the movie/musical "1776".

The original is "The great state of New York abstains, courteously."

There is a punch line in the 3rd act about how everyone in the New York legislature talks over each other and yealls so that the don't listen to each other and can't accomplish anything so the delegation never gets any direction.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Woodie Flowers notwithstanding - Gracious professionalism instead of Professional Grace? Save weight and ditch the extra syllables. Give the MPAA a run for its money by redefining PG-13.

Unfortunately the converse is not true. Awkwardness with English and grammar does not indicate a propensity for engineering or science. Like, 'fer shur, dude! :D

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Ur rite. It's jst lk txtN. evry1 dz it, so it's fyn. It's nt lk Ull 4gt h2 typ lk a norml pRsN, amirite?*

The point is that using poor grammar is habit forming, and thus a bad idea. If you don't try and use proper grammar all the time, you're going to get sloppy and sound foolish.

If the "and" I bolded up there sounds normal to you, you've already succumbed to an extraordinarily common mangling of English that still doesn't make sense to me.

So, back on point, "graciously accept" or, heaven forfend, "graciously invite" is a ridiculously bad usage. In the former you sound like a high-society blowhard that's kindly doing a team a favor by accepting their invitation. In the latter, you sound like a high-society blowhard that's doing a team a huge favor by oh so kindly stooping to lift them up out of their poverty and offer them the enormous opportunity of working with your team. This is seriously what you sound like to any person that speaks proper English.

Yes, I know, "but we all know what it means". Which is true for someone in the FIRST culture. In case you haven't noticed, we're trying to change the rest of the culture to bring more people in. Sounding like a high-society snob is not conducive to this.

And I pity the kids that this becomes ingrained in. I shudder to imagine them "graciously accepting" a college's admission acceptance. "Graciously inviting" friends, parents, or their teachers to their graduations. "Graciously accepting" job interview offers. Or client invites. Or bid opportunities. Or proposals. Hopefully not the Pulitzer Prize, though. I fear that they will wander through life never understanding why people around them give them funny looks every time the word "gracious" passes their lips.


*Yes, I found an english to text translator for this.

Re: You Cannot Graciously Accept
 

Defiantly