You Cannot Graciously Accept

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by StephLee

Although watching him try to say gracious when we told him he'd be accepting was memorable.

If I had to say the word, gracious, in front of a lot of people, it would come out, gway-shush, and I would feel very much like Elmer Fudd.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

If I had to say the word, gracious, in front of a lot of people, it would come out, gway-shush, and I would feel very much like Elmer Fudd.

Just how many syllables do Texans pronounce in the phrase "Gracious Professionalism" anyway? I've heard "grits" with about 4 syllables....

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by boiler

Just how many syllables do Texans pronounce in the phrase "Gracious Professionalism" anyway? I've heard "grits" with about 4 syllables....

Down where I'm from we only use three syllables. Gir-ee-its are good.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by boiler

Just how many syllables do Texans pronounce in the phrase "Gracious Professionalism" anyway? I've heard "grits" with about 4 syllables....

For me personally, GP is an 8 or 9 syllable phrase depending on the day - however - I do have some family members that have always said and will say again in just a few days: y'all do reeeel good at that there robotics competition in Houston. Have yourselves a reeeel good time, ya hear! (They are one of our team sponsors) And, I have been known to tell folks to, 'have a reeeel good time in Atlanta, ya hear!'

[Dan Petrovic]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Bingo! This is very good.

OK... let's have some fun with this. I will bring some AndyMark "Shift Happens" t-shirts to Atlanta. One of these shirts will be given to one student on each field who gives the best invitation or acceptance during the alliance selection process.

I will ask 3 people to be fellow "judges" to help me in this contest, as I will be focused on one field. These judges will be determined once the Championship divisions are set.

"Best" is going to be subjective. A poem may win. A song may win. Some kid who brings out their fiddle and plays "_____ (their team) Went Down to Georgia" may win (that would rock, btw). A student may do a flip and then accept.

So... hope to get picked. Hope to be a picker. Keep being gracious, but be creative. A t-shirt is riding on it.

(OK... I know that a t-shirt is no big deal, but it's better than a kick in the pants.)

Andy B.

EDIT: I started a new thread regarding this mini-contest.

Team 166 graciously accepts your challenge

(we aren't going to Atlanta... but I just had to say it)

[Vashts6583]

I personally
Take on this challenge of yours
Very graciously

[Pavan Dave]

Originally Posted by boiler

Just how many syllables do Texans pronounce in the phrase "Gracious Professionalism" anyway? I've heard "grits" with about 4 syllables....

Is that a challenge? I know a cowboy who would be PERFECT for that job!

Pavan.

(And no he does not ride a horse to school.)

[Gary Dillard]

Originally Posted by George1902

Or perhaps in the form of a haiku?

Exploding Bacon
Humbly and gladly accepts
Your invitation

Still my favorite Haiku

I gave a suggestion to JVN's captain 2 years ago for acceptance and he took it. The captain went up and said simply, "Word".

[LindsayKnowlton]

I think the tradition of "graciously accepting" an alliance offer stems from the ubiquious FIRST term of "gracious professionalism." One of the definitions for gracious is "marked by kindness and courtesy." (Yay Webster dictionary) So maybe it's not as bad as we think. It might imply "We are SO nice and courteous that we're going to accept/decline your offer," but it could also be more like, "We'd like the say in the kindest way that we accept/reject your offer." Partially, it's how statements are inferred, really.

No one seems to really look that deeply into the acceptance statements, anyways; as long as you say "yes" or "no" somehow without being TOO ridiculous. (But I could be wrong here; I don't mind a bit of creativity ).

[Steve_Alaniz]

Originally Posted by LindsayKnowlton

I think the tradition of "graciously accepting" an alliance offer stems from the ubiquious FIRST term of "gracious professionalism." One of the definitions for gracious is "marked by kindness and courtesy." (Yay Webster dictionary) So maybe it's not as bad as we think. It might imply "We are SO nice and courteous that we're going to accept/decline your offer," but it could also be more like, "We'd like the say in the kindest way that we accept/reject your offer." Partially, it's how statements are inferred, really.

No one seems to really look that deeply into the acceptance statements, anyways; as long as you say "yes" or "no" somehow without being TOO ridiculous. (But I could be wrong here; I don't mind a bit of creativity ).

Hmmm "
"We Kindly accept your offer"
"We Courteously accept your offer... "

You may MEAN something but it is not necessarily what you said...

I Have this dream... I'm following the manual for defusing a bomb while actually defusing a bomb and I read:
"Cut the Blue Wire"... I cut the Blue wire
"Cut the Purple Wire"... I cut the Purple wire
"Cut the Red Wire"... I cut the Red wire
"Having first cut the Gray wire"... Thanks a lot...

Seriously, I used to replace the platters and heads on disc drives and it was scary enough just opening them up (with a customer's entire data base on them) so that I didn't need the added aggravation of instructions that were not quite clear because the technical writer expected you to KNOW what they meant rather than what they actually said (or wrote in this case).
AND as I have mentioned before, having an editor at one time in my life permanently affected me in my view of language. ( I'm tainted... I admit it.)
So, it is just MY OPINION that language.. CONCISE language... is very important and that it should be a part of FIRST.
Programmers... don't your mentors strongly encourage you to include comments in your programs for yourself and future programmers who might build on your work? Shouldn't those comments be very clear so that a future programmer doesn't have to lose the time you gained for them by having to go back over your code and figure out what you did because the comments didn't quite make sense?
I will grant you it is a seemingly small error, but if it IS a small error (to Graciously accept)... then it is very easily corrected.
OK I'm laying low for awhile. Having made my point I think I will let it rest... The FIRST organization is gonna kill me when people start reciting epic poems to accept an alliance partnership. ... Hmmm What rhymes with "F.I.R.S.T."

Best wishes

Steve Alaniz

[Molten]

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.

[mormannoob]

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

[Libby K]

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!

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Libby K

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...

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!"

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

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Coldstone Creamery tip jar

Applause, compliments, and tips graciously accepted.

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.