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ImageSMART TALK

by Dr. Perse Nickety




CONTINUAL/CONTINUOUS: At the Center for English as a First Language, Dr. Saber S. Poder and I work with the advanced patients. We help them write and sound clear, concise, and correct at all times. Those three Cs project and inspire the fourth, confidence. That's how we train leaders.

Incidentally, my partner has an appropriate name for the job, as it happens. Saber es poder is Spanish for "knowledge is power." Her name could have overburdened her, but instead, she exemplifies it.

Dr. Poder continually sets an example for our patients. That means she does it virtually every day. When we visit a city, we hate the continual intrusion of car alarms. That means car alarms go off frequently.

If the sound of a car alarm were continuous, it would have to run without end, amen, for hours or days. We give our patients a mnemonic device, telling them that continuous ends in S for steady. The continuous hum of fluorescent lights can drive me crazier than a patient who says nucular.

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