Firstly, let me start by saying I was not intending to make any comment, but I felt constrained to do so. Let me just say, or, let me be the first to say, that it is not good use of the language to start a sentence with the word "first". Like "never ever say never ever", it is just poor English. "first" is an adjective, it is a demanding word, it is non-conciliatory, it refuses to consider anything else as being worthy of consideration before itself. It lacks elegance, style and above all, it does not allow the use of humour to intrude upon its demand for attention. You may also note that irrespective of that rather pretentious announcement, that I am certainly not the first to say any such thing.
You may also have noticed that this appalling misuse of the language has its rise in the first decades of the 20th century, which, coincidentally, happens to be the time when the Harvard Business School starts to gain some influence. It is another 40 years before that influence is so keenly felt, but by the end of the 1920s, all sorts of bastardizations of the language have become commonplace.
By the time that a Harvard graduate became the head of a major car company then Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy Administration, Harvard cemented its position in the business, political and academic world by giving us such gems as the Harvard Standard for Referencing in Academic Research, the Business School itself, and a range of executives that have managed to drive their companies, and the rest of us, into bankruptcy or themselves into gaol, jail for our gallant American compatriots, or both. However, I am drifting off topic here.
It should also be recognized that the words "Don't Panic" appear on the front cover of that remarkable book "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Addams, himself not a Harvard graduate, published by the Sirius Publishing Corporation. Adding the word "Firstly", then changing that to "First", does not enhance the advice given, in fact, it should be deleted all together, and an image of the cover of the book should be placed there instead.
The word "Firstly", or "First" implies there is a second step after panicking. This allows a whole industry of misconceptions to arise, one that could be construed as being aimed at giving Moodle documentation writers a whole
raison d'être. Of course, we know that this is just not so, but for the laity, it would not be a healthy outcome for them to consider this as a possibility. It may also be of some concern to realize that, without acknowledgment, Moodle.org may find itself on the receiving end of some extremely large legal bills in which a range of legal people and other vampires may keep themselves well fed for a couple of weeks.
Change it to an image, after asking for
permission to use, of course.
"Let there be no short answers!"
" My preference would be "First, do not panic
," but tradition is tradition.
