crimes against the state

     "Crimes against the state" is a sinister-sounding phrase to most American ears. It sounds like something we've seen in a B movie about the Cold War--one with political prisoners in it. But, in America, all crimes are crimes against the state. Commit burglary in Pennsylvania, and you will be tried by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The same with any other crime, in any other state. Of course, our states, like our nation, are made of "we the people". In some states, a criminal charge is read "the people of the state of" . Which is as it should be. Commit a crime against one person, you've committed a crime against all of us. It's called society, one of the natural functions of being human. So, the next time an American convict or ex-convict tells you that he or she was really a political prisoner ( a common bit of jailhouse philosophy ), tell him or her that you know-- that you approved it with your vote, and supported it with your tax dollars. And the next time you read something about "crimes against the state" in a foreign country, make sure you're not just reading about everyday, ordinary crime.

legal emancipation

     Legal emancipation means the emancipation of a minor ( someone under the age of 18, or 21 in some states ) from parental control. The minor will no longer be the parents' responsibility. The parents will not be responsible for the minor's debts, or for the care of the minor. This status is usually reserved for minors who marry, for which they need their parents' permission. A married minor can sign a contract and own property without the involvement of his or her parents. Joining the military at 17 may also emancipate a minor. A 16 or 17-year old who has a job and gets an apartment might be recognized as emancipated by a law court. A teen who gets in trouble with the law might be considered as emancipated for the purpose of living in a group home, or a facility supervised by the state. For the few minors who have a substantial income, legal emancipation may be an important issue, since it gives the minor the legal right to keep any money earned.

public school

In America ( the United States ) , we call our state-run schools "public schools", since they are open to the public, supported by the public, and run by the public. Schools that are privately run, and open only to those who are admitted, are called "private schools".
In the United Kingdom ( England ) "public school" means an elite private school. It was called public school by those who would have kept their children at home with a tutor if they hadn't sent them to school.

Hessians

     The Hessians ( in American history ) were soldiers loaned by the ruler of Hesse, in what is now Germany, to the king of England. Hessians fought the Americans in the Revolutionary War. They fought with the British--that is, on the side of the British, against the Americans. British soldiers also fought the Americans.  There were many more British soldiers than there were Hessians.
     Someone has started a historical error that seems to be spreading. I read it in a political science textbook--a college level textbook. The author claimed that the Hessians fought the Americans because the British didn't like to fight with a people so closely related. Not so. The British were here, quartered in Boston and some other places, before the revolution began, and they did most of the fighting. I don't know what made the author decide that if Hessians fought, that that the British didn't--he just guessed that part, perhaps, and incorrectly.  There were at least as many British soldiers as Hessians--possibly  twice as many. The British didn't need the Hessians because they didn't want to fight the Americans themselves--they wanted the Hessians so that their army would be large enough to defeat the Americans easily.
    

in loco parentis

     In loco parentis is Latin for "in the place of a parent". This is the legal doctrine that assigns to schools and their employees responsibility for the physical safety of children. Schools are responsible not only for the safety of the child in the school, but for the safety of the child going to school and returning from school. If a school child misses the bus, for example, the school has to make sure that the child gets home safely. It may not simply say "that's too bad, you'll have to walk".
     In loco parentis does not grant any "rights" to schools or their employees--not even in states where corporal punishment of students ( hitting or spanking ) is permitted.

measures of volume

     Measures of volume confuse a lot of people, but it just takes a bit of practice or experience. Our measures were supposed to have been all metric by 1980, they told us in the 1970's, but even that won't help with older books, movies, or recipes. For example--
We still sell gasoline by the gallon. A gallon is equal to 4 quarts ( quarters of a gallon ). A quart is not exactly equal to a, liter, but it's roughly the same.
Alcoholic beverages were traditionally sold by the "fifth", or fifth of a gallon. A "fifth" of a gallon might be labelled four-fifths of a quart--the same thing. So there were five "bottles" of alcohol to the gallon.
Milk is also still sold by the gallon, by the half-gallon, the quart, the pint, or the cup. Each of these is half of the next larger--2 cups make a pint
                         2 pints make a quart
                         2 quarts make a half-gallon
                         2 half-gallons make a gallon.
Cups were divided into ounces, 8 to the cup, or 128 to the gallon.
Liquids sold in liter-sized bottles are an attempt to approximate these familiar measures, so we have 3/4 of a liter, or 750 milliliters ( the same thing ), and so on. The metric system uses tenths, so a liter can be divided into centiliters ( cl's--100ths ) or milliliters ( ml's--1,000ths ).

dictionaries

     Dictionaries, I am fond of dictionaries. Everything that has ever been written is in the dictionary. The people who write dictionaries, called lexicographers, rely on usage to decide what to put in the dictionary. If someone coins a new word, and it becomes popular, it is included in the next edition of the dictionary. You may see evidence of this when you use the dictionary to decide which word to use, particularly in the case of commonly misused words. If enough people "switch" or exchange one word for another, the dictionary may report, in its next edition, that this is now current usage. An American dictionary rarely makes recommendations--it merely reports on common usage, in true democratic fashion.
     You may sometimes come across a piece of writing that is for the most part carefully and correctly done ( precise and understandable ), in which the author at last uses an unusual word, taking the dictionary as a style guide--which it isn't. The unusual word may be used awkwardly, or used not taking into account its precise meaning ( some English teachers have it that there are no synonyms ). The sentence containing the offending word is awkward and difficult to understand, because the author has not learned the "word" through usage ( reading, and lots of it ), but from using a thesaurus or dictionary to avoid seeming repetitive. The definition given by a dictionary or thesaurus in a few words, rarely takes account of the fine nuances of usage--and we find the author annoying. Dictionaries are perfect for spelling, and for looking up the meaning of words that you are reading--but they aren't style manuals, and shouldn't be used as usage guides.