Dear English People,
Forgive me for saying this, but I believe your entire language could need to be revised, so as to eliminate all the illogical idioms, expressions and pronunciations that have appeared over the years.
Don't misunderstand me, English is not the only language to which this applies. In fact most languages I know could do with a quick fix in order to get rid of irregular verbs and confusing terms. I do not mean to criticise anyone. If I may sound harsh at times, keep in mind that I don't mean any of this seriously, that these are merely examples of things that may seem bizarre to a beginner learning English, and that by symmetry it reflects the frustrations that English people may encounter when learning a foreign language. Every language has a few quirks and...
Lifestyle
Dear Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka,
I like your political articles, I love them. I find the flow of the writing awesome and always feel that they have the power to irk certain readers.
Let me introduce myself to you as a courtesy; I am a Tamil, an ordinary one. Trust me, I never liked to identify myself by my race, and never want to be.
Dear DJ, (Hope you won’t mind calling you DJ, it’s quite funky isn’t it?)
I really have a name. But I don’t like to write this letter under it. Once, I wrote an article, based on some questions, regarding the political environment of Sri Lanka to a major website, and after that, my father-in-law started having symptoms of a mild heart attack, whenever a “white van “ passed our house.
I did my best to explain to him, that if somebody was to abduct...
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Dear Augustine:
Thank you for contacting me yesterday about my status in University Bible Fellowship.
For approximately two years now, the only messages I have received from your organization were requests to attend various meetings and reminders to submit annual chapter reports. I decided to ignore those requests because, for more than five years now, leaders of UBF have been unresponsive to my repeated pleas for dialogue about important matters that affect the health of the organization and the credibility of its gospel witness. My nonresponse was not retaliation. It was an indication that I had no clue how to proceed in our relationship, because my pleas went unheeded and sometimes were not even acknowledged. Perhaps you have heard the humorous saying: “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that I...
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Dear Employees and Labor Partners:
As Superintendent, I am corresponding with all District employees and our labor partners to share some very important developments and concerns that affect everyone, however, may not be widely known or understood.
I would like to again acknowledge and express gratitude to all District employees and labor partners for the sacrifices that they voluntarily made during the Recession-caused salary freeze and furlough era when the District’s income was so severely reduced. All employees deferred salary growth and even sacrificed part of their salaries in order to respect and save the jobs of fellow employees and to preserve services to the students and public that we serve. That surely was one of our finest hours in terms of ethical and public-spirited...
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Dear Neighbour:
Re: Traffic Congestion and Pedestrian Safety at Allen Road/Eglinton Avenue
The Eglinton Crosstown is a light rail transit (LRT) line that will run across Eglinton Avenue between Mount Dennis (Weston Road) and Kennedy Station. This 19-kilometre corridor will include a 10-kilometre underground portion, between Keele Street and Laird Drive. It will provide a rapid and reliable service that will be up to 60% faster than bus service today, when it is completed in 2020.
The work is well underway and has reached Eglinton Avenue West and Allen Road. The construction in this area is for the extraction and launch shafts that will be used for the tunnel boring machines currently tunnelling east underneath Eglinton Avenue from Black Creek Drive.
We know that this work has...
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Dear Korean food,
I have to be honest, when we first met I didn’t like you. You seemed to love Lee and I. Every time we walked around a corner there you were. You really freaked us out when you stuck photos of yourself on our door everyday.
But even though we didn’t hit it off right away all our friends liked you and were always inviting us to visit you. Then one day our friend informed us we couldn’t drink unless we had you there so in a small Makgolli bar that (of course) doesn’t exists anymore we finally saw a different side of you. We fell hard for you.
After that we became firm friends. We hadn’t realised how many different sides to you there were. You were always ready for any mood we might be in, and you still surprise us after all this time.
We love that you’re easy...
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Dear Secretary Panetta:
As National President of the Korean War Veterans Association, I represent the Korean War Veterans of the United States and its’ Territories. The recent creation of the “Distinguished Warfare Medal” to be awarded to pilots of unmanned aircraft, cyber war experts and others, has created an extremely negative attitude from our members.
We do not disagree that the aforementioned people should not be awarded for their dedication to duty; their ability to save ground troops lives; the stress they are under to guide unmanned drones that destroy our enemies or their installations. However to place the “Distinguished Warfare Medal” above the prominence of the “Purple Heart” and the “Bronze Star” is unacceptable to our members and those of other Veterans Service...
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Dear Kendrick Lamar,
You recently released a very catchy tune called “The Blacker the Berry” regarding your antipathy towards white people. Mr. Rembert Browne, writer for the popular sports/pop culture website Grantland.com, wrote a response to this song wondering how the villains of your story, whites (or perhaps non-blacks in general), might react to your lyrics. I think that’s a fascinating question, so let’s get right into the “sweeter juices.”
The first thing I notice, Mr. Lamar, is that your conception of the enemy presupposes his incredible strength. I mean, wow, what amazing, near omnipotence the whites of the world possess to “church me with your fake prophesizing that I’mma be just another slave in my head” and “[make] me a killer, emancipation of a real nigga.”
I mean...
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Dear Dr. Lee
Re: Regarding a Strike in a South Korean-owned Garment Factory in Myanmar
Greetings.
Korean Transnational Corporations Watch (hereafter KTNC Watch) is a network of human rights/labor/environment/public law organizations in Korea which has long been active in responding human rights issues of Korean-owned or -invested companies overseas.
Regarding human rights violations in Korean companies in Myanmar, KTNC Watch has been closely monitoring the situation including a field research to Myanmar in 2013. Especially among the recently increasing investment into Myanmar from Korea, we have tried to raise awareness among relevant Korean authorities and international bodies, asking them to take appropriate measures to address human rights concerns in Korean companies in...
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Dear Vice President Biden,
Hi! How are you? May I call you Joe?
Joe, I am writing in response to your opinion-editorial published on January 29, 2015 in The New York Times.
I wholeheartedly agree with your statement, “Security makes everything else possible.”
Without security and safety, no diplomacy or peacemaking is possible. Without clear, open communication and transparency, there will be no resolution to the complex, interrelated security, governance and economic challenges in Central America.
I am a concerned American citizen living in Guatemala. Despite the high level of poverty and crime, which exists in pretty much all nations, the people here love their country and their families. Only under severe financial distress do they contemplate the extreme tactic of...
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