Musings from an overworked translator

TGIF: Conjunction Junction April 17, 2009

Thanks to the ALTA Blog for reminding me about one of my favorite influences from my childhood, Schoolhouse Rock. They wrote about interjections in a blog post called Interjection Junction a few days ago. It made me smile and then I shared some Schoolhouse Rock videos with my nieces when I babysat them on Wednesday.

In case any of you were wondering about my path to becoming a translator, Schoolhouse Rock played a huge role in making me the grammarian I am today. Airing during Saturday morning cartoons from 1973 to 1985, Schoolhouse Rock taught my generation all about American history, grammar, and multiplication. Schoolhouse Rock aired 41 short segments featuring catchy tunes, and most of my generation passed our U.S. History tests by singing the Preamble of the Constitution to ourselves. I know because I looked around the room and almost fell out of my chair laughing when I saw everyone silently singing to themselves. To this day I can still sing “Conjunction Junction,” “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs here,” “The Shot Heard Round the World,” “Mother Necessity,” and the classic “I’m Just a Bill” – and it was 25 years ago!

Schoolhouse Rock was conceived in 1971 when, according to the History of Schoolhouse Rock, “David McCall, chairman of big-time New York ad agency McCaffrey & McCall, noticed that his son could sing every Beatles and Stones lyric ever recorded but couldn’t handle simple multiplication tables. His solution was simple: Link math with contemporary music and the kids will breeze through school on a song.” And the rest is history. I’ll be posting some of my favorite Grammar Rock clips over the next few weeks. This one is my all-time favorite, Conjunction Junction. I hope you enjoy them!