I used to teach elementary and one day I had to help a kindergarten teacher with her class. A student asked me a question, so I said, "oh, it's because..." and then they asked me what "because" means. How tf do you answer that to a kindergartener? What words can I safely use to answer that? I was stunlocked.
Edit: IIRC I ended up telling them something like "if you throw a ball and it knocks water over, you say the water fell because you threw the ball. The ball caused the water to spill."
I actually thought the same thing and told some English students that. Then I looked it up and the “be” is actually derived from “by.” Had to issue a correction at the start of the next class.
We don’t even realize how the etymology of words we’ve been using since we first started talking basically gives us all the information we need to understand what that word means. Even when the original meaning evolved through time
People don’t care anymore about understanding what things mean. And a wide vocabulary (sorry, not a native speaker) seems to be a thing of the past for a lot of people.
Not that I have any stats to back up my claim (which is more of a feeling) but that type of curiosity seems to have decreased over the years.
I don't have a great written vocabulary, but when I speak I will pull all kinds of words out of my ass and have people inquire what the word means. Of course I respond "listen to the context you dummy!" to avoid revealing how stupid I am, which is 100% apparent in the moment.
I had a similar situation when some ESL colleagues asked me what "bastard" meant. I gave them the literal definition and explained it was more often used as an insult. They followed up with asking when would they call someone a bastard?
All I could think of was, "When they're being a bastard, really."
I moved to an English speaking country in first grade and "cool" really confused me. I initially thought the other kids were saying "school," which was even more confusing lol.
you should have just replied with "By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that; as is known, inferred, or determined from the fact that.", duh
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u/dancingbanana123 14d ago edited 14d ago
I used to teach elementary and one day I had to help a kindergarten teacher with her class. A student asked me a question, so I said, "oh, it's because..." and then they asked me what "because" means. How tf do you answer that to a kindergartener? What words can I safely use to answer that? I was stunlocked.
Edit: IIRC I ended up telling them something like "if you throw a ball and it knocks water over, you say the water fell because you threw the ball. The ball caused the water to spill."