University Daily Kansan, July 10, 1980
Page 5
Bremner teaches language like as it should be
By VANCE HINER Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
One of John Bremner's students was late.
"When Carothers come through that door, I'm going to throw him through that window . . . after I close it," Bremner in mock furry.
John Bremner
"Can I take a picture?" a young woman asked.
Well. why did you ask?"
"I don't know," he said. "Can you?" "Yes."
Bremner replied, "Of my throwing Carothers out the window? Don't fuse your participles!"
Correcting herself, the woman said,
"May I take a picture of your throwing
Caroters out the window?"
The classroom is a stage for Bremner. As his students shifted unceasedly in size, he would join King Lear nose from his chair. There was a dramatic silence as he moved to the balcony.
"Tan Man!" he yelled. "Help me!"
HE GAZED OUT over the courtyard toward Wescoe Hall and sighed.
Although the victims of Bremner's verbal barrage were visiting high school journalists, the scene was typical of his editing classes on the second floor of Flint Hall. He rants, rains and insists on strict discipline in his classroom. But most of his students love it.
Hundreds of cards and letters arrive in Bremner's mailbox each year from former students who are grateful for what they learned in his classes.
Bremner, Oscar S. St.auffer Distinguished Professor of Journalism and winner of two KU teaching awards, and a prominent emphasis on grammar and etymology.
BREMNER'S TASK IS not small. He must exorcise the years of poor
speaking and writing habits his students have developed.
"I've never stopped to analyze my teaching methods," Bremner said. "I think if I started to analyze how I teach, it would be a much more difficult doing it that I would cease to do it well."
"That's like becoming aware of your self-awareness of your self-awareness of your self-awareness."
Students in Bremner's introductory editing class are treated to spontaneous oratories on subjects ranging from Chivas Regal to copulative verbs.
"Words on Words," Bremner's recently published book on word usage, contains passages that are virtually transcripts of his classroom speeches.
In one book entry, Bremner criticizes those who would rid the English language of all words pertaining to gender. As an example of the kind of practice a practice can cause, Bremner writes a sentence in nongender form.
"Hupersons should person the sheeparts to ensperecant all personer of persoonpaluation of our parent forepersons of our image of our foreparents," he writes.
Translation: Humans should man the ramparts to emancipate all manner of manipulation of our mother tongue, the language of our forefathers
STUDENTS ARE ADVISED to bring a dictionary to Bremner's classes and to leave their preconceptions behind.
"Don't say, hell, no to me," Bremner often says to students who try to argue with his perception of the facts.
B but Bremner blames teachers and parents, not students, for what he sees as a decline in students' ability to use the English language.
"The reform has to come from those who are teaching the teachers of English and from the parents," he said. "You can't teach it unless you know it."
from teaching grammar, from teaching the parts of speech. I don't think we're going to get back to educating children until we till we get back to teaching grammar."
"There's been a strong trend away
BREMNER OFTEN QUOTES from classical literature and points to students, asking who said it "were it?" and how know the answer: most times they don't.
Although Bremner is loquacious in the classroom, he is reserved when talking about his past.
"Whenever you don't know the answer, just say it's from the Bible, Robert Frost or Shakespeare," he says.
Bremner was born 59 years ago in India. Five years later he moved with his parents to Australia. He received a Bachelor's degree in the theology from Propaganda Fide University in Rome in the early 1940s. He managed to
escape from Italy in 1942, two years after Mussolini declared war on the Allies.
"I was a graduate student," Bremner said. "We had protection from the Vatican."
AFTER SPENDING TIME in Ireland and Great Britain, Bremner returned to Australia, where he worked as a radio announcer and moonlighted as a radio announcer.
Because of his extensive education and globetrotting, Bremner can speak or understand Latin, Greek, Italian, Hebrew and French.
In 1948, Fulton Sheen, television and radio commentator, was in Australia and heard one of Bremner's broadcasts.
ever in the States, look me up,'' Bremner recalled.
Two years later Bremner took advantage of Sheen's offer and their conversation led to Bremner's application for admission to Columbia University's School of Journalism in New York.
"I met him afterward and he said,
'Son, you've got a lot to learn. If you're
"That's when I started to learn what journalism was really all about," he said. "I learned how to tighten my style and figure out the difference between fact and opinion."
After receiving a traveling fellowship from Columbia, Bremner decided to apply for United States citizenship.
During this time, Brenner made friends with syndicated columnist William F. Buckley.
BREMNER'S ASSOCIATION WITH Buckley indirectly resulted in James J. Kilpatrick's praise of Bremner's new book.
"I met Kulpatrick and he said he'd heard from Bill Buckley that I was working on a book, "Brenner said. "He told me, the publisher was and I told him."
"I didn't put in any request," Bremner said. "I came as a complete surprise to me when I read what he had to say in his column."
Kilpatrick wrote the publisher and asked for the galleys. His comments appeared in his column before the book was released.
Kilpatrick said the book was “… a work that every writing man or woman will want on a reference shelf . . . To wander through this dictionary, the loving labor of years, is to spend all day in a country hardware store.”
BREMNER'S PREVIOUS BOOK about newspaper headline writing, "HKT," is used by journalism schools and newspaper staffs across the nation.
"It never had any national publicity," he said of HTK. "It was word of mouth."
Bremner has been selected by the Frank E. Gannett Newspaper Foundation to lead long-term seminars designed to help newspapers copy editing and headline writing to mid-career newspaper teachers and collegiate journalism teachers.
Bremner will begin the seminars this fall.
Until then he will continue his barrage on ignorance and misplaced modifiers. And on the last day of classes, he will recite his often repeated phrase while comma peace period, "before extoring the classroom, stage right."
Book...
Raymond Nichols, chancellor emeritus and a member of the yearbook board, said the board made a good choice.
"The board believes they have chosen a credible company, and that they won't have any trouble this year," he said.
The Kansas State University yearbook, the Royal Purple, had similar problems last year when its photographer went bankrupt, said Janet Terry, editor of the 1980 K-State yearbook.
Yoe said many studios across the country went broke because of the steep rise in silver prices early this year.
BILL BROWN, director of student publications at Kansas State, said the yearbook decided to hire a local studio to do the pictures for 1981.
But another company took over Stevens' business, she said, and students who did not receive prints got refunds.
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