At 07:23 PM 9/16/2007, Johanna Rubba wrote:
>DD, As to predictors of future behavior ... well, if a test is designed
>to test the kinds of future behavior that a society has set up as
>important, then of course that test is going to predict success at
>those kinds of behaviors.

DD: The IQ test were not set up originally to be predictors. They 
just turned out to be verbal tests. Yes, there has been work on 
physical reactions. I don't happen to be up to date on the results. 
It seems that they still are good predictors of all sorts of things, 
like how a person will be judged for visual attractiveness by 
contemporary standards of beauty/handsomeness. No, it is not an R of 
.98, but it is enough to start placing your bets. The verbal tests of 
IQ seem to give great predictions of sports ability, longevity, 
general health, and all sorts of other things. The last time I 
factored analized two of the old standard IQ tests, way back in the 
late 1950s, Three factors tossed out for adults, we named one, 
verbal, and one, mathematical, and the other, always lurking in the 
background, the general factor. For a better view of this concept and 
history, read "The Bell Curve" but read all of it, including the 
footnotes and theory and "boring" stuffr.

The behaviors that earn rewards in a
>society such as high-paying jobs, stock portfolios, and so forth, are
>shaped by the ideology of a particular culture. A capitalist society
>has different values from a socialist (and I mean socialist, not
>communist and not totalitarian) society. Different societies value
>different kinds of behavior. Just as one small example, many
>societies value improvised oral verbal performance as much as or more
>than high-level literacy skills. . . .

DD: But, they all correlate positively to the IQ score.

>In my experience, "political correctness" is a phrase used by those
>who don't believe one should be careful of one's language, looking
>out not to offend. If you knew your language would offend, you could
>have added a mitigating bracket, such as "as we called them in those
>days". "Nubile chick" (note, nubile means "fertile") can be phrased
>as "good-looking girl". As to "dummies", why don't you ask the
>parents of a "dummy" what they would like their child to be called?

DD: Good point. The purpose was to shock, and have readers think 
about the semantics. "Nubile chick" (note, nubile means "fertile") 
can be phrased  as "good-looking girl". But some good looking girls 
are not nubile, as pointed out. I have a nephew who is a Mongolian 
Idiot. I use the more PC term, "Has Down's syndrome." I don't say 
that my wife is demented, I say, "She has Alzheimers's disease." I 
had a person {Son-in law} who said he would never be PC. I asked if 
he would speak to Mike Tyson and use the word, "Nigger." Well, oops, 
not, he wouldn't. He does around whites. ("Round eyes?")

>As this is a grammar list, may I politely point out that you need to
>review comma rules?

DD: Good point. I lost my copy of Harbrace Handbook. I tend to go for 
a comma, where I would pause for breath in oral communication. Shoot 
fire, I have trouble with the apostrophe after plurals ending in s. 
But the last time I ran into formal training on that was in 1949. 
"Make a comma splice and it is an automatic F." English as she was 
taught, University of Tennessee. Sigh, I like early Latin, where they 
didn't seem to use them much at all. Good, informative and 
provocative message, Magistra Johanna.

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