I walked to school with other kids starting in kindergarten, when I was five. But, I don't think five years old is a "toddler".
At the slightly busy road in front of the school there were swing out stop signs. I've never seen them anywhere else. Sixth graders manned the stop signs. They stood on the curb and pulled on a handle that would swing the overhead stop sign out over the road. A third kid walked out with a handheld stop sign after the cars stopped and then the kids crossed.
Something happened and that ended. They switched to an adult crossing guard. I'm guessing it was something bad.
To be fair, "affect" in this story isn't a super common word
As mentioned elsewhere, it's a shortening of "affectation", and is pronounced a fair bit differently: where "affect" like you're thinking has emphasis on the second syllable, the "affect" in the story has it on the first syllable, and even puts the "f" in the first syllable rather than the second.
I'd argue this isn't an exception as this doesn't fit the rule at all, as neither word is being used here, a word that's spelled the same as one of them is causing confusion as it's a fairly uncommon word
30 replies
Tell your folks I says hi
Or, and hear me out, the fake British accent never sounded British in the first place. And the adults in the story just can't tell accents apart?
Wisconsin accents can be like Welsh (not really but). Bag is pronounced Baig, Bagel is pronounced baggel. They be crazy up there.
Mostly /s
Ever try to speak with an Irish accent only to end up morphing into Jamaican?
Say Beer Can with an aussie accent 🇯🇲🥓
They're from Wisconsin, anyone who went to a boarding school probably sounds "English"
That's cute. It's funny how being nice and caring for kids can have a lasting effect on them
Very sensible toddlers.
"Oh bother." - Said in the accent of a pudgy stuffed bear
"Fake British accent". It's just a Wisconsin accent...
I was kind of hoping the toddlers would create an ultra polite aristocracy as things escalated.
Alternative hypothesis: reincarnation.
The entire kindergarten class is reincarnated elderly British pensioners.
it's the more plausable theory
I think they'd only really need to be worried if they start apologising to inanimate objects.
...the toddlers are crossing the street by themselves in this story?
I walked to school with other kids starting in kindergarten, when I was five. But, I don't think five years old is a "toddler".
At the slightly busy road in front of the school there were swing out stop signs. I've never seen them anywhere else. Sixth graders manned the stop signs. They stood on the curb and pulled on a handle that would swing the overhead stop sign out over the road. A third kid walked out with a handheld stop sign after the cars stopped and then the kids crossed.
Something happened and that ended. They switched to an adult crossing guard. I'm guessing it was something bad.
No, there's a crossing guard! Didn't you read that part?
Yeah that seems weird. A toddler is basically a 2-year-old, and as the term says, they're not so good at walking by themselves.
Maybe OOP uses the term differently.
The rest of the story: absolutely feasible. And finding the origin can be fun.
effect*
Affect
transitive verb
: to put on a false appearance of (something) : to pretend to feel, have, or do (something) : feign
Yes, but also this usage was the noun form (basically a shortened variant of "affectation").
You affect something and then you have had an effect on it.
In this case, "affect" and "affect" are two different words that are spelled the same but mean different things and are pronounced differently
How would you even know that?
Context. The story is about accents.
Never heard of the word but I'm not a native speaker so I assumed it was saying "she had an effect (on the children)"
To be fair, "affect" in this story isn't a super common word
As mentioned elsewhere, it's a shortening of "affectation", and is pronounced a fair bit differently: where "affect" like you're thinking has emphasis on the second syllable, the "affect" in the story has it on the first syllable, and even puts the "f" in the first syllable rather than the second.
Because I know enough English and recognize which word is being used based on which one actually fits
As a rule of thumb, that is correct. But there are exceptions to that rule and the example given is one of them.
I'd argue this isn't an exception as this doesn't fit the rule at all, as neither word is being used here, a word that's spelled the same as one of them is causing confusion as it's a fairly uncommon word