h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You'd have to be confident to write like Harlan Ellison. Confident of two things.
Firstly, that you're narrative is interesting enough to keep your readers going.
Secondly, that you've got control of your vernacular. I couldn't write like a Scottish fisherman, still less like a South American drug runner.

I hear you.

This weekend, we watched 'Charite at War', a German series on Netflix. I was in awe of the scriptwriters' deft use of language from the period. Those are two talented women.

Bad English teachers sometimes do win. I think it sometimes has to do with the way their contracts are written .

If these are English teachers of the past, whether living or dead, you can think of them in terms of the job they were given to do. They did the job. They were paid to do it. Once done, it did not need to be done again.

Jobs can be remembered, forgotten, disregarded, etc. What they are is phantoms of the past. Memories.

Sometimes what we are left with is our memories. What can you do? Time moves on. Expectations change. The way we live changes. there are words and fashions of thought from decades past that you wouldn't use publicly now.

Maybe we should just try to lose some of the baggage form the past that is making it harder to live now?

I know, I know, easy to say, sometimes hard to do. If you were a successful rock star from any era, you may find yourself dreading live concerts, because audiences will undoubtedly want you to perform music that you no longer feel any spark of love or creativity about. Some performers like Barry Manilow are gracious enough to let the audiences get what thy came for. Louis Armstrong was asked why he was willing to sing "Hello, Dolly" again and again. His explanation was that he considered himself an entertainer.

I know I've gone off on a tangent, but I'm seeing a connection with the discussion about not letting bad English teachers win. Let's suppose that you had a "bad" English teacher (who probably thought he or she was a good teacher). let's also suppose that in the time since having that teacher, you haven't had any cause to doubt the wisdom of that teacher's lessons. Then, in a "Post" article, someone says that that teacher's lessons were bad. That is the opinion of the author of the piece in the Post. Maybe, on reflection, you see the author's point and revise downward that teacher's lessons. It's also allowable to disagree with the post article. These articles serve a useful purpose by provoking thought and discussion.

I think it's all good.