I received an email with a resume from a UH graduate seeking employment, who referred to herself as an alumnae of UH. I think it is important for anyone to have things written correctly on resumes when seeking employment and that was not correct. I see various posts here that refer to themself as an alumni of UH. At the risk of seeming overbearing, I thought I would clear this up for some of you younger guys who may be unsure of the correct terminology.
Alumnus is used to refer to a male graduate or former student. Alumni is the plural of alumnus but can also be used to refer to a group of men and woman graduates/former students. Alumna is used to refer to a woman graduate or former student. Alumnae is the plural of alumna.
We are too dependent on autocorrect and other grammer programs. I use a paid sub for a program called grammarly. It is great, but it does have quirks that cause it to āautocorrectā the wrong words.
I am guilty of being dependent of such things for quick emails, but the resume should be triple checked many many times.
This is correct. However language evolves and I think these terms will eventually go the way of the DoDo. I do like it though when applicants pay attention to tiny details, thatās a good sign.
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aĀ·lumĀ·nus
/ÉĖlÉmnÉs/
noun
a graduate or former student, especially a male one, of a particular school, college, or university.
āa Harvard alumnusā
Yes. Alumnus refers to graduates and former students. It can also be used to refer to former members of an organization or group.
I hope Latin never goes away. In fact, Latin should be required study starting in about the 5th grade. Latin is exceptionally good at teaching the student how to think logically. Greek works for this too, but I like Latin because you donāt have to learn a new alphabet.
Moreover, a B-C Latin student can switch to any Romance language (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian) after a couple of years and pretty much get straight Aās. A good strategy to boost oneās GPA in high school or college is to take Latin in middle school (if you can find one that teaches it) or in high school and then switch to French or Italian at the next level. Easy Aās.
At my high school alma mater, St. Johnās School (which offers K-12), thatās more or less what they do. Everyone takes Latin in junior high, then switches to another language (not all take a Romance language though) in high school.
Students can also opt to take more Latin in high school in lieu of a new foreign language; people that donāt like studying foreign languages usually like that option, simply because they donāt end up having to take as many foreign language classes.
Personally, I didnāt attend SJS until rather late, so I never took any Latin. Did well in Spanish there though.
Sadly, most schools that offer Latin are private which disqualifies most people. Thede are few charter (public) schools offering Latin in middle school. Not sure how many in the Houston area. I know of one in Katy.
Hey Red, please dont allow her misguidance on the proper way to use the term keep her away from employment consideration. You said it, many on this board use it the wrong way as well. I think she will do much better once she learn the proper way of using it, and thank you for bringing that to all of our attention!
It is Latin. Therefore it is set in stone. The evolved versions are French, Spanish, and Italian. Because it is intentional use of an old language for posterity no evolution can occur. Misuse is just wrong.
