A rittle resson about what's light and long

In my lone class today, the students had to run around the classroom, memorize song lyrics, and report back to their "writer" what each sheet of paper said. Spelling was supposed to be correct and all the usual jazz. The song used today was Josh Groban's "Up Where You Are" and I noticed one group of very intelligent girls had interpreted the lyrics as such... "Fry me up to where you are beyond a distant star." After stifling the giggres, I pointed out the mistake and the girls were smiling too.

The "l" and "r" mistake is unbelievably common and is often used among the ALT community for some comic relief. The students even try to make their "r"s look like "l"s so that you can decide which it really is. I applaud their ingenuity in trying to get credit either way. However, this "ritter" problem needs to be addressed, although when the teachers also struggle with pronunciation, I suppose there is little to be done. All I know is that when we play a game that involves writing my name, I always just write it on the board because to overpronouce "Aaaarrrrr" and "ELLLLLL" for every group gets pretty old and usually students just throw down my name in characters instead and laugh.

It's not rimited to high schools, though.



(And yes, Mom, I can hear you *sigh* at the mere mention of that song all the way over here. Repetitive prayings can take care of that.)