Smarter than a boy scout, revisited

[ghermanno]

cctroop231,

 

If I am not mistaken, "WE'll BE LOyal Scouts" was either just before or just after they did away with the Lion rank in Cub Scouting.

 

There have been MANY changes to the CS program since inception.

 

YiS,

 

Rick(This message has been edited by ghermanno)

[cctroop231]

> In all seriousness, there are two proper nouns in the Pledge: "God" and "United States of America". All the other nouns are common nouns.

 

Are you certain that "Republic" isn't? I've seen it capitalized sometimes, and I know that one of our country's nicknames used to be "the Republic" (as in, Battle Hymn of the Republic).

 

Flag flies 24/7 at the White House, on a naval vessel and on the Moon.

[boomerscout]

What did WEBELOS originally stand for?

 

A) Wolf, Bear, Lion, Scout

 

then, shouldn't it be WOBELIS?

[CalicoPenn]

"Are you certain that "Republic" isn't? I've seen it capitalized sometimes, and I know that one of our country's nicknames used to be "the Republic" (as in, Battle Hymn of the Republic)."

 

Good question because Republic is one of those instances where a word can be a proper noun, part of a proper noun, or is a common noun, depending on it's usage. Proper nouns refer to specific places, people or things.

 

Republic becomes a proper noun when it refers to a specific place such as Republic, Missouri. If I'm going to the Target in Republic, then both Target and Republic are proper nouns.

 

Most often, republic becomes PART of a proper noun - such as The Republic of North Korea, or The Daily Republic. In these cases, republic by itself is not a proper noun, but together with the other words that identify a specific place or publication, it beomes part of a proper noun.

 

With "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", we're referring to a song title - which is a 6 word singular proper noun. None of the words taken separately are proper nouns but put all six words together and you've created a single proper noun.

 

When it's not part of a specific name, or substitutes for a specific named entity, it becomes a common noun. In the Pledge the republic is meant as The United States of America - the common noun stands in for the proper noun, but remains a common noun. If you refer to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (proper noun) as just "the Hymn", hymn is a common noun that stands in for the proper noun.

 

Other examples:

Desert (common noun) / Gobi Desert (proper noun)

Ocean (common noun) / Pacific Ocean (proper noun)

Cake (common noun) / Calico's Cake (proper noun)

Republic (common noun) / Plato's Republic (proper noun)

 

Though republic identifies a form of political franchise, it's not specific enough to qualify on it's own as a proper noun, just as ocean, on it's own, is not specific enough to qualify as a proper noun.

 

 

 

[le Voyageur]

"Great for lifetime bragging rights, but can you do it now?

(I am not ragging on you. It was the Morse code requirement which kept me from earning my Quartermaster back in the early 80s. I practiced for 2 years and could not get it down fast enough. Ironically, this requirement was dropped; oh well.)" Buffalo Skipper...

 

The answer is yes, as well as in semaphore, too. Morse code is easy, it's a binary system, just convert the dits and dahs to 1's, and 0's, and remember the numbers...

 

 

[Hal_Crawford]

"Flag flies 24/7 at the White House, on a naval vessel and on the Moon."

 

...And almost every used car lot in the USA.

[SSScout]

"...24/7 flags..."

 

McDonald's roofs, Checker's, etc.

 

Hi Hal...

[cctroop231]

Several more questions I came up with, in case anyone wants to use a similar theme for recruiting or for a game. I'm halfway through the merit badge curriculum at meritbadge.org...

 

American Heritage Merit Badge

1. Which historical document contains the phrase we hold these truths to be self-evident? (Declaration of Independence)

 

Astronomy Merit Badge

1. Which of the following is not an astronomical tool? Telescope/Microscope/Binoculars

2. Which of the following constellations is not part of the Zodiac? Gemini/Scorpio/Orion

3. Which of the following is not a star? Neptune/Alpha Centauri/The Sun

4. The Milky Way is the proper name for what? Nebula/Galaxy/Supernova

 

Chemistry Merit Badge

1. Which of the following will happen to an iron nail when it is placed in copper sulfate solution? The nail will rust/the nail will become copper coated/the nail will dissolve (copper coated)

 

Coin Collecting Merit Badge

1. The obverse side of a penny shows what? (Abraham Lincoln)

2. Of the seven denominations of paper currency between $1 and $100, two do not depict U.S. Presidents. Name one. ($10 or $100)

3. Which president appears on a $2 bill? (Thomas Jefferson)

4. Abraham Lincoln appears on the front of the $5 bill. What landmark appears on the back? Lincoln Memorial/Washington Monument/White House

5. Which U.S. coin was minted from steel in 1943? Penny/Dime/Quarter/Silver dollar

 

Cooking Merit Badge

1. Chicken is considered to be safely prepared when its internal temperature reaches: (145/155/165)

2. Water boils at what temperature? (110 F/191 F/212 F)

 

Fingerprinting Merit Badge

1. Which of the following sets of people can have identical fingerprints? (fraternal twins/Identical twins/nobody)

2. In law enforcement, the acronym AFIS stands for which of the following? (Automated Fingerprint Identification System/Automatic Fingerprinting Initialization Service/All Fingerprints In System)

 

Fire Safety Merit Badge

1. Which of the following should NOT be used to extinguish a grease fire in the kitchen? (chemical fire extinguisher/bucket of water/baking soda)

2. A campfire is considered to be safely out when (coals are black/no flames are present/coals can be touched with bare hands)

 

 

Law Merit Badge

1. True or falsein a civil trial, a defendant must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

2. Which of the following does not refer to a law code? (Code of Hammurabi/Magna Carta/The Jordan Rules)

 

Mammal Study Merit Badge

1. True or falsethere are over 5000 species of mammals in the world.

2. Which of the following classifications of mammal eats both plants and animals? (herbivore/omnivore/carnivore)