Loose Cheeks, September 18, 2016

 Loose Cheeks 9-18-16
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Loose Cheeks: Hot Tips
By Lucas Smithereen
Loose Cheeks Senior Editor
Got a hot tip for Loose Cheeks? Call the Loose Cheeks hot-tip line: (000) CHE-EEKS. We’ll get back to you whenever.
 
Loose Cheeks' intrepid reporter A.J. Gangle was watching the Merced County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday when Supervisor John Pedrozo spoke in defense of retiring supervisors --himself and Supervisor Deidre Kelsey -- saying that they do continue to do their duty and attend to their districts until their last days in office. He spoke of service to his "constituences."
Last week Pedrozo's son, Merced City Councilman Josh Pedrozo, mentioned his "constituencies." Both seemed to be referring to constituents. John, the father, is a former dairyman and dairymen, as we know from such luminary politicians as former Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture John Thurman, D-Modesto, have a vocabulary, grammar and syntax all their own. (And that ain't sin-tax. -- blj)
But son Josh, not expected to win his bid for mayor in November, is a social studies teacher at Merced High School. Wouldn't it be reasonable to expect a social studies teacher to know the difference between a constituency and a constituent, the latter being the parts that make up the former whole? Would you expect a curriculum that included Health & Wellness for Life, Freshman Seminar, World History/Culture, World History/Culture Advanced, AP European History, U.S. History, AP U.S. History, Economics/American Government, Agriculture American Government, Agriculture Economics, AP U.S. Government and Politics, and Economics to somewhere, somehow touch on the topic of political constituents?
 And, Gangle reflected, there are a lot of politicians who aren't social studies teachers who know about this difference.
So what are we doing here the land of "Proximity is Destiny," the home of UC Merced, which is supposed to make us smarter?
Memo to Pedrozos:
A constituency is constituted of constituents, aka citizens, voters, the public. A constituence is a medical and veterinary term, for example, the constituence of the stool or of urine.
We are sure that the retiring supervisor did not wish to confuse his constituents with that. On the other hand, maybe such mysterious argot is a conscious protest against them who's trying to make us smart -- your fancy pants professors and such. If so, mark one up for the Town against the Gown, for the Old Economy against that new elite on the outskirts of town drinking our water and adding their constituences to our wastewater stream.