Eye-o-din, Eye-o-deen, or Eye-o-dayn?

17 February 2008
Sunday

We were having lunch today when we introduced to Jane (my younger bro's S.O. and Tyler's mom) the seaweed we called "latok."

And so, we were saying that such stuff is rich in iodine that prevents goiter. Now, my old man corrected me when I pronounced the element as "eye-o-dayn." He said it's "eye-o-din." I countered by saying it's the same thing as alumi-NUM and alumi-NYUM.

"Nonsense," he says as his professor in Chemistry 18 (they used to have this back in the 60's) would always emphasize the (alleged) correct pronunciation.

With this I laughed off, "Haha! Dad, you took that Chem subject three times!!! HAHAHA!"

I should know.

When I was a sophomore, I was caught by my dad in my room stifling a cry. I knew I had it coming, and I had my classcards ready to present them to him... my first failing mark: Math 100 (Introduction to Calculus). A consistent honor student from grade school to high school, it was even preposterous for me to even think that I would fail a subject one day.

Damn, was I so wrong.

I thought I could wing it but I guess I finally met my match. Mr. Jayjay Javier's class gave me a rude awakening: It's not that easy to survive in the State University. You have to prove your worth.

I was a bit surprised that my encounter with Dad after showing him a "5.0" in Mathematics 100 did not involve any fire, brimstone, whacking, or even those dreaded two-words --- "You're grounded." Instead, he asked me if I did my best. And if so, there is nothing for me to be ashamed about. Just do my best and study hard. So he instructed me to go to the Registrar's Office and check out his Grade Jacket where his Form 5's are that shows his marks for each semester that he had at U.P.

And so I did.

Checking out his nearly colored brown jacket I opened it and was astonished seeing a lot of red marks of "5.0's"!!!

"So, son, what did you see?" he says, that day during dinner time.

"Dad, you failed Chem 18 twice! You had lots of 5.0's!!!"

And my mom interjected, "...and that didn't stop your Dad from being a topnotcher in his board exams, getting the highest score in the toughest section of the exam, and eventually being one of the top managers and geologists in the country."

That changed my perspective completely.

And yes, I had more "5.0's" (but three short of Dad's total) semesters later yet I think I still turned out fine.

I should know, I'm a proud graduate of the University of the Philippines.