Yeah, they're annoying to me too, but sometimes they're necessary. And believe it or not, I think you're the exception - most third graders probably don't know what idiosyncrasy means. 

My English teachers always figure out quick that they have to be very, very specific about maximum lengths, or I would go over, haha. It got to the point that when we had to write a story imitating Edgar Allen Poe's style (I'd post it here but I think it'd get zapped), Schouboe went, "it has to be four pages double spaced to meet minimum requirements," then looked right at me and said, "and it can't be any more than six pages single spaced." I was like, "aww...."

Got a 4 (out of 4) on that though (it was a standard activity. *snort*) 

And I would post the story, only it was, well, you know, EA Poe-like, and therefore pertained greatly to death and murder and Haley's obsession with the Victorian era, h'm... 

Yeah, it's true. The third grader I babysit doesn't know what perilous means. Let alone idiosyncrasy. :P But I HATE word limits! I'm what the writing teacher at our homeschool co-op calls a "voluminous writer." Once - two or three years back - I was given a story with a word limit to write, and it irked me so much that I decided I would make it into a book, just to spite my writing teacher. I never got past the third chapter. :P Yeah, I hate them.

-EH

Ugh! Word  limits! When they say no less

than two-hundred words do they expect you

to go back and count how many you used?

Okay, I'm lucky because I started homeschooling

before any teachers of mine really cared how

many words we used, but it still gets on my

nerves. I think, if they are really concerned

about limiting you, they should simply say,

for example: "Make this a short assignment.

Somewhere between two to five pages."

But I think that should be as far as it goes.

It could get really difficult trying to get precisely

two and a half pages written. It might even

make it harder to write your best work while

worrying about how long the teacher wants it to

be. That's my opinion ;D

Yeah, word limits are obnoxious. I had to write a paper about Alexander the Great a few months ago that was supposed to be 400 words, but mine turned out to be about 800 words. Needless to say, I had to chop half the paper. :(

That's such a bad reason to give you a C+!! Just because a third grader might not be able to understand a couple words?! I bet it was an awesome report anyway :)

I. DESPISE. Word limits. They drive me absolutely bonkers, because I also tend to write a lot and include plenty of detail and such.  I believe writing should be about quantity, not quality (well, I understand about newspaper articles and stuff...but schoolwork?). That seems really super unfair or your teacher, Mary W. I also don't like time limits for speeches. My school has this big oral presentation contest every year and I've spent many a sleepless night trying to cut my presentations down so they fit in the alloted time.

I WISH WORD LIMITS HAD NEVER BEEN THOUHGT UP! THEY'RE SO RIDICULOUS! ARGH! School's out right now for me, but luckily, my teachers never did use those horrendous things. So yes, my stories and essays and all those things were always really long, but they didn't mind. I guess I just always get good teachers. And I think it's  CRAZY that your teacher would give you a C+ for using words like phlegmatic!