<p>Is it ok to write about my encounter with a homless man in Philadelphia in my college essay? It's sort of like my realization that I need to be more open minded, and the homeless guy said some hillarious stuff. It made my teacher at school laugh, but I wanted some advice from the CCers out there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>of course! that sounds like a great topic!</p>
<p>unique.</p>
<p>now you're making my essay look dull!</p>
<p>Annother question, the homeless man obviously used lots of slang when he talked. Will I get killed for quoting his poor grammar, or should I try to fix it up a bit?</p>
<p>If it takes away from the reading of the essay, I'd say keep his slang, but keep the reset of it grammatically correct.</p>
<p>I think thick slang would add a lot of character to it.</p>
<p>I decided to take out the huge gramatical errors (like the word 'yous') but kept the contractions, becaue who doesn't talk in contractions.</p>
<p>i wouldnt edit things like "yous" Obscenities, yes, but not that.</p>
<p>Well, the essay is for UChicago, so I think the stranger the better, but I think the reader will pause at places with attrocious grammar, just out of habit, and think that may detract from the essay.</p>