LaLa's Laughably Silly Random Banter Thread - RB #158

[CurlyKitGirl]

Hmmm, ego fui informatio...

This idea you've had, is it to speak and/or write one or both of the languages by any chance?
And I'm the one who decides the favour!

Only ever read a little of the Aeneid in Latin. Things I learned: Virgil's writing was completely sublime in its native tongue and even without translating it the man's poetry played the heart like a fine lyre. The translation I had been assigned to read previously had sat in the mind like a brick, uninteresting and positively boring, but after translating (a few lines only) I compared five or so translations and learned I read the worst of the bunch.

Tell me about it! I've got two translations each of the Odyssey and the Iliad, and I vastly prefer the poetic Iliad to my prose one, and my Odysseys are roughly equal for me. I've only got the one prose copy of the Aeneid though, and I feel ti would be much better if I found a poetic version.
But one of these days I will translate at least a little of one of the above.

English, though, is interesting if you bother to use more than the basic words. I wish I still had my vocabulary from a few years ago, but I started going to college and talking to other people (was homeschooled through high school) and apparently using a vocabulary that half of the people you know can't understand is frowned upon.

Languages known: English, Japanese (forgetting it), Latin (forgotten from 4 or 5 years of no practice).

I most definitely won't call Latin a boring language, but it can be painful. I blame Cicero.

Don't you worry Zaydos, here an extensive vocabulary is embraced with joyful heart and clear tongue. At least as far as I'm concerned.
Then again, my diction and syntax often slips into that more commonly used pre-1890 and even pre-1500, so I'm hardly one to comment.
We read, we remember, we use. Simples.

That sounds heavenly. I just dislike it when Latin poets make rhymes by changing the ending of words. Seeing as how that makes something like 20 words into homonyms, with the only means to figure out which is which by context. Seeing as how sometimes they'll do this multiple times in a sentence.

But Latin is an awesome language, and surprisingly helpful in learning Japanese.

Like I said. Synthetic languages.
It's all in the endings, so you're used to focussing on the prefixes, suffixes and affixes to figure out what's going on.

And I'll state again: why does everyone know how to speak, read and write Japanese?!

EDIT:

I wish I spoke more languages. English is the only one I can really say I know, I took Spanish for three years, but all I have remaining from it is the ability to conjugate sentences perfectly. I have a very small smattering of German from listening to a lot of German music and having a grandfather from Germany. One of these days I'll get fluent in German. Darnit I know I have at least a +1 mod to my intelligence, I should have an extra language spoken for free.

Dude. Molecular Genetics. That indicates at least a +2 modifier.
If you're grandfather is easily reachable I'd suggest asking to speak with him regularly in German to get the hang of speaking it. Although German does revise its grammar rules every so often for some reason.
Sometimes it just takes a while to get the hang of a language. I never got German, yet dealing with the heavily Germanic language of late West Anglo-Saxon I just got it even though I do tend to struggle when I bump into case inflections for nouns.

Also, you're fluent in the language of genetics! Something a good ninety-five percent of people never will be.
Stick that feather in your hand and wear it proudly. Because that's all kinds of brilliant.

[Heliomance]

Is it me, or is Thufir's obsession with Koorly slightly creepy?

[Teddy]

English, though, is interesting if you bother to use more than the basic words. I wish I still had my vocabulary from a few years ago, but I started going to college and talking to other people (was homeschooled through high school) and apparently using a vocabulary that half of the people you know can't understand is frowned upon.

Happens to me all the time.

On the topic of language:
I like how you can use the bastard nature of the English to introduce half-made up words in a conversation, and the fact that the amount of what could be called advanced words is rather high.

I must admit that I like the Swedish language better, though. It's so much clearer, while at the same time being richer on sounds and intonations. Also, with it can I make a verb out of practically every noun there is, a possibility which the English language lacks (although the uses for some of these new verbs are limited, to say the least ).

EDIT:

Is it me, or is Thufir's obsession with Koorly slightly creepy?

Somewhat...

[Zaydos]

That really didn't occur to me while I was writing my post, but yeah, you're probably right.

Edi @^: I'm still inclined to disagree. Obviously I can't speak particularly from experience, but I don't think English would suffer particularly more than any other language in that regard.

I'd actually agree. English uses a lot of subtle tones, compared to say Japanese where, except for casual questions, tones are actively discouraged and instead you have different word endings for if you're sad or upset. I can't compare it to European languages, though.

Don't you worry Zaydos, here an extensive vocabulary is embraced with joyful heart and clear tongue. At least as far as I'm concerned.
Then again, my diction and syntax often slips into that more commonly used pre-1890 and even pre-1500, so I'm hardly one to comment.
We read, we remember, we use. Simples.

If I'd only found this place before I let my vocabulary go to rot. I actually got most of mine from early 1900s science fiction books, but their vocab was already old and specialized when they were written.

Actually before I was 6 I was placing out of vocabulary tests. I know by 1st grade I apparently had a > Middle School vocabulary, and by 6th it was > College level. Or at least according to my speech therapists who gave me the vocabulary tests.

[LaZodiac]

Obsession is fine. Part of what makes us human. It's obsession to the point of danger that's bad =P

[DraPrime]

Ooooh! I literally haven't read the Nicomachean Ethics since I was fourteen - it was Sophie's World that got me into it; I was a precocious child - but I remember enjoying it; even though I can guarantee I didn't grasp all of it.

It's one of my favorite philosophical works. Very nice and simple, but quite profound, especially the part about moderating all instincts, but not to the point of killing them. Aristotle is usually pretty dense, but this work is quite pleasant to read. I'd recommend the translation by Sophie Broadie and Christopher Rowe if you ever want to get back into it.

Sadly, I only covered St. Gregory when I was reading my Bede, so I've only read a few of his letter, but he seemed like a lovely chap.

Indeed he was. The effects of his reforms are astounding. I look at the modern liturgy, which went through so many things, and I am awed at how some choices that he made are still completely unaltered to this day. It's comforting in some way that what I will one day be celebrating on a daily basis has such ancient origins. Also, I love the man for helping make something this beautiful the norm for music.

Likewise, St. Augustine came about via studying Old English; and oddly, the Benedictine Rule came about from a presentation I had to make (monasticism and its influence on the composition and transmission of manuscripts, as well as contexts thereof). It seemed very complex, especially in the terms of the hours as compared to what little I knew of the, I think it's the Franciscan, order. And nope, no idea where I learned that.

Yeah...it is complex. I haven't actually read the whole thing yet. Still, whenever I think it's too hard I look at the Code of Canon Law and remind myself that it's not so bad. Shame forum rules forbid me to say more on the history of it, and the Franciscan rule.

And as for Plato, well, I did my A Level coursework on Plato's account of the trial of Socrates. His Republic felt a little dry to me, but I didn't read much of it; they were both really interesting though. And obviously the allegory of the cave.

Plato is fun to read, even if you aren't very interested in philosophy. His Socratic dialogues are amusing if only because Socrates is the master of sarcasm and crushing other people verbally. I'd recommend Meno, which is a nice look into virtue. It doesn't really answer the question of "what is virtue?", but it does at least tell you what it is not. Fascinating stuff.

Okay, that's it.
Don't know if you'll access to the internet in Europe regularly, but if you do, maybe give me a buzz if you're ever in the south of England.
It is a shame you're going to be in Europe post-meetup and pre-term time otherwise (with the former) there would be much fun had, and with the latter, well, much fun may have been had. Plus, Oxcamfordbridge is all about the old; and it being so roughly nearly-central it would have been easy for me to travel around.

*gives military-type salute*

Yes ma'am.

Out of curiosity, what exactly is taught at a seminary school aside from religiousy religious type things?
Jerome . . . Jerome . . . Mr. Vulgate! I actually translated some of that for an essay on something or other last term. Very nice language that, and a lot of interesting changes.
The Vulgate was the basis for several really important translations of the Bible into the Germanic language you know.
Ugh.
Who'd have ever thought I'd reference so many versions of the Bible (and learn the general history of it) at uni?

What do we learn? Well I actually don't get around to theology till my fifth year, and I just finished my first. For the first four years I get a degree in philosophy, which covers a pretty broad range of things. This year I took ethics and logic, which culminated with me writing a 1500 word essay on some ethical matter of my choice (I went into sexual morality). From here I cover a pretty wide range of things, such as ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, metaphysics, contemporary philosophy, and St. Thomas Aquinas (this is at a college run by Dominicans). So I pretty much get an education in most things philosophical. Philosophy does have a tendency to get a bit insane. According to one philosopher (I think it was Wittgenstein) I am incapable of talking to myself because I can't make up any language that I'd like when I do. Who knew?

Outside of that, we cover the basic things that one does in college, such as math, science, literature, history, etc. For example, in the semester that I just completed I went over Catullus (who I did not like), the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (which I did like), Shakespeare (who I did like), the English Romantic poets (who were alright), the English Victorian poets (who were quite good), Franz Kafka, and some random junk written in the last decade (which I did not like). Besides all this, we can pretty much do anything that's offered as an elective, so here there's a lot of variety. I know one guy who wanted to be a historian before he came to the seminary, so he of course will take lots of history electives. A few guys went and took a course in the history of Western art.

Yes, you're more for the synthetic languages (words are either highly inflective or agglutinative, and word order isn't as important to the sentence meaning as it is in analytic languages (e.g. English where word order is everything)) it seems. You'd probably be really good at picking up quite a few Asian languages like Japanese and Korean as well as the Uralic ones.
Logic, it's not my thing; but it certainly is yours.

Hmmm, I don't think I've ever tried too much with Asian languages. Usually this is because I can't get the pronunciation quite right. I had quite a few Chinese friends who would mercilessly mock any of my attempts at pronouncing their language, to which I would respond by making them try to pronounce my last name, which is Biedrzycki.

I wish I spoke more languages. English is the only one I can really say I know, I took spanish for three years, but all I have remaining from it is the ability to conjugate sentences perfectly. I have a very small smattering of German from listening to a lot of German music and having a grandfather from Germany. One of these days I'll get fluent in German. Darnit I know I have at least a +1 mod to my intelligence, I should have an extra language spoken for free.

May I suggest learning Esperanto?

Obsession is fine. Part of what makes us human. It's obsession to the point of danger that's bad =P

Look! Aristotelianism!

[CurlyKitGirl]

If I'd only found this place before I let my vocabulary go to rot. I actually got most of mine from early 1900s science fiction books, but their vocab was already old and specialized when they were written.

Actually before I was 6 I was placing out of vocabulary tests. I know by 1st grade I apparently had a > Middle School vocabulary, and by 6th it was > College level. Or at least according to my speech therapists who gave me the vocabulary tests.

Well, at least you can pick up esoteric knowledge and vocabulary from all walks of life here. Also, fin de siecle literature? Awesome (in most cases), I really do love how all the science involved in older literature is so out of date. It's charming, and it gives one a nice grounding in the history of [scientific subject]. Although, Moby D-ick? Argh. I don't especially fancy reading a work that's half novel and half whaling manual.
Plus, he calls them fish.
Trogland has vocabulary tests? Why? To find out whether your brain has an internal dictionary?
And, if I may ask, why did you have to go to a speech therapist?

It's one of my favorite philosophical works. Very nice and simple, but quite profound, especially the part about moderating all instincts, but not to the point of killing them. Aristotle is usually pretty dense, but this work is quite pleasant to read. I'd recommend the translation by Sophie Broadie and Christopher Rowe if you ever want to get back into it.

There're a couple versions online that I've added to my favourites, so I'll probably give them a read before deciding whether or not to buy a copy. Thing is, I adore academic/annotated copies of pretty much anything, so I'll probably end up buying an annotated version anyway.
The Broadie one is £16 though on amazon. But it looks delightful.
You know, if ever Mephistopheles appeared to me, he really wouldn't have to do much to gain my soul would here?
I'll certainly keep your suggestion in mind.

Indeed he was. The effects of his reforms are astounding. I look at the modern liturgy, which went through so many things, and I am awed at how some choices that he made are still completely unaltered to this day. It's comforting in some way that what I will one day be celebrating on a daily basis has such ancient origins. Also, I love the man for helping make something this beautiful the norm for music.

I love Gregorian chants, and ecclesiastical/Latin music in general. Seriously. Got a biggish collection floating around here. Somewhere.
I'm actually in a Classical music choir myself, and to be honest, I'm really not big on the churchy stuff, but their music, and that which is influenced by it is beautiful.
I mean, I've sung several masses, and wow. Especially the sanctus if it's done polyphonic with no instruments. Hauntingly beautiful.
One thing I do know about music and the Church is that the scales (do-re-mi etc) come straight from a seventh or eighth century hymn. So yeah, talk about a long-lasting influence.

Yeah...it is complex. I haven't actually read the whole thing yet. Still, whenever I think it's too hard I look at the Code of Canon Law and remind myself that it's not so bad. Shame forum rules forbid me to say more on the history of it, and the Franciscan rule.

Well, there are always other ways to talk about them outside the forum.
I . . . hmmm,
*Googles*
Whoa. I'm intimidated just by looking at the contents page for the Code of Canon Law.

Suddenly everything looks so much simpler now.

Plato is fun to read, even if you aren't very interested in philosophy. His Socratic dialogues are amusing if only because Socrates is the master of sarcasm and crushing other people verbally. I'd recommend Meno, which is a nice look into virtue. It doesn't really answer the question of "what is virtue?", but it does at least tell you what it is not. Fascinating stuff.

*notes down likewise*
But yes, I love Socrates. Or rather, I love how other people have written Socrates (even in Aristophanes' Clouds), such a sarcastic person.
If you've ever read the Discworld books, I liken him somewhat to Carrot in my mind, because they're so simple they're very complex indeed.

*gives military-type salute*

Yes ma'am.

^.^
And now this Koorly is a happy one.

What do we learn? Well I actually don't get around to theology till my fifth year, and I just finished my first. For the first four years I get a degree in philosophy, which covers a pretty broad range of things. This year I took ethics and logic, which culminated with me writing a 1500 word essay on some ethical matter of my choice (I went into sexual morality). From here I cover a pretty wide range of things, such as ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, metaphysics, contemporary philosophy, and St. Thomas Aquinas (this is at a college run by Dominicans). So I pretty much get an education in most things philosophical. Philosophy does have a tendency to get a bit insane. According to one philosopher (I think it was Wittgenstein) I am incapable of talking to myself because I can't make up any language that I'd like when I do. Who knew?

Sounds like a long degree then, but it seems almost like two in one, so that's pretty fancy.
o.O
Only a fifteen hundred word essay?! I'm knocking one (or two) of those out every week. As a personal absolute word minimum! Argh. I envy the days I didn't have weekly essays.
Then again, looking at your subjects, that seems a beautifully structured course, I only really end up picking bits of ancient and medieval stuff; but that's me.
Wittgenstein sounds about right though from what I remember, the German philosophers of the late nineteenth- to early twentieth-centuries did like talking about that kind of thing.
What exactly is metaphysics though? I do remember discussing it for something, and I'm too lazy to play Google to remember how I got onto the subject in question.

Outside of that, we cover the basic things that one does in college, such as math, science, literature, history, etc. For example, in the semester that I just completed I went over Catullus (who I did not like), the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (which I did like), Shakespeare (who I did like), the English Romantic poets (who were alright), the English Victorian poets (who were quite good), Franz Kafka, and some random junk written in the last decade (which I did not like). Besides all this, we can pretty much do anything that's offered as an elective, so here there's a lot of variety. I know one guy who wanted to be a historian before he came to the seminary, so he of course will take lots of history electives. A few guys went and took a course in the history of Western art.

In order:
Catullus is a filthy man, although very witty.
I adore Sir Gawain and the Green Knight! Did you look at it in translation or in the original Northumbrian dialect of Middle English? I you liked that I'd recommend checking out Malory or any of the lesser known Arthurian Romances. I would suggest maybe Layamon's Brut as well, but it's in a deliberately antiquarian style of a difficult dialect, so it would be difficult without at least a facing page translation. Plus it's about twenty thousand lines long, so all you'd really, maybe want would be the Arthurian Brut.
Shakespeare. Well. What else need I say.
I prefer Keats out of them all, but I did an entire exam paper on his poetry, so I'm biased, his Odes and Lamia I found especially beautiful. Oh, and Coleridge.
The Victorian poets . . . argh. I detest the dramatic monologue form in general; but Tennsyon was very good, especially The Princess.
Kafka? No. Just, no. Depressing. If exceedingly well written.
Random junk is random. I'm the fantasy nutter, but somehow I doubt that doorstopper fantasy (or even non-doorstopper fantasy) really made the cut.
So in other words, that sounds like a very fun year

Hmmm, I don't think I've ever tried too much with Asian languages. Usually this is because I can't get the pronunciation quite right. I had quite a few Chinese friends who would mercilessly mock any of my attempts at pronouncing their language, to which I would respond by making them try to pronounce my last name, which is Biedrzycki.

I don't know about pronouncing them, but certainly you'd have an easier time grasping the syntax and inflection systems. The grounding in Latin would give you an ear for recognising inflection patterns and make it easier for you to read and listen to some Asian languages.
Theoretically, of course.

As for your last name, pardon the phonetics, but would it be something like bay-driz-ki. Or possible bay-dretz-ki.
I'm not very good with Polish phonemes, and I know that certain consonant clusters are just tricky to pronounce or seem illogical for someone with a Romantic/West Germanic background.
One of my friends had -gawron in her surname; and it was actually pronounced -gabron, as opposed to what we all supposed at first. But even then it's more like there's a hint of a v in there too.
Argh. Hard to explain.
Does it sort of, almost, vaguely make sense?

Look! Aristotelianism!

Hooray!
*waves a little flag*

[Worira]

Keats does get bonus points in the "not being a pretentious ass" category, which the other Romantic poets, especially Shelley and Byron, tended to have pretty low scores in.

Also, The Princess, songs aside, is Tennyson's weakest work, in my opinion.

[LaZodiac]

I wish I was able to appreciat poems. It's a thing I'm kinda interested in.

[Teddy]

This has bugged me for over a year now. Curly, what's up with you and squid bones?

[DraPrime]

There're a couple versions online that I've added to my favourites, so I'll probably give them a read before deciding whether or not to buy a copy. Thing is, I adore academic/annotated copies of pretty much anything, so I'll probably end up buying an annotated version anyway.
The Broadie one is £16 though on amazon. But it looks delightful.
You know, if ever Mephistopheles appeared to me, he really wouldn't have to do much to gain my soul would here?
I'll certainly keep your suggestion in mind.

Yeah, I love such things too. I have so many books on my shelf that I have yet to read, and about 3 times as many that I want to get. Problem is, they're all philosophical or theological treatises, so they're not exactly something that I can blow through like a novel (except for that big collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories). Ah...one day I will read all the books I want to.

I love Gregorian chants, and ecclesiastical/Latin music in general. Seriously. Got a biggish collection floating around here. Somewhere.
I'm actually in a Classical music choir myself, and to be honest, I'm really not big on the churchy stuff, but their music, and that which is influenced by it is beautiful.
I mean, I've sung several masses, and wow. Especially the sanctus if it's done polyphonic with no instruments. Hauntingly beautiful.
One thing I do know about music and the Church is that the scales (do-re-mi etc) come straight from a seventh or eighth century hymn. So yeah, talk about a long-lasting influence.

Have you ever listened to some of the chant that came out of the Byzantine tradition? It's gorgeous stuff, in particular Russian chant, which is something of a fusion of the Gregorian and Byzantine style. Granted, the more Byzantine stuff sounds very different from Gregorian chant. Also, it's in Koine Greek, not Latin.

Well, there are always other ways to talk about them outside the forum.
I . . . hmmm,
*Googles*
Whoa. I'm intimidated just by looking at the contents page for the Code of Canon Law.

Suddenly everything looks so much simpler now.

Indeed. I pity the poor priests who are selected to be canon lawyers. Years are spent in Rome studying that enormous document. The Pope himself has poked fun at how most of us panic at the thought of trying to study canon law. I do feel sorry for the poor men who actually had to write the whole thing out. First the whole thing had to be codified in Latin, and then translated into many different languages. Quite a bit of work went into this.

*notes down likewise*
But yes, I love Socrates. Or rather, I love how other people have written Socrates (even in Aristophanes' Clouds), such a sarcastic person.
If you've ever read the Discworld books, I liken him somewhat to Carrot in my mind, because they're so simple they're very complex indeed.

Carrot...is that the tall redhead guard who was raised by dwarves? I think he's a bit more like Diogenes, who is like Socrates but absolutely bonkers.

Sounds like a long degree then, but it seems almost like two in one, so that's pretty fancy.
o.O
Only a fifteen hundred word essay?! I'm knocking one (or two) of those out every week. As a personal absolute word minimum! Argh. I envy the days I didn't have weekly essays.
Then again, looking at your subjects, that seems a beautifully structured course, I only really end up picking bits of ancient and medieval stuff; but that's me.
Wittgenstein sounds about right though from what I remember, the German philosophers of the late nineteenth- to early twentieth-centuries did like talking about that kind of thing.
What exactly is metaphysics though? I do remember discussing it for something, and I'm too lazy to play Google to remember how I got onto the subject in question.

Yeah, in the first year there isn't too much to writing. Later on though we get to writing about an essay every week. At the end of my fourth year I even have to write a 25 page thesis on my philosophical topic of choice.

As for metaphysics...it's kind of hard to pin down, like a lot of philosophy. Basically...it's the study things. For example (forgive me for not remembering the proper terminology, I'll have to make up my own), one might say that a tree is a single coherent living construct because it is simply one unified being, while a chair is a construct, but it's made out of multiple pieces, so it's not really one "thing" in the same way that a tree is, partly because it's not alive, and partly because it's something constructed by humans out of multiple pieces. Another example is the question of whether or not something is the same thing if one alters it. Does a baseball cease to be what it was since its atomic structure is slightly changed after one hits it with a bat? It is differently constructed after all, and may even have extra molecule embedded in it. So then is it the same baseball as before? This is the sort of weirdness that metaphysics deal with.

In order:
Catullus is a filthy man, although very witty.
I adore Sir Gawain and the Green Knight! Did you look at it in translation or in the original Northumbrian dialect of Middle English? I you liked that I'd recommend checking out Malory or any of the lesser known Arthurian Romances. I would suggest maybe Layamon's Brut as well, but it's in a deliberately antiquarian style of a difficult dialect, so it would be difficult without at least a facing page translation. Plus it's about twenty thousand lines long, so all you'd really, maybe want would be the Arthurian Brut.
Shakespeare. Well. What else need I say.
I prefer Keats out of them all, but I did an entire exam paper on his poetry, so I'm biased, his Odes and Lamia I found especially beautiful. Oh, and Coleridge.
The Victorian poets . . . argh. I detest the dramatic monologue form in general; but Tennsyon was very good, especially The Princess.
Kafka? No. Just, no. Depressing. If exceedingly well written.
Random junk is random. I'm the fantasy nutter, but somehow I doubt that doorstopper fantasy (or even non-doorstopper fantasy) really made the cut.
So in other words, that sounds like a very fun year

Speaking of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I've heard that J.R.R. Tolkien's translation is quite excellent. Any opinion on that?

Unfortunately the random junk wasn't even lame fantasy. It was some book called Microfiction, which was a collection of short stories that are all 250 words or less. I was not impressed.

I don't know about pronouncing them, but certainly you'd have an easier time grasping the syntax and inflection systems. The grounding in Latin would give you an ear for recognising inflection patterns and make it easier for you to read and listen to some Asian languages.
Theoretically, of course.

Hmmmm, if I weren't set on learning Ukrainian in the distant (and I mean distant) future I would try an Asian language. Ah well, maybe after I'm done studying canon law.

As for your last name, pardon the phonetics, but would it be something like bay-driz-ki. Or possible bay-dretz-ki.
I'm not very good with Polish phonemes, and I know that certain consonant clusters are just tricky to pronounce or seem illogical for someone with a Romantic/West Germanic background.
One of my friends had -gawron in her surname; and it was actually pronounced -gabron, as opposed to what we all supposed at first. But even then it's more like there's a hint of a v in there too.
Argh. Hard to explain.
Does it sort of, almost, vaguely make sense?

Well, my last name is pronounced "bye-dzhi-tski". The problem for those who speak Englih is the "dzh". I don't think that ever occurs in English, so it's almost always made into "dj", which is close, but not the same.

And yes, it does make sense. Weird pronunciations are my life.

[Zaydos]

Well, at least you can pick up esoteric knowledge and vocabulary from all walks of life here. Also, fin de siecle literature? Awesome (in most cases), I really do love how all the science involved in older literature is so out of date. It's charming, and it gives one a nice grounding in the history of [scientific subject]. Although, Moby D-ick? Argh. I don't especially fancy reading a work that's half novel and half whaling manual.
Plus, he calls them fish.
Trogland has vocabulary tests? Why? To find out whether your brain has an internal dictionary?
And, if I may ask, why did you have to go to a speech therapist?

You can tell if something was written in the early 50s or earlier if they use protein for DNA.

Trogland has vocabulary tests if you're in Speech Therapy. Was homeschooled so I don't know if they do otherwise, although the SAT used to contain analogies and vocab.

I had speech because I could not pronounce: vocalic Rs (ar, er, or, ur, ir), R, L, W, V, S, Ch, Th and generally had trouble with every single sound in the language. It wasn't till 7th grade that I could make an R sound that didn't sound like an unholy hybrid of R and L. I now have trouble making my Rs and Ls sound similar in Japanese

Now for other things you said that interested me:

You know, if ever Mephistopheles appeared to me, he really wouldn't have to do much to gain my soul would here?

Ah but a soul is a beautiful thing, and should not be wasted. I need to read Doctor Faustus. And more philosophy in general. I took 1 philosophy class and breezed through it (I had, without knowing it, already read a good bit of the reading or had to for other classes).

*notes down likewise*
But yes, I love Socrates. Or rather, I love how other people have written Socrates (even in Aristophanes' Clouds), such a sarcastic person.
If you've ever read the Discworld books, I liken him somewhat to Carrot in my mind, because they're so simple they're very complex indeed.

I need to read what Xenophon had to say about Socrates, because it is apparently different than Plato and according to my history and philosophy teachers more accurate as Plato used Socrates as his own mouthpiece in many of his dialogues.

I would not have thought of likening Carrot and Socrates together. Although I did write a paper comparing and contrasting Roland's and Socrates's codes.

In order:
Catullus is a filthy man, although very witty.
I adore Sir Gawain and the Green Knight! Did you look at it in translation or in the original Northumbrian dialect of Middle English? I you liked that I'd recommend checking out Malory or any of the lesser known Arthurian Romances. I would suggest maybe Layamon's Brut as well, but it's in a deliberately antiquarian style of a difficult dialect, so it would be difficult without at least a facing page translation. Plus it's about twenty thousand lines long, so all you'd really, maybe want would be the Arthurian Brut.
Shakespeare. Well. What else need I say.
I prefer Keats out of them all, but I did an entire exam paper on his poetry, so I'm biased, his Odes and Lamia I found especially beautiful. Oh, and Coleridge.
The Victorian poets . . . argh. I detest the dramatic monologue form in general; but Tennsyon was very good, especially The Princess.
Kafka? No. Just, no. Depressing. If exceedingly well written.
Random junk is random. I'm the fantasy nutter, but somehow I doubt that doorstopper fantasy (or even non-doorstopper fantasy) really made the cut.
So in other words, that sounds like a very fun year

I still need to read La Morte de'Arthur

I don't know about pronouncing them, but certainly you'd have an easier time grasping the syntax and inflection systems. The grounding in Latin would give you an ear for recognising inflection patterns and make it easier for you to read and listen to some Asian languages.
Theoretically, of course.

Latin helped me with Japanese. Similar sentence structure (verb at end, subject first), although instead of declining nouns to mark their place in the sentence structure you use particles, but that's still pretty close. Some of them don't quite line up (the nominative is a little different but it's close enough 99.9% of the time). Not sure about inflection patterns, though.

[DraPrime]

Ah but a soul is a beautiful thing, and should not be wasted. I need to read Doctor Faustus. And more philosophy in general. I took 1 philosophy class and breezed through it (I had, without knowing it, already read a good bit of the reading or had to for other classes).

Ah! This reminds me that I forgot to add Dr. Faustus to the list of works that I read in the last semester.

I need to read what Xenophon had to say about Socrates, because it is apparently different than Plato and according to my history and philosophy teachers more accurate as Plato used Socrates as his own mouthpiece in many of his dialogues.

This depends quite a bit on when Plato is writing. Many scholars think that the earlier you go, the less Plato uses Socrates as a mouthpiece, and the more he is just trying to write what Socrates said. So earlier dialogues like Meno are far closer to what Socrates actually said, probably because he simply agreed a lot with Socrates at that point. However, as Plato went on in writing he began to develop a philosophy of his own, which he then inserted into his dialogues, rather than simply recording what Socrates said.[/QUOTE]

I would not have thought of likening Carrot and Socrates together. Although I did write a paper comparing and contrasting Roland's and Socrates's codes.

I would say he's more like Diogenes the Cynic, who lived and acted much like Socrates. However, he was far more snarky, and a bit more crazy. Perhaps Carrot wasn't quite so sarcastic, but he took things to their logical extremes like Diogenes did.

Latin helped me with Japanese. Similar sentence structure (verb at end, subject first), although instead of declining nouns to mark their place in the sentence structure you use particles, but that's still pretty close. Some of them don't quite line up (the nominative is a little different but it's close enough 99.9% of the time). Not sure about inflection patterns, though.

Hmmm, after I learn Ukrainian I'll have to get around to Japanese. Then I'll be able to watch Godzilla without silly subtitles or awful dubbing!

[Heliomance]

Well, my last name is pronounced "bye-dzhi-tski". The problem for those who speak Englih is the "dzh". I don't think that ever occurs in English, so it's almost always made into "dj", which is close, but not the same.

And yes, it does make sense. Weird pronunciations are my life.

It's pronounced like the g in homage, isn't it?, Well, the zh bit, anyway. Obviously it needs a d slapping on the front.

[DraPrime]

It's pronounced like the g in homage, isn't it?, Well, the zh bit, anyway. Obviously it needs a d slapping on the front.

I think so, but I've heard homage pronounced multiple ways. If you mean like the "s" in vision, then yes. It does flow quite nicely with the letter D.

[ZombyWoof]

CKG causes long threads -.-

[HalfTangible]

CKG causes long threads -.-

Girls make EVERYTHING with words in it longer, Zomby

[ZombyWoof]

I wish I wasn't tired I rather quite like her posts. But I can't handle words in this state

[Ranger Mattos]

Any of you peoples have any idea why Yahoo! Mail is being a jerk? I can't attach files on my email. The "Attach" button is there but it doesn't do anything. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if the file I'm trying to attach is a lab report due in two days.

gah!

[DraPrime]

So tonight I watch the next movie in the Godzilla series, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. My snack? A big ol' loaf of bread. This will be most excellent.

[Thufir]

Is it me, or is Thufir's obsession with Koorly slightly creepy?

I'm gonna say it's just you.

Although, Moby D-ick? Argh. I don't especially fancy reading a work that's half novel and half whaling manual.
Plus, he calls them fish.

"Big water cow gone..."

I'm actually in a Classical music choir myself, and to be honest, I'm really not big on the churchy stuff, but their music, and that which is influenced by it is beautiful.

Likewise, though I'm not actually in a choir at the moment. There's some wonderful sacred music.

This has bugged me for over a year now. Curly, what's up with you and squid bones?

They don't exist. Zar Peter (erroneously) claims that they do. There was some epic argument before I joined and now it's just a thing they have in their respective signatures.

Ah...one day I will read all the books I want to.

If it only takes one day you clearly don't want to read enough books.
(Yes, I know that's not what you meant)

Carrot...is that the tall redhead guard who was raised by dwarves? I think he's a bit more like Diogenes, who is like Socrates but absolutely bonkers.

Carrot is definitely not bonkers.

Ah! This reminds me that I forgot to add Dr. Faustus to the list of works that I read in the last semester.

Which version of it?

CKG causes long awesome threads -.-

Fixed that for you.

ION: I get rather frustrated in rehearsals when I disagree with the MD on the speed at which things should be taken. Which happens quite often for some reason. Is it a result of the fact these societies are primarily middle aged to elderly? Do they slow down as they age? Or are these MDs just wrong? (Yes, yes, subjective, but I really can't understand their point of view if they think these songs should be that slow)
It is partly that he's slowing it down while we're learning the music (I already know it), but it's partly that he's just taking it slowly.

[LaZodiac]

So tonight I watch the next movie in the Godzilla series, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster. My snack? A big ol' loaf of bread. This will be most excellent.

Probably my favorite moment in the movie, the finishing blow of King Ghidorah. Assuming it's in this one, the glorious head ripping circle spin!

[CurlyKitGirl]

Keats does get bonus points in the "not being a pretentious ass" category, which the other Romantic poets, especially Shelley and Byron, tended to have pretty low scores in.

Also, The Princess, songs aside, is Tennyson's weakest work, in my opinion.

Keats tends to, at least for me, use much simpler, gentler language, so it conveys a soporific air much more elegantly than some people. never could really get Shelley.
I actually really think The Princess is a surprisingly complex work if you analyse it in terms of reality-unreality and temporal dislocation. He's definitely written more elegant, complex and better *grimace* realised - in the sense that it all works as a whole - poems, but The Princess holds a soft spot for me. Plus it was adapted into Princess Ida (a G&S play). Oh, and the poem's pretty interesting from a feminist point of view.
I do think however, that Tennyson's Arthurian poems and his In Memoriam (despite the latter being terribly dull) are fantastic.

This has bugged me for over a year now. Curly, what's up with you and squid bones?

Long story short:
Back in my early days I used to hang out in SMBG a lot. And in one of the Stabbity Death threads Zar Peter *stabs [Curly] with squid bones* which I adamantly insisted were not real.
He insisted there were.
So we had a war. Immortalised in our respected sigs.
And now I never change it. Except to adapt to sig/avvie/location specific ways of asserting my claim.

Yeah, I love such things too. I have so many books on my shelf that I have yet to read, and about 3 times as many that I want to get. Problem is, they're all philosophical or theological treatises, so they're not exactly something that I can blow through like a novel (except for that big collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories). Ah...one day I will read all the books I want to.

Likewise. Including a fair few recommended/important texts for various periods of English literature (argh. Piers Plowman. Double argh. Chaucer's Boece (his translation and adaptation of Boethius) and his Treatise on the Astrolabe, and a fair portion of Malory's Morte.
All big, and in the case of Piers and Chaucer founded heavily upon medieval Christian allegories or neo-Classical Romano-Christian beliefs. Or medieval astronomy! The notes for that are longer than the treatise itself.
I am lucky though in that the majority of my Coveted Works are fiction of some sort. Although the language does mean it's not exactly breezing through them.
I remember when I used to read four or five books a day.
Good times.
And one day, when I'm a multi-multi-multi-millionaire, all my rooms (except the kitchen and bathroom) will be libraries.

Have you ever listened to some of the chant that came out of the Byzantine tradition? It's gorgeous stuff, in particular Russian chant, which is something of a fusion of the Gregorian and Byzantine style. Granted, the more Byzantine stuff sounds very different from Gregorian chant. Also, it's in Koine Greek, not Latin.

The Russian isn't really to my taste, but that Byzantine chant sounds lovely. Especially when the plainsong (I know it's not plainsong, but you know what I mean) swells.
I might give the Russian another shot when I've listened to more Byzantine given it's a fusion though.

Indeed. I pity the poor priests who are selected to be canon lawyers. Years are spent in Rome studying that enormous document. The Pope himself has poked fun at how most of us panic at the thought of trying to study canon law. I do feel sorry for the poor men who actually had to write the whole thing out. First the whole thing had to be codified in Latin, and then translated into many different languages. Quite a bit of work went into this.

I can imagine!
I would very much like to never have to read and comprehend all of that. Oh hang on a second, I do remember this one silly bit of canon law back from the fifteenth-century (and around there) where you could be tried as an ecclesiastic if you could read the psalm they gave you.
So many people used it as an out because the ecclesiastic courts were much more lenient than the secular ones.
Hooray medieval history.
This is why I can't function as an 'ordinary' person. I genuinely don't know how or where I learned most of this stuff. And each little fact forces important things out of my head.

Carrot...is that the tall redhead guard who was raised by dwarves? I think he's a bit more like Diogenes, who is like Socrates but absolutely bonkers.

Yup!
I don't know, Diogenes was a nutcase, but if you've ever read Small Gods, there's already a Diogenes in it - Didacytlos! They both lived in a barrel and carried a lantern, see.
And well, you know how Socrates was perfectly at ease standing around, then striking up a conversation with a stranger in a perfectly affable way (like Carrot) and then somehow manages to turn their position against them (like Carrot) all the while asking simple, 'easy to answer' questions that reminds me of Carrot.

Yeah, in the first year there isn't too much to writing. Later on though we get to writing about an essay every week. At the end of my fourth year I even have to write a 25 page thesis on my philosophical topic of choice.

Argh. Good luck with that mate. Still, given your philosophical love of philosophy you'll enjoy it. And on a completely different topic, have you read or heard of C. S. Lewis' The Four Loves, it sounds like something you may enjoy reading.

As for metaphysics...it's kind of hard to pin down, like a lot of philosophy. Basically...it's the study things. For example (forgive me for not remembering the proper terminology, I'll have to make up my own), one might say that a tree is a single coherent living construct because it is simply one unified being, while a chair is a construct, but it's made out of multiple pieces, so it's not really one "thing" in the same way that a tree is, partly because it's not alive, and partly because it's something constructed by humans out of multiple pieces. Another example is the question of whether or not something is the same thing if one alters it. Does a baseball cease to be what it was since its atomic structure is slightly changed after one hits it with a bat? It is differently constructed after all, and may even have extra molecule embedded in it. So then is it the same baseball as before? This is the sort of weirdness that metaphysics deal with.

And my brain's snapped in twain. I think I understand it though.

Speaking of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I've heard that J.R.R. Tolkien's translation is quite excellent. Any opinion on that?

It is very good. I've read a bit of it and it really carries over the tone and feel of the piece. [Curly has been called away from the computer, she will resume typing when she returns.

. . .

So, three hours later, and I'm back. Great chat with friends, mentioned you actually Dragonprime.] A very good translation, I'd recommend it, and his translation of Pearl if you can get it.

Unfortunately the random junk wasn't even lame fantasy. It was some book called Microfiction, which was a collection of short stories that are all 250 words or less. I was not impressed.

Those are drabbles for fanfiction!

Hmmmm, if I weren't set on learning Ukrainian in the distant (and I mean distant) future I would try an Asian language. Ah well, maybe after I'm done studying canon law.

One language is about as worthwhile as another, and Ukrainian is an interesting language.

Well, my last name is pronounced "bye-dzhi-tski". The problem for those who speak Englih is the "dzh". I don't think that ever occurs in English, so it's almost always made into "dj", which is close, but not the same.

And yes, it does make sense. Weird pronunciations are my life.

So I was fairly close just working off my (extremely tiny) knowledge of Polish pronunciation and the spelling then.

Trogland has vocabulary tests if you're in Speech Therapy. Was homeschooled so I don't know if they do otherwise, although the SAT used to contain analogies and vocab.

I had speech because I could not pronounce: vocalic Rs (ar, er, or, ur, ir), R, L, W, V, S, Ch, Th and generally had trouble with every single sound in the language. It wasn't till 7th grade that I could make an R sound that didn't sound like an unholy hybrid of R and L. I now have trouble making my Rs and Ls sound similar in Japanese

So just a difficulty with rhotics then. Don't a lot of people have problems with them at first, especially those under six or seven?
Still, I don't really see the problem with your former speech impediment.

Now for other things you said that interested me:

. . .

Ah but a soul is a beautiful thing, and should not be wasted. I need to read Doctor Faustus. And more philosophy in general. I took 1 philosophy class and breezed through it (I had, without knowing it, already read a good bit of the reading or had to for other classes).

Marlowe or Goethe?
As a really good philosophy primer I'd suggest Sophie's World; the lessons in philosophy are bound in a wonderful framing narrative, itself bound in a framing narrative. Or not.
The fourth and fifth walls get a little wobbly.
Having a smattering of knowledge is just good generally because of the various influences philosophy has on thinking and literature in general.

I need to read what Xenophon had to say about Socrates, because it is apparently different than Plato and according to my history and philosophy teachers more accurate as Plato used Socrates as his own mouthpiece in many of his dialogues.

I would not have thought of likening Carrot and Socrates together. Although I did write a paper comparing and contrasting Roland's and Socrates's codes.

I didn't do much Xenophon, and what I did was mostly a dialogue on women in Athens. He seemed like a nice, eloquent man though.
Roland as in Roland from the Dark Tower books? How so?

I still need to read La Morte de'Arthur

And I've still not finished yet. :smallembarrassedsigh:

Ah! This reminds me that I forgot to add Dr. Faustus to the list of works that I read in the last semester.

Same question as above.

Bet this is so off-topic now and people're going to be so annoyed this came back.

EDIT:
Surprisingly, not so much.
@Thufir: you know, I always forget you joined after me, it just seems like you've always been around.
But I'm like that with most of the Old Guard.
Not my Old Guard who're people like Zeb, Alarra, Rawhide, Roland, Jibbers, Thes, Trog, DD and such.
I'm the . . . Middle-Aged Guard I suppose. So I'm like that with the Middle-Aged Guard.

[DraPrime]

Carrot is definitely not bonkers.

No, but Diogenes is, in the sense that he took everything to the logical extreme, much like Carrot sometimes can.

Which version of it?

The one by Christopher Marlowe.

[Teddy]

Long story short:
Back in my early days I used to hang out in SMBG a lot. And in one of the Stabbity Death threads Zar Peter *stabs [Curly] with squid bones* which I adamantly insisted were not real.
He insisted there were.
So we had a war. Immortalised in our respected sigs.
And now I never change it. Except to adapt to sig/avvie/location specific ways of asserting my claim.

What about biologically engineered intrabody pseudo-plastic pre-vertebrate back-shields? Do they exist?

[The-Mage-King]

So. I was looking at vidoes on Youtube, and I found something so awful, so terrible... That I decided to share it. Opinions?

[Teddy]

So. I was looking at vidoes on Youtube, and I found something so awful, so terrible... That I decided to share it. Opinions?

I survived past the middle. Then I got bored and dug up a song that little brother showed me. I've declared that where Friday is just an autotuned no-brainer, this is an autotuned anti-brainer, and should be handled as radioactive waste (which is the reason I'm posting it here. I'm evil like that ).

[ZombyWoof]

What would it take to make CKG respond to her PMs?

[The-Mage-King]

I survived past the middle. Then I got bored and dug up a song that little brother showed me. I've declared that where Friday is just an autotuned no-brainer, this is an autotuned anti-brainer, and should be handled as radioactive waste (which is the reason I'm posting it here. I'm evil like that ).

...You win this round, sir. I'll be back.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Nope. You can't watch 2 minutes of an episode (one of the weaker episodes imo but some people love Winter Wrap Up) and call it quits and say you gave it a fair shot.

I don't want to give it a fair shot. I said I had a prejudice.