BOMC wrote:After taking Latin, and reading most of "English Grammar for latin Students", I know waaaaaay too much about grammar. It's a bit scary
I mean, I've actually found myself thinking the names for certain types of words when I am writing them... and tenses, too!
That happened to me, only with rhetoric. We'd just finished studying it in English and I'd go down the street and see signs and I'd be all "Whoa... dude... alliteration! Hey, look, assonance..."
And then I'd start crying over how much of a geek I was. It's good to know I'm not alone.
Thespiphobia: (n) An irrational fear of actors.
From Greek: thespian (actor), phobos (fear). ANARCHY! ANARCHY! ANARCHY!
I'll admit it, I'm a fan of the "your mom" jokes... they amuse me.
Komiyan wrote:Try doing syntax trees non-stop for several months
Not sure what one of those is... we have to diagram our sentences; put a circle around the subject, all prepositional phrases go in brackets, DO in a squre, IO in square brackets, clauses on seperate lines, etc....
Leko wrote:That happened to me, only with rhetoric. We'd just finished studying it in English and I'd go down the street and see signs and I'd be all "Whoa... dude... alliteration! Hey, look, assonance..."
That reminds of one time when i was talking and i said 'Claire, my friend, went-" and I stopped mid-sentence and whent 'Hey, apposition!'
Komiyan wrote:Try doing syntax trees non-stop for several months
Not sure what one of those is... we have to diagram our sentences; put a circle around the subject, all prepositional phrases go in brackets, DO in a squre, IO in square brackets, clauses on seperate lines, etc....
Kinda like that, but in a downward diagram thing. And then they introduce X Bar theory... Syntax lectures restart next week...
*leaps out of a high window*
Wow. English seems like a lot of hard work to me. Rekon I will just stick to Australian.
But then again, I am just a Mushroom. What would I know?
--
Resident Over-Protective Old Geezer.
Wielder of the SPOON.. OF DOOM (with +4 to Heart Removal vs Young Punks)
My brother (who, like me, is from America) is easier for people for whom English is not their first language to understand when he speaks Spanish than he is when he speaks English. True story--a couple of years ago, we were working up in Yellowstone National Park. Several of our coworkers were from various European countries, including a few from Poland. One of the Polish girls also happened to speak a little Spanish. She and my brother communicated better in Spanish than they did in English. I blame his ridiculous Okie drawl, though...I mean, other folks from the US have trouble understanding him sometimes.
~Chuck
"If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing."
~Kingsley Amis
Chaos Cricket wrote:My brother (who, like me, is from America) is easier for people for whom English is not their first language to understand when he speaks Spanish than he is when he speaks English.
Chaos Cricket wrote:My brother (who, like me, is from America) is easier for people for whom English is not their first language to understand when he speaks Spanish than he is when he speaks English.
HUH!?
I am The Poster Formerly Known as Crossfire. Or PFKAC. ...has a certain ring to it, no?
Chaos Cricket wrote:My brother (who, like me, is from America) is easier for people for whom English is not their first language to understand when he speaks Spanish than he is when he speaks English.
HUH!?
When he is speaking to foreigners (i.e., people who don't speak English as their first language), he has an easier time communicating in a language that neither of them speak as their first language (for instance, he and the Polish girl in Yellowstone both spoke some Spanish, and were able to communicate more effectively in Spanish than in English, even though she knew some English and English was my brother's first language). I guess it's something about having to speak more clearly and more accurately than when he's speaking his first language.
~Chuck
"If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing."
~Kingsley Amis
ANARCHY! ANARCHY! ANARCHY!
