Challenge of Interest

[BlackShanglan]

There is a plaque on a house in Sandwich, Kent, that claims that it was Tom Paine's cottage.

At the time he lived there he would probably have been tried for treason if the Government knew what he was thinking.

How long does it take for a radical to become respectable?

Og

Long enough for his ideas to cost no one power, property, or money.

Shanglan

 

[Huckleman2000]

I thought they'd be eclectic and interesting and involved in activism for social change ... but the one meeting I attended was phenomenally boring. Not an activist in the bunch. *sigh* That being said, very few Mensans flaunt their membership to the public at large. One of the most recent journals contained a discussion about whether or not to even disclose membership on a resume. The consensus was "no."

The organization, or what I've seen of it, is very insular and far from elitist.

I got in on the strength of my SATs - all you needed was a 1250. I put it on my resume, since I never graduated from college. Absent that meaningless standardized score, I thought I had to put down something It still took me three years to get a decent job after getting canned after 9/11.

I went to a meeting about 20 years ago. The inside joke among Mensans is that the organization tends to attract the bottom portion of the 98th percentile, and I'd have to agree.

I think of it the same way I used to think about reviews when I was an actor. I believe them when they're good, and ignore them when they're bad.

Well, Dr. M. - when you're right, you're right.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

A disgusting rule of the thumb in the academic world is stock responses like...

1) "No, I don't believe you 'got into Harvard' and just didn't/couldn't afford to/missed a deadline so you couldn't go."
2) "No, I don't believe you 'have an IQ of [pick a high number]'."
3) "No, I don't believe you are in/was in/could be in if you wanted to/took their test and aced it but decided not to join MENSA."


The list goes on and on and on. The shit students try to pull to make themselves sound important... you just can't imagine how common it is. EVERYONE was sick when they took their SAT's and that's why it's such a big deal that they made [some score over 1400]--though it is unlikely they did. EVERYONE "didn't have to study ever". NOBODY "had to write down the math problems and did them all [up to and including geometry, algebra, trig, some calculus, etc.] in their head".

Ugh.

If there's anything I hate more than the people who parade their actual achievements in front of them and expect A's because they happened (and I've had students who were just like that "But, I'm REALLY smart! I should have gotten a better grade on this Logic exam!") it's the people who parade them, explain them away, and never accomplished them to begin with. That shit is just pathetic.

Sincerely,
Joe
(who once tracked down exactly how Harvard does its admissions and the nature of it's financial aid JUST to confront a jackhole who used the "Well, I got accepted to Harvard but couldn't afford to go" line).

 

[Huckleman2000]

A disgusting rule of the thumb in the academic world is stock responses like...

1) "No, I don't believe you 'got into Harvard' and just didn't/couldn't afford to/missed a deadline so you couldn't go."
2) "No, I don't believe you 'have an IQ of [pick a high number]'."
3) "No, I don't believe you are in/was in/could be in if you wanted to/took their test and aced it but decided not to join MENSA."


The list goes on and on and on. The shit students try to pull to make themselves sound important... you just can't imagine how common it is. EVERYONE was sick when they took their SAT's and that's why it's such a big deal that they made [some score over 1400]--though it is unlikely they did. EVERYONE "didn't have to study ever". NOBODY "had to write down the math problems and did them all [up to and including geometry, algebra, trig, some calculus, etc.] in their head".

Ugh.

If there's anything I hate more than the people who parade their actual achievements in front of them and expect A's because they happened (and I've had students who were just like that "But, I'm REALLY smart! I should have gotten a better grade on this Logic exam!") it's the people who parade them, explain them away, and never accomplished them to begin with. That shit is just pathetic.

Sincerely,
Joe
(who once tracked down exactly how Harvard does its admissions and the nature of it's financial aid JUST to confront a jackhole who used the "Well, I got accepted to Harvard but couldn't afford to go" line).

Y'know, Joe- even when I kinda think you're agreeing with me, or at least understanding me, somehow I feel like I'm being insulted. I guess it's just your gift.
[edited out a long explanation here]
It's not really what you say, it's what you choose to omit.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Y'know, Joe- even when I kinda think you're agreeing with me, or at least understanding me, somehow I feel like I'm being insulted. I guess it's just your gift.
[edited out a long explanation here]
It's not really what you say, it's what you choose to omit.

What happened? What'd I miss?

(did I say something wrong? I confess I haven't really read much of this thread)

 

[Black Tulip]

Some languages do not use any vowels in their writing. Did you know that?
This makes it very hard to learn a western language where there is even a difference between one or two vowels.

Why do you write look and not lok? How come it's peel and not pel? Sure you need it to know how to pronounce the word, but why?

In Dutch the difference between one or two vowels is sometimes needed for a totally different meaning apart from the information needed for the pronounciation. (Maybe you have that in English too, but I can't think of examples right now.)

For example:
man = human and maan = moon. Or
bom = bomb and boom = tree.
en = and and een = one

To make it even more fun you can add the plural of those words.
mannen = humans and manen = moons
Did you notice the moons have lost an a?
bommen = bombs and bomen = trees.
The trees have lost their second vowel as well.
You have probably guessed it by now:
ennen and enen for plural forms.

If you're not used to writing vowels at all, this can surely drive you crazy.

I think interesting is not necessarily the same as entertaining. Is it?

I have to admit I am at my comic best when making fun of me. Shouldn't that qualify as extremely smart?

 

[Liar]

In Dutch the difference between one or two vowels is sometimes needed for a totally different meaning apart from the information needed for the pronounciation. (Maybe you have that in English too, but I can't think of examples right now.)

For example:
man = human and maan = moon. Or
bom = bomb and boom = tree.
en = and and een = one

bet ain't beet
lot ain't loot

and my favorurite for the brits...

shite ain't shiite (certain muslim dudes)

#L

 

[Black Tulip]

Hehehe.

 

[AH Thread Archiver]

Bumping to bring it back to the first page, ahead of the archive threads.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Black Tulip, that was quite interesting! I enjoyed the lessons on plurals.

My favorite moment in language education was learning that certain words in French - hotel and vetements for example - have an accent specifically to mark where they used to have an s but no longer do (at least, if the program I watched was correct). They implied that the decision was made to drop the s's, but they decided to add an accent to show where it had been.

What beautiful logic.

Shanglan

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Black Tulip, that was quite interesting! I enjoyed the lessons on plurals.

My favorite moment in language education was learning that certain words in French - hotel and vetements for example - have an accent specifically to mark where they used to have an s but no longer do (at least, if the program I watched was correct). They implied that the decision was made to drop the s's, but they decided to add an accent to show where it had been.

What beautiful logic.

Shanglan

Yes, but even better, the French still call a guest 'un hôte' and host, hotel and all that have the same origin as 'hostage', 'hostile' and the rest of the hostility scene.

(He's right, I am a nerd. I'll go to the doctor on Monday.)

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Some languages do not use any vowels in their writing. Did you know that?
This makes it very hard to learn a western language where there is even a difference between one or two vowels.

Why do you write look and not lok? How come it's peel and not pel? Sure you need it to know how to pronounce the word, but why?

In Dutch the difference between one or two vowels is sometimes needed for a totally different meaning apart from the information needed for the pronounciation. (Maybe you have that in English too, but I can't think of examples right now.)

For example:
man = human and maan = moon. Or
bom = bomb and boom = tree.
en = and and een = one

To make it even more fun you can add the plural of those words.
mannen = humans and manen = moons
Did you notice the moons have lost an a?
bommen = bombs and bomen = trees.
The trees have lost their second vowel as well.
You have probably guessed it by now:
ennen and enen for plural forms.

If you're not used to writing vowels at all, this can surely drive you crazy.

I think interesting is not necessarily the same as entertaining. Is it?

I have to admit I am at my comic best when making fun of me. Shouldn't that qualify as extremely smart?

If youse tryin' to say dat English is a mongrel tongue dat picks up it's avoirdupois and je ne sais quoi from any language it sucks up to, I agree with you.

If ABN Dutch is so logical, why do you have this fixation for stuffing all your verbs at the end of sentences?

Sorry, I was meaning to be sarcastic, not rude.

 

[Kassiana]

It's interesting that the French person who came up with what became our "modern-day" IQ test formulated it to help low-achieving kids in school. He believed that it would show teachers how to help those kids do better. So it never was an "intelligence" test to begin with. It was a test of how much those kids had LEARNED in school.

Then the American Stanford looked at it, changed it a bit, and said it measured "intelligence."

Right. And my tape measure can show how blue my cockatiels are.

 

[Black Tulip]

If youse tryin' to say dat English is a mongrel tongue dat picks up it's avoirdupois and je ne sais quoi from any language it sucks up to, I agree with you.

If ABN Dutch is so logical, why do you have this fixation for stuffing all your verbs at the end of sentences?

Sorry, I was meaning to be sarcastic, not rude.

LOL Who said Dutch was logical?
Sure, the rules are; they're simple and easy to learn.
The catch, you ask? Ah .... the zillions of exemptions.
And there are NO rules for those.



By the way: ABN ...? Dat weet je niet zomaar.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

LOL Who said Dutch was logical?
Sure, the rules are; they're simple and easy to learn.
The catch, you ask? Ah .... the zillions of exemptions.
And there are NO rules for those.



By the way: ABN ...? Dat weet je niet zomaar

Dank U wel. Ik vind de taal heel moelijk.

One thing we anglophones don't think about is how we are damaging the coral structure of language around the world. Only the French seem to have the courage to fight back. Have you ever tried to give a frenchman your email? Arobas mon cheri, a demain.

 

[neonlyte]

Have you ever tried to give a frenchman your email? Arobas mon cheri, a demain.

Try giving e-mails in Portuguese:

"xxxxxxx aroba..."
"Que?"
"Aroba, um coisa rondinha"
"Ahh... aroba. Que e isto?"
"Aroba. O simbolo em e-mails."
"Ahh. Aroba. Sim, e mais."
"mac ponto com."
"M A K..."
"Nao! c... c... para cao. Ponto..." (cao = dog)
"Que e isto... ponto?"
"Ponto... e ponto." (Palerma - meaning blockhead)
"ponto com"
"Ahh com. Sim, sim)
"Tudo em letras pequenino. Diz meu e-mail."
"xxxxxxx aroba ponto mac ponto ponto cao"
"Tenho um cao?" (You have a dog?)
(Meu Deus, uma palerma autentica - My God, an absolute blockhead)

This is an almost verbatim conversation with my electricity supply company.

With apologies to Lauren for leaving out the accents.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Neonlyte,

It's not accents you need, it's phelgm.