thomas pendrake

I also like the line from Giles Goat-Boy by John Barth :"Pass All, Fail-All". Read the book to understand it. Don't forget Hunter S. Thompson : "When the gong gets weird, the Weird turn Pro."

In reference to George Bush, would like to mention the Reverend William Archibald Spooner and the concept of Spoonerisms. Bush's linguistic blunders had nothing to do with the region of the nation that he hailed from. It is a genuine speech impediment. I have limited respect for his functional intelligence, but his speech problem is not related to his intelligence, or lack of it.

I'm sure some people would cite romantic or even sexual reasons for learning another language. Personally I had academic reasons.

Unquestionably the oldest language would be an African language and it probably was spoken by an earlier hominid. Certainly Sumerian is probably the oldest language with known written records. We know that verbal records suggest that civilization is at least 14,000 years old. Verbal records rather strongly suggests language. Many mythologies suggest language existed for at least 40,000+ years. If you can find the book "Hamlet's Mill" and make your way through it you will understand that human knowledge requiring language is many tens of thousands of years old. I seem to recall etymological evidence pointing to a single primitive language dating hundreds of thousands of years ago.

To hunker means to squat or crouch. Hunkering can be a way to sit without having a chair, so hunkering down is a way of settling into a position, often a protected position. We might hunker down during a storm, literal or figurative.

I believe it was Robert Burns who basically felt that poetry and musical lyrics are basically the same. I write both but much of my poetry does not work well as lyrics. Musical lyrics always work as poetry, but not necessarily good poetry. Or, at least, not intellectually sound poetry. However, what about "Jabberwocky".

When I use LOL it seems to be an affectation, so I would only use it for special emphasis.

I usually reserve correcting people only when it is needed to be able to understand what they are sayng, unless the other person is someone who know would prefer to know the correction. The exception is when the person being corrected is a jerk who needs a comeuppance.

Thomas Jefferson; "I have sworn upon the Altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the minds of Man."

I would certainly enjoy a Latin forum. Many of the world's languages have a Latin influence because of the extent and duration of the Roman Empire.

I was a Physics student in the late 60's and learning Russian made a lot of sense. I was familiar with Russian Literature and that was an added incentive. There are three great Literatures, Greco-Roman. English, and Russian.

I just noticed a typo in my first post on this thread and can't seem to edit it. I was able to edit it earlier. I have managed to find free downloads in Russian of several books I used to own. I hope to get back into the swing of it.

By the way, Russian isn't really all that hard. The Cyrillic alphabet takes a little getting used to.

I studied Russian language in college (1964-1968) for three years and Russian Literature for one year. I would like to revive my skills so that I can re-read some of my favorites such as "The Nose" and "A Hero of Our Tme" in the correct l would lke to re-read some of mu favorites such as "The Nose" and "The Station Master" and "A Hero of Our Tme" in the correct language.

I was looking for a "reply" button but I guess this is what I was supposed to use. Hi! I studied Russian, French and Latin years ago and the CIA tried to recruit me when I was drafted because I tested so high in language skills. I'm trying to revive my Russian language skills because I love the literature.