tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post115341194695857957..comments2023-05-18T11:19:33.857+02:00Comments on animals stuck to the wall: Bet you wish you'd never asked...EvilAuntiePerilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01278720691584010136noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1158926779120811142006-09-22T14:06:00.000+02:002006-09-22T14:06:00.000+02:00How did I miss this whole linguistic love feast? I...How did I miss this whole linguistic love feast? <BR/><BR/>I kept wondering when you were going to throw MOOD into the mix, and then it showed up at the last minute in the comments. You don't know from complicated until you have to make the subjunctive II play nice with the pluperfect.<BR/><BR/>You did a great job explaining, by the way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153750096976376012006-07-24T16:08:00.000+02:002006-07-24T16:08:00.000+02:00Oh cool - thanks for updating, fiveandfour. Really...Oh cool - thanks for updating, fiveandfour. Really interesting stuff.<BR/><BR/>And thank you, rpc, for the compliment.EvilAuntiePerilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01278720691584010136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153686875215484122006-07-23T22:34:00.000+02:002006-07-23T22:34:00.000+02:00isn't Japanese supposed to have mind-blowing regis...<I>isn't Japanese supposed to have mind-blowing registers of politeness that are all but impenetrable without years of study? </I><BR/><BR/>Yes, there is a lot of that, I'll admit. But it's a logical kind of politeness ranking it seemed to me. Father, Mother, Older Brother, Boss etc. - more honorific word choice. Contemporary such as a good friend - more "equal" word choice. Younger sibling - more "what a good pet" word choice. <BR/><BR/>What was harder for me was distinguising when a symbol had it's old, Chinese pronunciation and meaning or the 'new', Japanese pronunciation and meaning because those vary based on the context. Of course, it's been so long since I studied all that now that I can only recognize the most basic and common of symbols and it feels like it must have been some other person who used to have dreams in Japanese. <BR/><BR/>Makes me wonder if my brain's so calcified now whether it's even possible to stuff a language in there since I feel half the time like even my English is going the way of Algernon. ::Sigh::Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153512238512352692006-07-21T22:03:00.000+02:002006-07-21T22:03:00.000+02:00I think all the above goes a long wasy to explaini...I think all the above goes a long wasy to explaining why 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' made Lynne Truss a multi-millionnairess. Which makes me think that there is almost certainly a path ahead to your unimagined wealth based solely on this post alone.<BR/><BR/>It's obvious: write a book...The Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00002778113412823107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153493469739658292006-07-21T16:51:00.000+02:002006-07-21T16:51:00.000+02:00Jmc, you mentioned the subjunctive! Noooooo. I had...Jmc, you mentioned the subjunctive! Noooooo. I had to czech (hehehe) and guess what lies in wait somewhere down the winding path? Noooooo.<BR/><BR/>Suisan, I will now be haunted by the ghosts of the pluperfect and past historic. Bet you're glad Beth got to your question first, though. ;-)<BR/><BR/>Lyn, Haven't seen KKBB, but the line you quoted definitely sparked my interest. Nice one, thank you.<BR/><BR/>Beth, don't suppose you wanna do my homework? Sentences abound, but apart from "ape-man" I only have really boring vocabulary. <BR/><BR/>Fiveandfour, isn't Japanese supposed to have mind-blowing registers of politeness that are all but impenetrable without years of study? It's things like that which make me agree with you about the culture/language link.<BR/><BR/>And thank you guys, all, for your comments.EvilAuntiePerilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01278720691584010136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153456146153821122006-07-21T06:29:00.000+02:002006-07-21T06:29:00.000+02:00This is why I laugh - LAUGH, I tell you - at the p...This is why I laugh - LAUGH, I tell you - at the people who used to tell me I must be nuts to want to study Japanese instead of French or Spanish back in high school. Sure there were lots of strokes and symbols and stuff (and, ok, 3 alphabets), but it all makes sense, it's all perfectly logical - it's elegant even. <BR/><BR/>My head hurt trying to wrap my mind around this Schrodiger's Cat of language with its perfection changing based on the perspective. <BR/><BR/>But I've long held that you can learn a culture most intimately from learning its language -- I don't know what all this says about Slavic culture, maybe once you're more into it you can let us know what you come up with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153440172645965812006-07-21T02:02:00.000+02:002006-07-21T02:02:00.000+02:00Nope, not sorry I asked. It reminds me why I'm gla...Nope, not sorry I asked. It reminds me why I'm glad I'm not in school anymore, which is always a very nice thing to be reminded of.<BR/><BR/>And the mere mention of the pluperfect (as in "he had arrived") triggered this traumatic memory for me, of trying to compose sentences in French that were like "We would have been happy to come, if you hadn't been nagging us about it for days." Just trying to remember which tenses (and modalities, for the subjunctive was the scourge of my scholastic career) to use in a sentence like that is kinda making me want to vomit.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17425794200989416449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153428485284614422006-07-20T22:48:00.000+02:002006-07-20T22:48:00.000+02:00My favorite line in a movie of late: Val Kilmer's...My favorite line in a movie of late: Val Kilmer's character to that of Robert Downey Jr's in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"..."Why in pluperfect hell did you pee on the corpse?"<BR/><BR/>Lots of grammatical word play and a tight script - loved it.<BR/><BR/>I'm supposed to be packing or writing or something - just had to post this time rather than lurk. Have a great rest of the week, and may gods past perfect, present, and pluperfect smile on you.Bobbie (Sunny) Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10039523903143674505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153418491974108392006-07-20T20:01:00.000+02:002006-07-20T20:01:00.000+02:00And the pluperfect is? Because I used to get dinge...And the pluperfect is? <BR/><BR/>Because I used to get dinged on all my French compositions for using the pluperfect incorrectly. Only to discover years later that one of the tenses (I cna't remember which) was only literary form, never used in conversational French. Oh, thanks.<BR/><BR/>BTW, you don't have to answer about the pluperfect--just yanking your chain.Suisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08005006529585506127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153416211508949982006-07-20T19:23:00.000+02:002006-07-20T19:23:00.000+02:00Hit post too soon, sorry about that.Czech sounds f...Hit post too soon, sorry about that.<BR/><BR/>Czech sounds frighteningly like Russian, with the go by foot, go by car, etc. Not a huge surprise, since it too is a Slavic language.<BR/> <BR/>I'm thinking that even Latin/romance languages have some of the perfect/imperfect stuff going on too. In Spanish (back in the Dark Ages when I was in high school), it was called preterite/imperfect for past tense, with other labels for the subjunctive and future. But the distinction was all about duration of action. Even so, Spanish was way easier to master than Russian.jmchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11898983085408358201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717148.post-1153415734171530872006-07-20T19:15:00.000+02:002006-07-20T19:15:00.000+02:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.jmchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11898983085408358201noreply@blogger.com