You might be studying Greek too much...
- anglicus
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You might be studying Greek too much...
...if you're using an English dictionary and you keep expecting to find X between N and O.
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Re: You might be studying Greek too much...
LOL. I used to get that problem with Russian. Kept looking for C down by R (or P) instead of at the beginning.
γ trips me up, too.
γ trips me up, too.
IPHIGENIE: Kann uns zum Vaterland die Fremde werden?
ARKAS: Und dir ist fremd das Vaterland geworden.
IPHIGENIE: Das ist's, warum mein blutend Herz nicht heilt.
(Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris)
ARKAS: Und dir ist fremd das Vaterland geworden.
IPHIGENIE: Das ist's, warum mein blutend Herz nicht heilt.
(Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris)
- thesaurus
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Re: You might be studying Greek too much...
Not Greek, but still an embarrassing language blunder...
The other month I was waiting for my appointment at the optometrist, and I was studying Hebrew in the waiting-room. When it came time, I was ushered in to do the test where you cover one eye and read the rows of letters from a distance. It seemed like I was having trouble getting the letters right, so the optometrist kept having me read progressively larger lines. Finally, I was reading the largest letters which you would have to be totally blind not to get right... at that point it was asked whether I was reading the lines right to left instead of left to right? I had been doing it backwards the whole time because my mind was in Hebrew mode while the optometrist feared that I was blind as a bat.
The other month I was waiting for my appointment at the optometrist, and I was studying Hebrew in the waiting-room. When it came time, I was ushered in to do the test where you cover one eye and read the rows of letters from a distance. It seemed like I was having trouble getting the letters right, so the optometrist kept having me read progressively larger lines. Finally, I was reading the largest letters which you would have to be totally blind not to get right... at that point it was asked whether I was reading the lines right to left instead of left to right? I had been doing it backwards the whole time because my mind was in Hebrew mode while the optometrist feared that I was blind as a bat.
Horae quidem cedunt et dies et menses et anni, nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur nec quid sequatur sciri potest. Quod cuique temporis ad vivendum datur, eo debet esse contentus. --Cicero, De Senectute
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Re: You might be studying Greek too much...
That is very funny.thesaurus wrote:Not Greek, but still an embarrassing language blunder...
The other month I was waiting for my appointment at the optometrist, and I was studying Hebrew in the waiting-room. When it came time, I was ushered in to do the test where you cover one eye and read the rows of letters from a distance. It seemed like I was having trouble getting the letters right, so the optometrist kept having me read progressively larger lines. Finally, I was reading the largest letters which you would have to be totally blind not to get right... at that point it was asked whether I was reading the lines right to left instead of left to right? I had been doing it backwards the whole time because my mind was in Hebrew mode while the optometrist feared that I was blind as a bat.
I have never had anything as persistent as that happen to me but something similar has happened; I was trying to read an English word I was not familiar with. The word ended in a W but I pronounced the last letter as an Ω. I didn't bother trying to explain why this happened.
- anglicus
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Re: You might be studying Greek too much...
Glad to see other people have similar experiences Yeah, last night I was trying to look up a word that started with "ex-" and I just stared for a while at the last word that started with "en-" in total confusion. Eventually it dawned on me what I was doing wrong...
Another problem I've had is when I'm trying to write a Greek name or directly borrowed word in English, I have to concentrate really hard to actually use the right alphabet.
Another problem I've had is when I'm trying to write a Greek name or directly borrowed word in English, I have to concentrate really hard to actually use the right alphabet.
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Re: You might be studying Greek too much...
When I write in English, I write my 'a' and 'e' as cursive alphas and epsilons now. Sort of annoying.
Dolor poetas creat.
- benissimus
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Re: You might be studying Greek too much...
The chemistry that I'm learning uses a lot of mixed Roman and Greek characters. When I write the formulas, for some reason I have a tendency to convert the Greek letters into their Roman equivalents. This can cause a lot of confusion when the Roman equivalents already stand for a completely different thing...
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae
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Re: You might be studying Greek too much...
I have a tendency now to see an english "v" and "p" as a rho and a nu- especially, for some reason, when reading license plates.