The Chat Thread

[ibanezmonster]

It happens because it's not my second language! That's the short answer.




The long answer is that I was brought up in a two-language household, which [psycholinguist mode engaged] gave my brain the necessary phonetic and morphological framework for two languages, even if I used only one for the first seven years of my life (but heard both, especially at ages 1-4). Then I was exposed to an all-English environment at the age of 8, and within a couple of years, despite my exposure to spoken English declining drastically (except for games!), English had overtaken my other language at all levels.

I speak English with an English accent (though you wouldn't be able to place it beyond quasi-London), I think in English, think through English: that is, the conceptual form of my thoughts is often such that I have trouble rendering them in Greek without 'translation' - something that frustrated me for all my time in Greece, as it made it hard to talk to people, and gave me shitty essay grades in Greek.

If were to make an informed guess, I'd assume both the fact that a) English fits better with my very systematic way of thinking - by virtue of its being a more analytical language than Greek, i.e. (roughly) syntax-centred, vs. morphology-centred, as I now know through linguistics - as well as the fact that b) English represented a culture that I was in all respects more comfortable in, compared to Greek, both played a role in my ending up as I have. Not that I'd have it any other way! I am very proud of my language, and like any other inherently powerful implement, I keep it as sharp as possible. I prefer having 'the right word for the job', vs. 'sort of'.

(So therein may lie your explanation about the vocabulary. It could well be like some of your Southern folk and their gun fetish. )



How's that for background material? Now you can be that much more Renfield.

But remember, you need to edit every post at least five times before you post it, and ten times after.

Edit: Including the tangential-aside-edit, such as this one, to add that my girlfriend says I sleep with a dictionary under my pillow.

You edited the post right after you make a joke about you editing it. 

That's a good, detailed explanation. It really is a curious thing... and here, I had thought that Greek was a more precise language because I've always heard of the various words that translate to English "love," but are more precise- maybe that's an exception?

I might have to think of some post later, hehe... 

[Renfield]

You edited the post right after you make a joke about you editing it. 

That's a good, detailed explanation. It really is a curious thing... and here, I had thought that Greek was a more precise language because I've always heard of the various words that translate to English "love," but are more precise- maybe that's an exception?

I might have to think of some post later, hehe... 

Of course, or the joke wouldn't nearly be as effective, would it?


Thing is, Greek is morphology-heavy, like Finnish (but not as crazily adaptable). Which means it can easily shape words to do different things, and it has a pretty wide array of words, for that reason - as words are its primary raw material, for expressing statements.

On the other hand, English is a lot more analytic: the emphasis (and the meaning) of a sentence revolves more around how the words one uses combine with each other, rather than how the words themselves are formed (i.e. which 'version' of a word you employ).

So if you tend to take statements apart piece by piece to properly process them, Greek is just terrible for this, since everything is so dense, and - worst of all, for me - extremely ambiguous. See, it's all down to word forms, and many words have the same word-form for different uses. So even if you are a native speaker of the language, you might still not be able to tell what the other person is talking about just by looking at their words, an awful lot more often than the same thing happens in English (e.g. 'Flying planes can be dangerous.') So when I write/talk in Greek to any extent, it's tortuous, since I need to disambiguate endlessly, or delay my responses noticeably to identify an extremely precise wording. At which point almost any Greek would tell you I'm doing it wrong.

And don't get me started on choosing between the 'polite' plural and 'intimate' singular. I just can't do that one. Ever.


But I think I'll now cut it out with the Linguistics Interlude, because a) people who don't like linguistics are probably unhappy, and b) I am really not a linguist, in any proper sense, so I wouldn't want to pretend otherwise. I just know some basics about language.

[ibanezmonster]

Of course, or the joke wouldn't nearly be as effective, would it?


Thing is, Greek is morphology-heavy, like Finnish (but not as crazily adaptable). Which means it can easily shape words to do different things, and it has a pretty wide array of words, for that reason - as words are its primary raw material, for expressing statements.

On the other hand, English is a lot more analytic: the emphasis (and the meaning) of a sentence revolves more around how the words one uses combine with each other, rather than how the words themselves are formed (i.e. which 'version' of a word you employ).

So if you tend to take statements apart piece by piece to properly process them, Greek is just terrible for this, since everything is so dense, and - worst of all, for me - extremely ambiguous. See, it's all down to word forms, and many words have the same word-form for different uses. So even if you are a native speaker of the language, you might still not be able to tell what the other person is talking about just by looking at their words, an awful lot more often than the same thing happens in English (e.g. 'Flying planes can be dangerous.') So when I write/talk in Greek to any extent, it's tortuous, since I need to disambiguate endlessly, or delay my responses noticeably to identify an extremely precise wording. At which point almost any Greek would tell you I'm doing it wrong.

And don't get me started on choosing between the 'polite' plural and 'intimate' singular. I just can't do that one. Ever.


But I think I'll now cut it out with the Linguistics Interlude, because a) people who don't like linguistics are probably unhappy, and b) I am really not a linguist, in any proper sense, so I wouldn't want to pretend otherwise. I just know some basics about language.

That's interesting, because I never even studied the very basic of Greek, even though I have with many languages, just to get a very general feel and knowledge of a few important aspects. I didn't even know it was comparably as morphological-heavy as Finnish...

If ambiguity is what you don't like, I wonder what you would think of Japanese.  Vocabulary-wise, they have quite enough words- if you consider the foreign words (mainly English) and words which are uniquely Japanese, it's almost a scarily huge choice of words- you would like that. However, the core of the language can allow for lots of vagueness- for example, subjects can be omitted and understood through context, there is no word for "a/the,"  there is no plural "s," etc. Precise vocabulary, but optionally imprecise semantics.

[Renfield]

Precise vocabulary, but optionally imprecise semantics.

Sounds like Greek, only at least there's some deliberate mystique in Japanese, leading to things like haiku.

Greek is just... I mean, the old version of the language (Classical Greek) was a lot less semantically messy, I can say that much.

[ibanezmonster]

Oh, I almost forgot- have to honor this day. 


Mahler's [edit: what I think to say] neurological impetus [edit: in a general manner of speaking] gave way to new auroras of creativity [edit: specifically, I'm trying to say, as a matter of creativity], catastrophically pulverizing hitherto [edit: or hitherthen] notions of the previously defined nexus of creativity, specifically, in a manner of speaking, Mahler, being cast off as such as a nomad by the popular appraisal of his contemporaries, with his dactylological style of conducting, set forth general rave, however [edit: just felt like adding an edit here] his polymorphic style of composition was apt to divide many, although [edit: and I feel this is essential] he became somewhat of a dominie, in a figurative sense, to his predecessors, namely the atonal school of Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, etc. and [edit: this triumvirate, did I mention, being the atonal, 2nd Viennese school], it being distinguished from the fact of his influence that the discombobulation of some of the Mahler nuances, sparking ardent, almost draconian passion [edit: albeit in a dolorific sense], the tête-à-tête studies of his most unabashedly incorruptible of followers gave way to unprecedented, abberantly idiosyncratic stylings of the future.

Therefore, Mahler was somewhat of a futurist.

[edit: in a historical sense, considerably so]

[edit: though I mean to say, in a manner of speaking]

[edit: and I just might add another point to this]

[edit: kind of, you know, it was somewhat of a some sort of a reminiscence of such so that in a way, something such as what it is is somehow what the essence of the thing I mentioned [edit: although, in a non-specific sense] could justifiably coexist with other logic [edit: so that it would be [edit: and, I mean, not vaguely, [edit: and it was such that way] existing in that sphere of logic], profound], and that way it would be as such.] 

[Renfield]

Your have categorically sparked laughter of ardent, almost draconian passion - albeit of course in a dolorific sense - from me.


Also, 'dactylological' is a genuinely pretty good adjective for Mahler's (catastrophically pulverizing) conducting.

[ibanezmonster]

Your have categorically sparked laughter of ardent, almost draconian passion - albeit of course in a dolorific sense - from me.


Also, 'dactylological' is a genuinely pretty good adjective for Mahler's (catastrophically pulverizing) conducting.

Hehe...
okay, if we ever have a Talk like a Greg day, here's a hint...

write... every... word... like... this...

[Renfield]

Hehe...
okay, if we ever have a Talk like a Greg day, here's a hint...

write... every... word... like... this...

And include copious references to Final Fantasy?

[ibanezmonster]

And include copious references to Final Fantasy?

Yes.
Let's make Talk like a Greg day tomorrow.

I think the perfect post would have about 2-3 ellipsis per line, several mentions of Mahler, anime, Final Fantasy, lucid dreaming, and Meshuggah. I'll make a post tomorrow, though anyone else is welcome to make one, too...

[Lethevich]

Jenna Edwards
Time to clean up and build a desk!
Like ·  · 5 hours ago ·
Jenna Edwards
Putting together a desk sucks!!!!
Like ·  · 4 minutes ago via Mobile ·

I thought she was actually building one herself first msg, but evident she can't even put a flatpack together.

[Coco]

Yes.
Let's make Talk like a Greg day tomorrow.

I think the perfect post would have about 2-3 ellipsis per line, several mentions of Mahler, anime, Final Fantasy, lucid dreaming, and Meshuggah. I'll make a post tomorrow, though anyone else is welcome to make one, too...

so... my dream last night involved this girl from my work (who for some reason was wearing a japanese school girl outfit, lol) came over to the house i lived at when i was 13 and we both listened to mahler's 6th... but this version had insanely complex guitar lines that sounded like they were influenced by schoenberg...

[Renfield]

I'm not even going to try to beat that one.

[ibanezmonster]

so... my dream last night involved this girl from my work (who for some reason was wearing a japanese school girl outfit, lol) came over to the house i lived at when i was 13 and we both listened to mahler's 6th... but this version had insanely complex guitar lines that sounded like they were influenced by schoenberg...

Absolutely perfect.

[ibanezmonster]

You forgot to mention that she was 14. Also, that Greg texted her.

Nah, it was perfect as it is- I rarely text. 14 would only make sense if, in the dream, I were really 13.

Hmm... since Corey did that so well, we could keep tomorrow open to Post like a Greg posts, but officially make it a Post like a Philo day. 

[Coco]

Nah, it was perfect as it is- I rarely text. 14 would only make sense if, in the dream, I were really 13.

Hmm... since Corey did that so well, we could keep tomorrow open to Post like a Greg posts, but officially make it a Post like a Philo day. 

That's an odd statement.

[ibanezmonster]

That's an odd statement.

1/5

Mother fucker.

[PaulR]

What I could've been doing over the weekend:
1. Practice my bass.
2. Start studying for Midterms.
3. Other work related to school.

What I actually did:
1.  Worked on my "summer project" that I didn't do over the summer.   

End result:
Satisfaction, and pleasure.  Would do it all over again if I could.   

[ibanezmonster]

Tomorrow... hmmm... talk like a... Luke day?

[ibanezmonster]

Coco was far closer. I don't think I've ever combined mother and fucker on this forum.

True.

I guess it'd be closer if I did it like this:

1/5

Fuck.

[eyeresist]

0/5

Fuck dat shit.