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#2525 05/18/00 10:05 AM
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It’s funny how easy it is to remember some things from school and not others. We used to have a test on a Friday of general knowledge. I was an expert at capital cities (although I couldn’t place some of the countries on a map). Anyway, it certainly increased my chances of winning (but not making) my first £1,000,000.

Here’s some of the proper terms (collective nouns) that were regulars in the test.
a shrewdness of apes
a destruction of wild cats
a skulk of foxes
an exaltation of larks
a paddling of ducks (on water)
a team of ducks (in flight)

I’ve just looked them up and realised that they didn’t teach us:
a superfluity of nuns
- I wonder why?

Which words stick in your mind from long ago and why?


#2526 05/18/00 12:50 PM
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Pythagoras, Jo--
I remember being awed by the fact that someone from so
long ago had such a long-lasting effect on what is taught.


#2527 05/18/00 06:13 PM
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I remember mispronounciations, which usually caused some embarrassment: "civil" was "kivil", and try saying "unfed" with the stress on "un".

"Dad, what does 'unfed' (as above) mean?"

"YCLIU" pre-empting tswum

That's how I got started with dictionary and Thesaurus.



#2528 05/18/00 06:22 PM
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yes! mispronunciations...
epitome I read as EP i tome
paradigm was PAR a DIG em

another word I remember is career, used as a verb, as in to career down a mountain road -- I used this on an English paper and got marked down for making up a word!

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#2529 05/18/00 06:39 PM
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jmh Offline OP
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> got marked down for making up a word!

Same problem. I used "oderous" (in the sense of smell) for "odious" (unpleasant) in the same way that Shakespeare had in the play we'd been studying the week before (poss the Scottish play) and got marked down for an incorrect word - I was cross - if it was OK for Shakespeare then...
It hastened my enthusiasm for giving up English at the earliest opportunity.

(It took me ages to work out epi-tome too).


#2530 05/18/00 06:47 PM
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"Persephone" was some sort of communication instrument at first glance! Never could quite master Greek mythology...


#2531 05/18/00 06:51 PM
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When I was in the eighth grade (13 yrs old) I was a finalist in the school's spelling bee. I lost on "aeronautics." The English teacher reading the words to us pronounced it "ar-E-o-nau-tics." I knew the ae combination form, but went with his pronunciation. I have never recovered from that :-)

PS Jo - is it bad luck in your parts to utter the word "Hamlet" when you are in rehearsal for said play?


#2532 05/18/00 07:02 PM
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Jo,

VERGES
Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man living
that is an old man and no honester than I.
DOGBERRY
Comparisons are odorous...

Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene v

8-D

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#2533 05/18/00 07:13 PM
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Got my Danes and my Scots mixed up. Jo, is it considered bad luck to utter the word "Macbeth" etc, etc???


#2534 05/19/00 12:13 AM
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Yes, I too was marked down for making up a word: I used fracas in an essay and was told it didn't exist. Clearly it still rankles, as this was a wee while ago!


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