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#183303 03/07/09 11:30 AM
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which is the origin of your interest, passion?

why are they so important to you ?

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Best I can do is relate a tale from my youth: We had read a story in, I dunno, fourth or fifth grade (nine or ten years old) that took place in Australia. One of the new words we got in the story was kookaburra. The glossary for the story defined it as 'laughing jackass'. Somehow I was the only one in the class (including the teacher) who managed to figure out that a kookaburra was a bird. I was marked wrong on the test for not parroting back 'laughing jackass' when asked what a kookaburra was.

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teachers are so fallible! I had an English teacher who redlined me for using the nonword (she claimed) 'careering' (we went careering down the mountain road). [not to be confused with careening]

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Never paying much attention to words, except to pass a spelling
test and never having won a spelling bee, nor did I care, I was
re-arranging my books, pens, etc., when my 9th grade teacher
in Grammar/English/Literature stated that he was going to
give the list of grades in descending order. "And at the top
of the list", he said, as he announced my name. I was so
stunned I dropped the books making quite a scene. From that day
forward I was enamored with words. Something meant something to
me.


----please, draw me a sheep----
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I, too, had to correct my Language teacher, in the 9th grade, for not understanding the difference between transparent and translucent. she was, otherwise, a wonderful teacher!

but I grew up with words; we would say that we kept a place for the dictionary at the dinner table.


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Mine is a similar account. My primary teacher corrected impetus to impetuous even after I tried to explain. The story went along the lines of...as we rolled down the hill we gained impetus...He was a renown sports teacher though. It was mum who instilled an early love of reading in me and in later years my English teacher.

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Originally Posted By: unciaciapanca
which is the origin of your interest, passion?

why are they so important to you ?


I think three things have influenced my interest:

1. the study of orthography in the 8th grade
2. the study of Greek in college and seminary
3. an appointment to a church committee responsible for drafting church law

My favorite(?) word is Greek: 'elikrineis (helikrinace) translation: sincere. Literally: tested by the sun.

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I love words because I love books and that's what books are made
of. I love words because I love a good conversation and that's what conversations are made of. They also are good stuff for games.
I'm sure I loved books and booklets before I knew about words. And picture postcards. They made me aware that there was more to life than what I saw around me.
All my language teachers were better than me, that's what they were supposed to be grin

Last edited by BranShea; 03/08/09 01:28 AM. Reason: added
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Originally Posted By: PastorVon

2. the study of Greek in college and seminary



The study of another language can be a real mind-opener.

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Sitting around the dinner table, day after day, watching (and listening to) my parents solve the cryptic crossword, made me realise that the meaning of a word is as dependent on the user / listener as on the dictionary definition. I also find that as my vocabulary grows, so does my ability to think in different ways. I'd love to be able to think in another language...

Does anyone have a word for that sensation you get when you realise you're better at something than the person who is teaching you, but you don't want them to know because your concerned it will hurt them?

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