I, too, believe that italicizing foreign words and phrases makes them easier to read. I'm also f*cking frustrated by rule changes that serve as evidence of how long I've been revising my memoir - like, so long that the rule change gives me one more thing I have to go back and revise (like adding a second S to make possessive a person's name that ends in S, when we *used* to only have to add an apostrophe). I do love learning different ways to express things by learning other languages, though. (ASL in particular and Korean lately, including Hangul to add to the dynamic.)
Thanks for your essay, Kirsten. So much more memorable to learn things/ words via another human. And risky. And surprising.
Your piece sparked a memory: years ago a girlfriend joined me to visit my Mom (z”l). Girlfriend, hoping to impress with her high school Russian, addressed Mom in her native tongue. Mom responded by answering at length in Russian. She was still answering ten minutes later. Until Girlfriend, her mouth dropping open, recognized the Russian Mom was reciting. She was quoting the first few chapters of Anna Karenina from memory.
I am just old enough to have escaped mandatory rote memorization of long poems and passages from literature. Imagine living at a time when most anyone who attended school or learned to read was able to quote things at length.
I’ve heard that our new human skill set is knowing how to retrieve information and from where.
Maybe a practice for writing groups to take up. At the start of every meeting, each person recites a five line (or some length) quote from one of their favorite writers.
Okay, we're two people for italicizing foreign words and phrases. Is that a quorum?
I didn't know about the possessive rule....It is interesting to look at changes in rules and conventions as a marker of changing times.
To wit, in the late 80s I got into a heated argument with a cousin, an English major, who insisted it was never correct to use "they" to refer to one person.
It only took me 30 years to win that argument.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Sonya and good luck with your Korean and ASL studies!
I, too, believe that italicizing foreign words and phrases makes them easier to read. I'm also f*cking frustrated by rule changes that serve as evidence of how long I've been revising my memoir - like, so long that the rule change gives me one more thing I have to go back and revise (like adding a second S to make possessive a person's name that ends in S, when we *used* to only have to add an apostrophe). I do love learning different ways to express things by learning other languages, though. (ASL in particular and Korean lately, including Hangul to add to the dynamic.)
Thanks for your essay, Kirsten. So much more memorable to learn things/ words via another human. And risky. And surprising.
Your piece sparked a memory: years ago a girlfriend joined me to visit my Mom (z”l). Girlfriend, hoping to impress with her high school Russian, addressed Mom in her native tongue. Mom responded by answering at length in Russian. She was still answering ten minutes later. Until Girlfriend, her mouth dropping open, recognized the Russian Mom was reciting. She was quoting the first few chapters of Anna Karenina from memory.
Your mom! What a story.
I am just old enough to have escaped mandatory rote memorization of long poems and passages from literature. Imagine living at a time when most anyone who attended school or learned to read was able to quote things at length.
I’ve heard that our new human skill set is knowing how to retrieve information and from where.
I feel awfully let down by this.
Maybe a practice for writing groups to take up. At the start of every meeting, each person recites a five line (or some length) quote from one of their favorite writers.
Okay, we're two people for italicizing foreign words and phrases. Is that a quorum?
I didn't know about the possessive rule....It is interesting to look at changes in rules and conventions as a marker of changing times.
To wit, in the late 80s I got into a heated argument with a cousin, an English major, who insisted it was never correct to use "they" to refer to one person.
It only took me 30 years to win that argument.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Sonya and good luck with your Korean and ASL studies!