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docoflove1974

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Everything posted by docoflove1974

  1. That is so cool! Is this an official 'club', or a group of people/friends who are interested in Roman culture, etc.? Have you involved faculty (I bet they would be very interested in working in some angles)?
  2. Methinks someone has hit the moonshine and/or grappa a wee bit too much and too frequently...a caraffe of strong black coffee for Don Tomato! Stat!
  3. In no particular order: --the Sony Walkman (from this you get the iPod, digital music, etc.) --automatic transmissions (if you live in San Francisco, you understand) --Doritos (Nacho Cheese only) --Snickers (3M is ok, but this is my main weakness)
  4. ...Let alone finding a guy who isn't intimidated when you show that you are highly knowledgeable about a somewhat (or very) academic area... Anyway...I believe that the female attraction to Hellenic and Egyptian studies centers on the religions, literature...the cultural side of it. Whereas Romans are somehow remembered for their wars and politics, the Greeks (or, specifically, the Athenians and a few others) are remembered as people of culture, and the Egyptians are remembered as being exotic. Personally, I find the Roman culture to be as intriguing as the others, if not more so; the language is clearly a fascination of mine, or its evolution.
  5. You forgot to give her a beard!!! Happy birthday, hun...enjoy it! A week-long party is in order!
  6. Interestingly enough, there was a recent law passed (California? US? Not sure) that we instructor-types cannot ask that our students turn their cell phones off during class...the reasoning being that if an emergency signal is broadcast across campus, everyone needs to be aware of it. Of course, students use their phones to cheat--texting, pictures of the answers, etc.--and try to get around it. I'm pretty vigilant in the classroom, and am watching them most all of the time (can't say "all the time," because I'm sure there are times when my back is turned). But who knows. Truthfully, students have tried to cheat since there was a school....
  7. I opt for another option: if students continue to use their cell phones (and iPods, btw) in class, snatch it from them, whack them upside the head, and send them off for re-education! Ok, a little harsh, but seriously...I have college-aged students who honestly don't understand that the classroom is one area where one NEVER uses that stuff. And then they're indignant when I tell them to knock that crap off, or they can leave the class. I know some professors will take the device away, but I feel that's high school level...and if there was a dean or principal to send them to, they'd do that, too. No, I feel they can be treated like adults...called out, and told that they will leave the class if they keep it up!
  8. This was an almost-perfect football weekend for me: --The Niners didn't lose (thank God for bye-weeks); --Our Boy Brady kicked the ever-living snot outta the Felons...er...Cowboys (I can't tell you how much I loved watching that game, and not just because Brady's my FF QB); BUT --Cal lost ()&*&%^(*&*(_&*% I'd also put in that UC Davis lost, too, but we're still the new kids on the division I-AA block, and we're still learning how to play football. Oh, and the neighbor who projects stuff on the house...and the other neighbor who figgered how to connect the cable...absolutely rock. They deserve parties and plaques in their honor.
  9. I'm very interested in going, but as for dates, I won't be able to say anything until March or April. I'm entering another round of academic employment applications, and I won't know until then where I'm going, when I'm going, etc. So June or July will work the best for me, but I can't give anything more specific than that for quite some time. Whatever dates you guys choose will be fine with me! My goal is to make this a week-long trip, as in my flying into London/other parts of England, spending a couple of days in one place, and then going up to the wall. Or the reverse, whichever works out best.
  10. Yep, I'm still interested in coming, although I will say that a summertime meet is much-more feasible for me than April; I can pull some strings to fly out to the UK for a weekend, but it's quite a few strings, versus summer break where I can take my time.
  11. Is that the best you can do? Sheesh, I expected a better comment and/or retort from you, Don Tomato.
  12. docoflove1974

    Crossroad

    We'll leave the financial side of things to you Triumviri...and we'll keep up the posting. (And Don Tomato and his new apprentice G-Manicus will keep up the shennanigans)
  13. I would, Ursus, if only to have as a reference. But the chapters on the 'lesser-known' enemies (I'm thinking mostly of North Africa and the Middle East) really helped to round out my knowledge of the area.
  14. "DOCTOR Harmon...I didn't spend 8 years in Evil Graduate School to be called 'Miss'." Oops...wrong one...*giggle* Besides, I take this as an article of sorts, so the title and all the other stuff comes in.
  15. My dad's the same way. My grandparents were from "Miz-uh-rah" (aka Missouri), and the area where my dad grew up in Sacramento (and, indeed, much of the Central Valley of California) was predominantly populated with peoples from Texas, "Indian Territory," and the Ozarks (think the Dust Bowl era, which is when my grandparents came out; for a literary reference, Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath); everyone's there because of agriculture or the military (at one time there were 5 active military bases in a 50 mile radius of Sacramento). So everyone on that side of the family has a distinct accentuation which I would term 'South-Central America'--if you talk to someone from rural Illinois, Missouri, northern Arkansas, Oklahoma, that's the general idea. Well, dad left home at 17 to join the Air Force, and educated himself in whatever city he's resided in...so much so that on average you'd never know that he came from a 'Rural Middle America' linguistic background. Now, when he gets around his family, the accent comes back. Full force. And it usually takes him a good 24 hours to return to his 'regular' manner of speech. Again, I'd say that's normal. We identify with a certain group, and take on certain affects of speech in order to 'fit in'; I think many linguists would feel comfortable with that statement. It's also a question of register; I've maintained for years that the Royals might speak Queen's English in the public, but behind closed doors, when they let their proverbial hair down, that they are all Cockney speakers *giggle*
  16. docoflove1974

    Crossroad

    So, does this mean that UNRV will be soliciting donations, voluntarily of course? Honestly, I wouldn't mind kicking in a couple of bucks a year...each registered member knock in a couple, and you'd have a nice nest egg for the site!
  17. The 'why' is often complicated, and really depends on what linguistic theory you subscribe to. For example, the linguistic theory that I'm focusing on now in my research holds that these 'dialects' evolve given the circumstances, and much like biological Darwinian evolution has genes and replicators, language has utterances and speakers that use certain utterances more than others. So far it works ok, but it's still very very very early in the testing phases. Another theory, mostly associated with the work of James Mallory, says that each speech community is essentially a 'network', and that people have their own way of speaking because it's a sense of identity. Furthermore, the stronger the ties to the community, the more likely the person will continue to associate the manner of speech to their identiy. However, once a speaker associates with more and more networks, there are weaker ties to all of these networks, and they bring not only changes to the various speech communities, but there tends to be a 'common dialect' that comes out of all of this interaction. This theory is based originally on the work in the 60s and 70s by William Labov, and includes work from Fuctionalist theory (topics for another thread). Essentially, the 'why' has many, many reasons...sometimes it's identity, sometimes it's evolution, and most times the 'how' discussed earlier (by me and others) is intertwined in the answer. Does this help?
  18. I don't, PClod...but it's on the Amazon Wishlist! Thanks, guys!
  19. ...part 2... Anything can create isolation. Often it's geographical: mountains rivers, and larger, of course. But it can also be social isolation: think Medieval Europe, with the walled cities and severe isolationist mentalities. Anything that creates a community as a cohesive unit, and at the same time keeps it away from other communities for some time with minimal interaction with similar-linguistic communities, that's going to be the fertile ground for the formation of another dialect. Sometimes it's simply a matter of changing the phonological inventory slightly and a few key phrases--think the various English dialects noted in this thread, let another what most people would consider an 'accent'. But if this constant isolation is allowed to continue and thrive, it will develop into another language...see Viggen's thread on Afrikaans noted earlier. Here's a great example: my maternal side is Italian, and my grandmother's parents are from about 20 km NNW of Milan. They were from different towns: GGF Battista Tapela was from Magnano, and GGM Anunciata Dianni was from Ferno. Battista moved to Ferno--a whole 2km away--to marry Anunciata...and they maintained (and taught their daughters, my grandmother and great-aunt) that they spoke different dialects. In all honesty, 100 years ago, there probably were slight differences--just like the Augusta mentioned with her dad. What cancels this out? Centrality: standardized education, central media (newspaper, radio, tv, etc.). Essentially, the more communication between communities (sociolinguists often use the term 'networks', and I tend to, as well), the more barriers are weakened, and the fewer dialects will hold.
  20. Well, Don Tomato's got it started right: isolation of one kind or another is a key. Think of it this way: People in Community C grow up together for 4 generations; same groups, same customs, same area, same everything. Then Family A decides that they want to move from there to another location, and so they do; they bring Families B and M with them. So A, B and M go off and create their own community (P), which is located across the river from Community C. True enough, Communities C and P do trade together, but essentially they live their own lives. Come back in about another 4 generations, and there are already different patterns of speech emerging...if you only talk within your own group, you create your own manners of expressing and communicating thoughts and ideas, and while your community might be related (literally, culturally, etc.) to another, your languages might be similar, but you have your own way of doing things.
  21. The *very little* that I know on the subject, Afrikaans is indeed often used as a 'modern test case' for the creation and evolution of a dialect, and how it can proceed onto a language. As I understand it, while Dutch and Afrikaans speakers don't quite understand each other, because they are so similar (and, indeed, the latter is derived from the former) there is a mild intelligibility--they understand something like 60-70% of the other language. Much like Spanish-speakers and Italian-speakers. I don't really have anything on the subject in my possession; I'll see if I can find something that'll make this a bit clearer.
  22. So you went Viper, and not 'Vette? I'd rather have the 'Vette, personally. Besides, with the strike going on at Chrysler, you won't be getting a Viper any time soon. (ok, so in reality I'd go Lexus or Porsche...but when in Detroit...)
  23. Dude, a Viper? You could dream bigger, y'know...
  24. Umami! That's it! I know that olives are good for us...and like I said, olive oil has been a constant element of my diet since I could breathe air. Just that the brine...yick.
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