docoflove1974

That was hella rockin! Kick ass!

Sorry I'm late to the shin-dig, but Happy Birthday, Kosmo...enjoy your new year!

It's funny how some people feel that they might be perceived as being corny for expressing a true sense of thankfulness. Silly, innit? As for me, I am thankful that the Fates (or whatever) lined things up so that I would 'discover' this site, and the knowledge which is encased here. A great resource, both of information and of people, and that's great. Mostly, I'm thankful that I live in a world and in a society where I can read and disseminate information at will, without repercussion and with a very high chance of learning more than I ever thought possible. I thank all of you for that, as well as encourage everyone (including myself...sheesh, I'm tired!) to continue in this spirit.

Well, from SFO to Vegas is fine for me...but it's an issue of timing. I don't know what kind of time I'll have between now and May. So, I'm highly interested, but don't know if I can join in. Who else is on the western front?

Actually, I didn't enjoy Bullfinch nearly as much as Edith Hamilton's book on the same subject. Not only did Hamilton seem to make clearer distinctions between Roman vs. Greek mythology, but her language was clearer.

I was under the impression that for Modern Italians, particularl those of the southern provinces, the only thing worse than calling someone a 'Greek' is to call them a 'Turk'...is this true?

Well, that's fine, but you really should re-organize your forums. Nouns and verbs are two different classes of words; you really shouldn't put a nouns thread in a verbs form. I would probably organize it more like this: Phonology: Consonants; Vowels Morphology: Nominal: Nouns, Adjectives, Verbal Adjectives; Case, Gender, and Number Inflection Verbal: Tense, Aspect, and Mood; Participles (which is also Verbal Adjectives) Syntax: Phrase construction; Lexicon I'm leaving a lot out...but this is a basic design. I guess the first question really must be: what is your focus or goal with the page?

The quick and dirty version: Linguists describe what verbs do by various methods, but one way is to discuss tense, aspect, and mood. Tense = time, as in you have all of three choices here: past, present, and future. Aspect is how the time is tweaked, how it is described. There are various ones here: punctual (with a definitive beginning and end; usually either the preterite or the aorist), durative (happens over a period of time, and often doesn't have a definitive beginning and end; imperfect, progressive), perfective (usually relates to two different tenses; perfect and sometimes the aorist), among others. Indo-European languages, as I recall, generally have a fair amount of aspect in the languages, but are no where near the aspectual level as, say, the Austronesian languages. Mood is kinda just that: what's the perspective of the speaker. Indicative is just a statement about the world, usually without emoting anything. Subjunctive, and its cousin the optative, impart doubt, emotion, will, and other 'subjective' points of view; optative is the will of whatever Supreme Force the culture believes in, and often includes supernatural phenomena. Imperative is usually a direct command. For many languages, this is the limit...but there are other options, I believe. So, that being said: Present: tense Perfect: usually a puntuctual or perfective verbal form, depending on the language. In Latin, it tends to be more punctual, but the modern Romance languages have compound perfect tenses which are perfective in aspect. Imperfect: a past tense form which is durative in aspect. Hope that helps!

Oh, it's not that...I just don't read the language very well! I can pick the grammar apart, but with a dictionary for the lexical items. Sad, innit? I do the same with French. On the list, eventually, is to get better in reading Latin. Gotta get better with French first...I promised my graduate advisor

Well, I use it in my research...historical Romance linguistics. Admittedly, I'm not fluent, even remotely, but I can comfortably notice and discuss case, gender, number, tense, aspect, mood...and other areas of Latin morpho-syntax and syntax. Outside of that, um, don't ask me to read Cicero, Pliny, or any other literature piece in the original!

Well, as a language teacher (and I believe I'll be backed up by the other language teachers out there...if not, please say so!), there really are only 2 ways to learn a language: 1) Go to a country where the language is spoken natively, and immerse yourself. (Obviously, this isn't going to work for your purposes) or 2) Learn in a class. Bottom line is that you can really only learn by interacting with people who are either speakers or learners of the language. And, yes, that means regularly attending classes. A tutor will not help unless you're in the class. The class provides structure, guided lessons, and are tailored for people who are learning. As a private tutor, I can't tell you how many times my students have promised to prepare...and then aren't. It's a waste or money. Now, that being said, you mentioned 4 year universities in the STL area...have you checked out the community colleges? They often have various language courses--Latin often being one--and are often cheaper and go at a slower pace than at a 4-year school. Once you enroll in the course, it's down to one thing: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!! Do the homework that's assigned, go to the classes, and don't be afraid to speak up when you don't get something. Latin's not easy...and I took it after having studied 2 other Romance languages, but it still took a while to set in. Bottom line...have a sense of humor. Realize that you're going to sound like a child--or even worse--at first...but that's ok! Enjoy the class, enjoy the comraderie, and enjoy the language!

HA HA [/Nelson Muntz]

When in doubt, blame it on the devil...or on Pan...whichever is more convenient.

Well, considering that there is no boyfriend in the picture...we're all good! I will make it out to the greater New Netherlands area soon enough...no idea when, but I have a few itches that I need scratching!

Watch out, Pantagathus...sounds like your Domina is bewitching the old cranky Don Tomato...and vice versa!

Happy birthday, dude*! *'Dude' is meant to be ambigeneric, in California-speak. Just felt like clarifying.

In my case, I have no time to put together much of anything, either on the question or the answer side. A bit too time-consuming for me right now. Hopefully, though, people can keep it going...it's a great idea!

No offense, but you might want to check out this thread, and others like it.

10% of the braincells that I accumulate? Nah, I can't afford that. How about a constant supply of Pertimaxuseseses?

The volume's low...but that was quite amusing!

That takes too much thinking. If I hire you as my broker, what will you charge?

Nope, never crossed my mind that I'll be celebrating National Everybody's-Mexican Day in the land of kick ass Mexican food. Nope, not at all

Happy birthday, Pertinax! I guess it's as good a time as any to enjoy a few Pertimaxuseseses!

I prefer to be a soft wussy, then.

Clearing the brain: Scorsby (the usual scotch-type product here) or Makers' (the preferred) General health: