Idiots, and all that

[swatkat]

I have been reading this old wank in fanficrants (it's long - summary is in F_W) for quite a while now, and I'm not sure what exactly it is that I want to do - laugh or hit her on the head with a volume of the OED. Both, probably. My favourite quote, though:So now you're saying that people go to college to Learn To Think? o_o

Also, I'm genuinely curious about this one - why do people insist on calling the English language 'not beautiful'? Of course, this idiot poster called French and Japanese 'pretty languages', but I've heard this from many sane, intelligent people as well. It is beautiful! Sure, it's 'harsh' and masculine and not melodious in the way, say, Sanskrit is, but it *is* a beautiful language. Why must you deride your mother tongue so?

Comments

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dropped in on that the first day. It certainly went crazy, didn't it?

Of course, it started that way.

The moronic notion that one goes to college only to learn skills one can apply in immediate everyday life was what put it on the scream meter for me. That's not college. That's not even high school. That's just occupational training.

And yeah, duh, of course the purpose of education is to teach critical thinking and appreciation.

As to the beauty of English... honestly, I love English. I find no language on the planet more beautiful or versatile. Its vast vocabulary gives it a range of nuances that's simply unparalleled, and the fact that it's a sponge language means that in the cases where there isn't a handy English word, there's nothing jarring about grabbing one from another language and using it. This whole "English is such an inferior language, deah" bit is idiotic, and has been since the first intellectual blowhard spouted it, which was probably before English existed and some Druid at Stonehenge complained that none of the Celts spoke enough other languages, and didn't they all realize that Latin was far more beautiful? Or possibly Aramaic?

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Er, that was a tad sarcastic.

Suffice it to say, English-bashing is high on my list of annoyances.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

And yeah, duh, of course the purpose of education is to teach critical thinking and appreciation.

I was astounded by the fact that she seems to think she can become a super architect without actually learning to think.

Versatile. Now that's one of the best words to define the language with. There's just *so* much you can do with it, in so many ways...

Swatkat