In which I share what I’ve used Google’s define1 function in the past seven days to better understand.
- lemniscate
- antipathy
- sidereal
- basque
- DS3
- SSP
I often look up words I’m familiar with just to make sure I really do know what they mean. Because sometimes? It turns out that I actually don’t.
Well, that’s not exactly true; I have extremely subtle inference skills, yo, and can grok most unfamiliar words easily by context. (I read at a high school level in grade school, and had a post-collegiate reading level in junior high, you dig). But sometimes it turns out that I don’t entirely know a word’s full meaning or etymology, and like anyone can always benefit from deeper research.
To wit, I’ve had the meaning of “antipathy” for decades but being weak in Greek wanted to see its roots (i.e.2, from the Greek, anti-, as in opposed to or against, and -pathy, from the root pathos, meaning strong emotion, passion, or suffering…)
All hail the Internet, from whom all blessings flow! Am I alone in being wholly in love with (1) Google’s “…did you mean _____?” function, (2) the wonderful and ever-growing Wikipedia, and (3) web-wide word definitions? Surely not! If you want to know something (anything, really), and are smart enough to use a search engine intelligently, you can find what you wish to learn on the ‘net in minutes! Huh-fucking-zzah, my babies!
Why couldn’t I have had a classical education? Why did I not encounter proper Greek or Latin before my twenties? Why was I not forced to learn (not only piano!) but world history and at least one dead root language? WHY?
American public schools are hell, I tell you, pure fucking wasteful hell for anyone not completely “normal.” (Were you aware that the word “normalcy” (bastardized from the Latin root normalis, meaning “the usual state”) was popularized with its current meaning in the 1920 presidential campaign of Republican candidate Warren G. Harding to describe the condition of the United States prior to its entry into World War I? (While Harding has been credited by some with inventing the term “normalcy,” the word first appeared in American lexicon in 1857 as slang for the word “normality.” Harding did help popularize the use of “normalcy” in everyday speech, however.)) I suffered in school; got report card after report card with comments stating that I was “not applying” myself right next to C and B grades. I was bored to death, I was under-socialized (whatever the fuck THAT means), I was confused, and I was constantly sleepy for twelve years of my formative years (save the last four years of high school, when I met the man – a double PhD in music and philosophy – who taught me to sing). How hard could it really be to engage the bright ones? Would it truly cost that fucking much to create an environment in which learning was natural?
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1 TIP: To define something, e.g. aardvark, type “define: aadvaark” into a Google search box to get web-wide definitions.
2 id est, from the Latin “in other words,”
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I guess your super grok powers make you a grokstar. Look at you getting all brainy, referencing dead languages, using superscripts, and dropping internet wisdom. I can’t wait to try the tip referenced under the first superscript.
I don’t use certain words verbally because I’m not sure of their proper pronunciation. I know what the words mean, but I’ve only seen them in print. If I try to use a nerdy word, and fail to say it correctly, then I’ve sucked all the nifty nerdiness out of it.
Horrible Moment #21587: While reading aloud in an AP English class in high school, I pronounced annihiliate as “an-ih-HILL-ee-ate.” I didn’t hear the end of that for months. -m
whoa, lemniscate is a totally awesome word!!
you’re bringing out my total inner nerd here, watch out….
you are not at all alone. I am also totally in love with “(1) Google’s ‘…did you mean _____?’ function,” (in earlier days, did you hear the somewhat un-funny IT joke about the imaginary DWIM command – ‘do what I meant [to ask you to]’?)…..
also totally in love with “(2) the wonderful and ever-growing Wikipedia…” Not only a reference tool, but a fabulous goblinbox the like of no other ever invented….(can a specific site be a goblinbox, or is only hardware eligible for the designation?? please advise… unfortunately, “define: goblinbox” produces “No definitions were found for goblinbox.” lol) i have devoted hours to articles on topics as diverse as a specific housing project in downtown Chicago and a Dutch government commission that existed from 2003-2005.
(3) web-wide word definitions…. I have to diverge from you here… i got a lot more interesting and cool stuff by just entering “lemniscate” than “define: lemniscate.” (Did I mention that “lemniscate” is a totally awesome word???)
I did know that about “normalcy” coming from Harding, although I thought he invented the term, so you have delightfully set me ‘straight,’ so to speak.
I was actually taught – in my incredibly snobby semi-classical education – that “normalcy” is still not a ‘real’ word and that only ignorant people use it! Yeah. Even though it’s been around for like 90 years in common parlance. So you see, in one way you dodged a bullet – one of the main purposes of a classical education is to make you think you’re better than everyone, which you then have to spend many years un-learning (if you ever do).
As for making learning fun and natural, it is a hell of a lot harder than it looks. I’m a smart girl and I hurl myself at that challenge every day and usually end up a broken failure crumpled in a heap. The natural way for children to learn, historically, before schooling, was to help their elders with tasks, and to talk with adults as they encountered new phenomena, learning both through modeling and discussion how to observe and interpret the world, solving each problem as it arose.
The problem with current schooling is that it was never intended to truly educate or open the mind. Current schooling was invented in Prussia for the proletariat; the ruling class had private tutors. John Taylor Gatto tells us all about it:
“The Prussian mind…held a clear idea of what centralized schooling should deliver: 1) Obedient soldiers to the army; 2) Obedient workers for mines, factories, and farms; 3) Well-subordinated civil servants, trained in their function; 4) Well-subordinated clerks for industry; 5) Citizens who thought alike on most issues; 6) National uniformity in thought, word, and deed.
“The area of individual volition for commoners was severely foreclosed by Prussian psychological training procedures drawn from the experience of animal husbandry and equestrian training, and also taken from past military experience.”
So it’s no wonder that school sucks.
Um, the only thing left to add is that I love when people know the difference between “i.e.” and “e.g.,” but I must note that “id est” translates more precisely as “that is.” (Yes, it still means “in other words.”)
xoxo
Best (read longest) comment ever! (The ‘set straight’ comment made me laugh.) And the fact that define: goblinbox doesn’t bring anything up still pisses me off. Google spends about three hours a fucking month indexing my site; you’d think it’d work by NOW. -m