don@allegra.UUCP (10/11/83)
Latin looks deceptively regular when you first start learning it because of the way textbooks are written. They divide words into artificial categories like First Declension, Second Conjugation, etc. At first, it looks like everything is fine and you just add the silly endings according to simple, regular rules. Then they show you the other 50 percent of the vocabulary: Fourth Declension, Fifth ... complete chaos! Another problem is that modern languages have many subtle features that we take for granted but are missing from ancient languages. It is non-trivial to say things like "I will have kept talking" in Latin and capture the complete meaning of continuing action completed at a point in the future. Greek has a few more complex tenses, but these languages were, for the most part, built up from many special cases and were not as general as modern ones. With regard to talking too loud, my brother was in Germany recently and had similar embarrassing experiences with fellow Americans being rude to waiters and making scenes. The problem is that Americans are a young culture and have not learned to deal with "crowding". Europeans and oriental cultures have learned that being soft spoken and polite is the only way to avoid aggravating one another. Those of you who do not live in the North East may not appreciate what I am talking about. Not all of America has so many impatient, rude people.
crane@fortune.UUCP (10/13/83)
I think as an outsider, I can speak objectively about rude, boisterous, and pushy people in the Bay Area. I am originally from the Northwest (I mean the REAL Northwest, not the "northwest" that Chicago and Minnesota think they are in). I have lived in the Rockies, in New York City, and Texas before moving back to Seattle. I have recently moved to corwded California and I don't believe the myths about the supposed "laid back lifestyle" that the rest of the country is supposed to admire. By comparison I found the Texans warm and outgoing, the Seattlites cold and withdrawn, but the people here are DOWNRIGHT HOSTILE. Whether you are on a crowded freeway or in a crowded hall, you damn well better get out of their way or you will get yelled-at, stomped on, or run-over. Red Skelton said it best: "On the freeways in California, you are either a Dodger or an Angel". If you think the people in New York are rude and ugly in crowds, California, in my opinion, is New York with palm trees. However, I must admit that I visited NYC about a year ago and found quite a change from when I lived there in 1974. Their attitude was very positive and helpful. Thank you New Yorkers! I hope you can teach some of these rude Californians by your example.
shebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs) (10/14/83)
(Way off the listed subject, but what the hey) Seattleites cold and withdrawn? Are we thinking of the same city? The one where I have so many friends and acquaintances? Of course, most of them were in the Seattle Mountaineers, so maybe that makes a difference... And as far as Texas being warm and friendly - I lived there for nine long years, and it's all a sham. You *must* conform, and it really helps to be a WASP... s.t.l.h. utah-cs!shebs
mamula@fluke.UUCP (Don Mamula) (11/01/83)
As someone who has lived in many places in the US, I have to second the disbelief about Seattleites. Since moving here, I've found nothing but wonderful people. The weather may be cool at times, but the people sure make up for it. Many other places have been a delight to live in. Also a second on Texas. After living in Dallas, I found that people are friendly to you if you have money or power; preferably both. If you don't have the right accent, the right "juice", or the right bank balance - forget it!