What do you study, precisely? What do you like most about what you learn?
What I'm studying, precisely, is a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Communication Studies and Linguistics - that's two seperate fields. Neither field is especially big at my uni - Comms is smaller and less established here than at some of the other universities here, and linguistics is just obscure full stop.
Communication studies is kind of a mixed bag. It's media theory wrapped up in a handful of practical units - I think last time I checked there was film production, journalism, and game design. Linguistics is basically the study of language, but from a more scientific viewpoint than something like literature. The first one actually led to the second - one of the required units for first year Comms was a Linguistics unit, and since I enjoyed it I picked it as a second major.
What I like about this arrangement is that it covers both sides of the mostly imaginary logic-creativity spectrum. Comms lets me create stuff, and Linguistics lets me pick it apart. And I find both of those processes very satisfying, y'know, inside my brain.
So if anyone feels like asking questions about media, or grammar, or etymology, or why Americans can't tell the difference between cot and caught, fire away in the comments.
What do you hope to get a job in?
Honestly, I'm not sure. I do know that of the options I considered (the others being classics/ancient history and astronomy) this one probably has the highest prospects of getting a job. That said, there is a fairly persistent idea that 'arts students get jobs flipping burgers', even in the faculty, which is a bit scary.
What I would like to do is write science fiction stories, but failing that, journalism, or working in the film/TV industry would be pretty cool.
What is the story behind your name? We need to know! (I know it’s nothing to do with your degree, but I don’t care :P)
That is a secret, guarded by a sect of monks high in the Himalayas. In order to earn it, you must pass the six ancient rites, unite the amulet of destiny, and win the heart of a fair maiden. Only then will you be deemed worthy to enter the Temple of the Name, and do battle with the High Master on a single pillar of glass suspended over the vent of an active volcano. He will whisper in your ear the the secret only on his deathbed, and from that day forth you and you alone may bear the burden of The Name as the new High Master, until someone slays you and tosses you into the lava in your turn.
Still want to know?
You’re a squirrel, a boxer or a lab creature with a golden speedo? (No, there are no other possible answers)
Squirrel. Or lab creature. Possibly both. Not the boxer, never actually seen the movie. I know, I know, it's like being called Oliver and hating olives. I actually know someone called Oliver. He hates olives. Go figure.
Also, I made a thing. Enjoy.
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EDIT TO ADD: Sorry to hijack what I'm sure will be an otherwise totally on-topic thread, but do any of you have Steam (the gaming platform)? If so we should totally look at doing a NICoA multiplayer game of something sometime. Just a thought.
I have a Steam account (username: kadaaveri). :D It could be quite fun to play something like the new Worms game with all NICoA peeps. One just has to buy the game first and so on...
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I'm up for some gaming!
I also occasionally play World of Warcraft so, I can be found there too.
I've always loved linguistics despite of having some serious language issues (even in my mother tongue...) or maybe that's the reason I found it interesting. By the way, feel free to be a complete 'Grammar Nazi' on my threads or comments, It will be well received.
ReplyDeleteRandom thought: Why in English is "Himalayas" (plural) and in Spanish is "Himalaya" (singular)? hum, strange...
I don't have a Steam account but I can get one if it's need. By the way I was thinking about playing something like Minecraft or Terraria (I didn't play this last one but I saw a lot of analysis and gameplay and It seems quite interesting, It's more centred in the adventure/rpg part than in the building things part)... but if we can talk while playing those game could be really fun... imagine the misunderstandings with the accents and the pronunciation... By the way, I'm up for any kind of gaming...
PD: I used to play WOW during the Lich king expansion, It was really funny tanking with my warrior gnome but that game it's not compatible with school or almost anything else... That's the reason why, despite loving star wars, I'm not even trying SWTOR game...
I'm a rather casual WoW player. I have several characters, one being lvl 70 and everything but I still know diddly squat about things in the game. xD It's like Angry Birds for me. A casual way to waste time with something fairly repetitive and mundane. So it doesn't really take away from school...my procrastination does.
DeleteWhat exactly is Steam? I'd google but my internet is terribly slow...
DeleteI would also play Minecraft, I've just never played it in multiplayer mode, I'm rather a run around and don't find back to your spawn point so hide for the night-player.
Steam is a program via which you can purchase, play and authenticate a vast variety of games without having to pop in a disc, so long as you remain online. I, personally, have such games as Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 for PC through Steam and though I have a physical CD of Skyrim, it had to be authenticated via Steam...which means I don't really need the CD and it's connected to Steam anyways.
DeleteYou can often get pretty good deals on games via Steam. Both Mass Effect games only cost me few euros due to a 24-hour sale on them etc.
I'm not big on the idea of playing Minecraft. I do enjoy seeing funny people play it when they post their playthrough videos of it online, but all in all I think I would get bored of it. I'm not much of a builder.
Re Steam: No pressure on anyone to get it. I just had it open while I was drafting the post and thought I'd ask. I'm rockym93, if anyone wants to add me.
DeleteRe: Himalaya(s) - interesting question. In English we pluralise all our mountain ranges (Alps, Rockies, and so on), presumably because a range implies several mountains, hence a plural. It's pretty rare to refer to a single 'alp', though it does happen, and you can have constructions like "Mont Blanc is the tallest of the alps", using alps as a set rather than a name for the range itself. I can't explain why it's different in Spanish, but I'd guess that you probably treat all your mountain ranges the same way?
And, just to confuse things even more, ine English we can use Himalaya as a singular too, referring to a region or culture - how correct this is is another matter, but it is something which native speakers say.
Excellent question!
Re: Grammar Nazi - There's a difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar. Prescriptive grammar is what you "should" use, what is taught in schools as correct. Descriptive grammar is much more interesting, where you look at things speakers actually say and analyse those, rather than judging them. A prescriptive grammarian looks at the word "youse" or "y'all" and says "No, that's wrong." A descriptive grammarian would say, "Hmm, that's an interesting response to the lack of a third-person plural pronoun. Where did you pick that up..." and start taking notes. :P
Deletetl;dr, I have zero interest in being the resident Grammar Nazi. Unless its apostrophe's in the wrong place's. That really get's me riled up. >:D
I hate the expression "Grammar Nazi" or anything else "Nazi" - in Germany/Austria, probably also in other European countries, you would never use any expression like that because the whole topic of national socialism is still so sensitive here. I would never call somebody a "Nazi", that's like the biggest insult I can think of.
DeleteSomething happier: I also have a linguistic question. Why is the plural of house houses, but the plural of mouse is mice? I can't figure that one out :D
Interestingly, all three of those are from Germanic roots, so I assume that in German they mark for plural consistently. Hence your question, presumably.
DeleteThe 'i' sound in English actually comes from assimilating (blending or averaging) the sound of an old Germanic suffix, -iz, in with the main vowel.
But why it's houses, spouses, blouses, but mice and lice, I have no idea, and the internet is curiously lacking in explanations. Probably it's just because English is such a bloody mess (this is the explanation for a lot of things :P), but I'll ask my linguistics professor for you next week if you like.
(Also, yeah, 'Grammar Nazi' is a horrible term. Especially since grammar is an elegant and fascinating idea, and not, y'know, a brutal mass-murdering fascist one.)
DeleteThat would be awesome if you could ask your professor, it's something that really bugs me, I don't like when things "just are like that" XD I always want to know why.
DeleteRE: Grammar Nazi - Sorry, about the term, It's not even a common expression in Spanish, for us, in Argentina, the Nazis are just an historic reference (despite of being, a well known country for hiding Nazi war criminals, but that's what you get when most of your modern history is ruled by coups d'etat)... the term fascist it's used as an insult a lot but not the word 'Nazi' itself. It's clearly a term that shouldn't be used as lightly as it is.
DeleteRE: Himalayas - It's funny the "Himalaya" it's the only mountain range that we named in singular... "Los Andes", "Las Rocallosas", "Los Alpes", etc...
RE: Games - The minecraft thing was just a suggestion, I think that it's quite a diverse game that's why I thought about (i think is more than a "build things" game). But any another suggestion it's well received. About the Steam account, I'm probably getting one soon, I saw some offers on their page that were impossible to ignore.
Ah interesting, I'll definitely look into that.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I'm also not much of a builder, I'm only making unstructured caves in Minecraft XD