Discussions can go a long way. My friend and me started off in English class, discussing about a text we read (Mother Tongue by amy Tan, quite interesting). After 1h we ended up at talking about the origin of human mankind... a long way. This is what we came up with:
I was wondering were language comes from. I mean apparently humans didn't have a language a long time ago and now there are thousands, and some are complicated. I mean who came up with grammar and all that? Obviously it developed over time, languages still develop. The best example for that is slang. You didn't say "to google" 50 years ago. But there has to be a beginning, just like with the chicken and the egg.. My English teacher said that it started with someone making a sound, that sound you make when a mammut is standing right behind you when you turn around, and from there it developed. Seems legit. But our discussion continued, we came up with the question of where we actually come from and my friend recommended me the following book: A short story of nearly everything by Bill Brison. It explains the newest theories of how the earth was created. Careful, it is mindblowing though! So we were debating and wondering about whether there is something outside the universe we know and if yes, then what. We wondered if there is a "nothing". And if there are aliens, of cause, that laugh at us because we are so stupid and don't get the big picture. You know, the usual stuff you wonder about in English class and that pops up into your head at midnight when you are supposed to sleep but your brain just wouldn't shut up. Anyways, it was a deep discussion and obviously there was no conclusion, we were just a little more mindblown than before. I am ending this by recommending the book mentioned above and by saying that philosophy is actually quite interesting... having your mind blown now and then is actually okay :) -Nicole
0 Comments
English is not my first language.
So, I read Nicole's latest review. She used the word nowhere. It took me fife minutes to find out that it is no-where and not now-here. I believe it is important to know whether it is meant to be no-where or now-here. The difference is huge. But how could you if your first language is not English? If no one ever told you? Nowhere just became my favourite english word. Nowhere. For some reason I make a break after the W when I write it. My second favourite word is bellybutton. -Julia |