So, any commentary on the new layout? Do you like? NOt like? Does it look okay in Netscape? Why are you using netscape, anyway? I'd appreciate any and all feedback. :) I only just learned how to format tables properly, and this happened because I was busy not studying for my psych exam tomorrow.
I had a great entry written out earlier that discussed tonnes of interesting issues, concepts and ideas, and then Diaryland timed out and it got eaten. I was irritated, but c'est la vie, as they say.
Today has been uneventful, as I have been mostly studying for the aforementioned psych exam, which I don't think I'll do particularly well on. I'm aiming for about a 70, so wish me luck with that. I'm mostly worried about the short answer questions, because they're usually what kills me.
I've come across some really neat ideas in my studying, though, especially with regards to language development. One story in particular caught my attention: Slaves in Surinam escaped from their masters' plantations and banded together to form their own communities. Few of the former slaves spoke the same language, so they had to rely on largely non-verbal methods of communicating, and eventually developed a hodgepodge 'pidgeon' language that had no actual grammar or syntax to it. However, when these people had children, the children did not learn to speak the 'pidgeon' language--they created a new language (which my textbook called Creole) by adding rules for grammar and syntax to the pidgeon. I'm quite fascinated by the idea that human beings have the innate ability to structure a language in much the same way that a spider knows how to spin a web.
All this got me to thinking about more language related stuff. As most of you know, I am bilingual (French being my second language). The more French I speak or listen to, the more I begin to think in French, and the harder time I have remembering to switch back to English--I've even been known to dream in French, and create my own 'Fringlish' from time to time, when words have more of a 'mot juste' feeling in French. Working at Ste. Marie usually results in a lot of this, as it is one of the few places I have to use my French.
In a similar manner, I've made a transition between two different dialects: That of my family, which I've experienced for the last twenty years; and that of my roommates. With my family, there are words and phrases that have special meanings for only five people; such as 'frab' (my mother's word for fast food and in particular McDonalds, it's 'barf' spelled backwards); bellybutton cotton (instead of lint); 'cows' (instead of gravestones); 'don't cloud the issue with facts' and 'don't let fear and common sense stand in your way' (two of my father's favourite maxims); 'unk' or 'unklebunkle' (used to describe something as gross); 'bubbas' or 'nutty buddies' (the cats). I know that these words are, in all likelihood, used by other people, but at the same time they're very central to the way that my family communicates.
Here in North Bay, though, I have a new 'family'. We communicate through monosyllabics like 'buh', 'zuh', and 'snuh'. 'Really' is replaced with 'stupid', as in "Our TV is stupid big." If you don't want to answer a question, you can just say "This interview is over." Objects are attached to their owners--the Mathmobile, the Koriphone, Rhiannonpen. Insults are 'boo-urns' and can be counteracted with 'pillow beatings', which are 'banked' if there's no available pillow. People have commented before on how we really do act like a family. It makes me sad to think that in a week, this will all be over for good. But change is inevitable, as they say.