Introducing... Thomathy

Thomathy
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Introducing... Thomathy

Hullo,

I've been on the forums for nearly a month now and I haven't introduced myself. I don't particularly like to put myself forward in this manner and I hadn't been invited to introduce myself by the lovely Susan as so many others are and I was thankful to be overlooked, but I've finally decided to simply come out about it. After all, like so much else, I didn't simply appear from nowhere and nothing.

I'm always so apprehensive writing about myself and introductions can be awkward. The impersonality of forums does somehow not remove that apprehension or the perceived possibility of awkwardness. I suppose this is compounded in my mind by my user picture, but I enjoy being myself and that photo is very much me. Setting aside apprehension and worry, I am Thomathy. I study Language and Logic and Philosophy at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. I'm a third year student and just entering into the Philosophy part of my combined honours major. Necessarily, I've studied a lot in Linguistics. I am especially apt at translating. I've certificates in second language education and have particular interest Diachronic and Evolutionary Linguistics. I seem to have found The Rational Response Squad at just the right time, as the application of Logic and Philosophy here is wonderfully helpful to my studies. I can work with real-word examples. I am still more tempted to find flaws with language use, but, as it is, that tends to overlap with logical fallacy. People do very interesting things with language and I love all of those things.

I'm sorry if I've bored anyone by now. People tend to be apathetic and uninterested in Linguistics, ignorantly asking what language I'm studying. Of course, Linguistics has nothing to do with learning another language; it just tends to go hand in hand with that. I, having grown up in Ontario, am passable in French and am pursuing German. I am not unskilled in Spanish, Italian and Gaelic (both the Scots and Irish varieties).

I am Atheist. I was raised half-heartedly in the Anglican tradition, I expect, because attendance at the local church was generally expected in the community. Anglicans, I have found, tend to be more interested in social gatherings than in God. My immediate family has more Atheists than not in it and those who do believe in the divine are Pantheists. Of my extended family, most are Catholic or Anglican, and disturbingly to me as well as a constant source of tragedy, one unit of my extended family is of the evangelical Christian variety. Questioning was always encouraged in my house and I learned early to respect decent answers. At an early age I found the answers to my questions at Sunday school to be indecent and decided that I could not believe. The contradictions, deflected, redirected and simply unanswered questions increased my scepticism early. I recall conversing with my brother well under the age of ten about belief and him, at the time, being unconvinced by my reasoning not to believe. It was not until much later in life that I would find much of what I had intuitively found problematic in religion and belief reflected in arguments such as Epicurus' problem of evil, to name one that came to my mind first. I am an Atheist, and I suppose a great deal of my upbringing has to do with my lack of belief.

I hope I've adequately introduced myself and I've not gone over long in my introduction. This is where my fear for being awkward stems. I don't wish to write too much and bare it all, but this seems suitable. I look forward to posting more in the forum. There are always interesting threads here. Thank you and again, Hullo!

BigUniverse wrote,

"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."


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Welcome!  Glad you and

Welcome!  Glad you and here and that you decided to post an intro.

Count me as a fan - I love Linguistics and am filled with regret that I didn't study it in college.  Do you have any good books on the subject that you can recommend?


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Welcome aboard! I too was

Welcome aboard! I too was prompted to introduce myself by Susan (The Graciuos). We'll be looking forward to your posts.

Miracles don't exist. "Miracle" is a word given to a preposterous event that a theist considers dogmatically advantageous. Def. - Ecclesiastical sensationalism.


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Welcome to the hizzle!

Welcome to the hizzle!


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Welcome to the forums

Welcome to the forums Thomathy!!


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Thomathy wrote: I study

Thomathy wrote:

I study Language and Logic and Philosophy at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.

Cool, I just moved back to Windsor after living in Europe for a bit. If you'd like to meet up and chat some time, let me know by PM. 

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Thomathy wrote: I hadn't

Thomathy wrote:

I hadn't been invited to introduce myself by the lovely Susan as so many others are and I was thankful to be overlooked,

My sincere apologies for not extending an official invitation to introduce yourself.  My only excuse is that I've been spending anywhere from 3 to 5 hours a night on the forums mostly doing behind the scenes duties and working in the forums with specific moderation rules.

Diachronic and Evolutionary Linguistics are fascinating.  Don't you wonder how Instant Messaging and the Internet is affecting language?  (Well, you probably already know!)  As a grammar nazi myself, I'm usually horrified as many people in the work force and can't spell or put together a complete sentence.   What will a business letter look like in 50 years?  Will it begin with "btw"?  Hopefully I will be retired by then and won't have to see it.  

Thomathy wrote:
People do very interesting things with language and I love all of those things.

You're definitely in the right place to get real-world examples of how words can be twisted, misconstrued and misunderstood in written conversation.  It would be so much easier if most theists would just say, "B...B...But I wanna believe!"

We're really glad you introduced yourself and we're really glad you're here!

 

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jce wrote: Welcome! Glad

jce wrote:

Welcome! Glad you and here and that you decided to post an intro.

Count me as a fan - I love Linguistics and am filled with regret that I didn't study it in college. Do you have any good books on the subject that you can recommend?

 You might find David Crystal's The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language extremely useful.  He has also published a dictionary of Linguistics and phonetics, titled, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics

A book I highly recommend to anyone interested in language is Spoken Here by a Canadian Journalist, Mark Abley.  It is a masterfully written and easily understood account of threatened, endangered and dying languages.  The book is very moving and relevant to the world as it is now. 

There are other books about linguistics, including text books, that can be helpful, but certainly the Cambridge Encylopedia is the most comprehensive and complete that I know of.

I hope that's helpful! 

BigUniverse wrote,

"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."


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natural wrote: Thomathy

natural wrote:
Thomathy wrote:

I study Language and Logic and Philosophy at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.

Cool, I just moved back to Windsor after living in Europe for a bit. If you'd like to meet up and chat some time, let me know by PM.

I never would have expected to find another Windsorite on this forum.  Craziness.  Perhaps our proximity to the United States has something to do with this? 

BigUniverse wrote,

"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."


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Susan wrote:

Susan wrote:

Diachronic and Evolutionary Linguistics are fascinating. Don't you wonder how Instant Messaging and the Internet is affecting language? (Well, you probably already know!) As a grammar nazi myself, I'm usually horrified as many people in the work force and can't spell or put together a complete sentence. What will a business letter look like in 50 years? Will it begin with "btw"? Hopefully I will be retired by then and won't have to see it.

 

I don't know that anyone can be sure just what the end result of the internet and text messaging will be on language, but if high school English classes are any indication, the written word is very much threatened.  I don't believe in prescriptivist language practices, but I also enjoy being able to read.  I'm a little torn, but necessarily we have to be able to preserve the written medium in some sort of standard or else we'll find ourselves illiterate.  The change will happen, all language change is inevitable and always good (difficult to accept, maybe, but never bad for a language), but for the sake of comprehension, in the written word especially, it must come slowly.  Therefore, I submit to you that you won't need to worry about business letters beginning with 'btw' (except that if it saves money...) before you retire, but you had best get used to the standard shifting.  I expect 'slowly' is relative and compared with recent written history in English the changes coming are going to be comparatively fast.  Sorry to say it, but if it's not 'btw', you might have to accept a revised English alphabet and different/updated grammar.  I don't think we'll ever stop being horrified by poor spelling and incomplete sentences, but I promise it will get better!

 

BigUniverse wrote,

"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."


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I am already horrified by

I am already horrified by the Business Buzzword Of The Day way of speaking and writing that has become so popular.

Please oh please give me a break from "synergy" and "volumetrics".

 

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I have much compassion for

I have much compassion for you.  Poor thing!  I must admit I laughed, but words like that disgrace us all.  Buzzword of the Day... like a contest.  'How many times can I use today's word?  Does it matter if I understand the connotation and denotation?  Does it matter if I use it in a complete sentence?  Perhaps I could improve the word by using it as a different part of speech?  Can you synergise something?  To synergise?  Can something be synergyly, synergyful?  Hmm...'.  Yes, I can feel the bile rising.  I recommend earplugs when talking with the droids.

BigUniverse wrote,

"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."


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Unfortunately, earplugs

Unfortunately, earplugs would be considered rude when upper management is speaking.  *sigh*

I was once requested to faciliate a meeting.

I do, however, refuse to "blue sky" in meetings.  I will be more than happy to offer ideas and opinions, but I will not blue sky.

 

*begins crying softly* 

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Thomathy wrote: natural

Thomathy wrote:
natural wrote:
Thomathy wrote:

I study Language and Logic and Philosophy at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.

Cool, I just moved back to Windsor after living in Europe for a bit. If you'd like to meet up and chat some time, let me know by PM.

I never would have expected to find another Windsorite on this forum. Craziness. Perhaps our proximity to the United States has something to do with this?

No doubt. There's an old saying that there's a one-way mirror between America and Canada; when Canadians look south, they see Americans, and when Americans look north they see Americans. As Windsorites, we get innundated with American culture, but somehow retain our Canadianness. I think it affects our personality. Tongue out

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Welcome!

Welcome to the Jungle my friend! Yell