Caecilius est in horto
Caecilius est in horto
Is this more the case than for other languages which kids get taught?Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
The thing that blows my mind about geography is that apparently people, who have all learned it in school, apparently paid so little attention that when they go on to embarrass themselves on quiz shows later in life they say "I was never any good at geography in school" when what they mean is "I have no idea where countries are."
Unless other people got lessons where they just leafed through an atlas for a bit. I must've been off that day.
The way they currently teach languages up to GCSE, yes. Until that point you just get taught to memorise a load of stupid holiday phrases and how to say what your hobbies are. In Latin they break it open from day one and teach you the grammar and how to actually form the language. I'd prefer if they did this in modern languages too but hey, Tony Blair etc.
They don't even make kids do a foreign language GCSE any more, do they?
Do they not still have to do a minimum of one?
Okay so it's not so much that Latin is anything special as such, just that because it's not going to help people ask Pedro for a chip butty they actually teach you brain-stuff rather than memorising lines? Because I would agree that the way languages are taught here is bollocks, by and large.
I remember in a spoken exam for French we had to prepare a speech about a holiday we'd been on, ideally to France, and also be ready for some questions that came after it. So I did a bit about a thrilling jaunt to Calais (what's French for 'booze cruise'?) and mentioned going into a bakery and she asked me something that I didn't understand so we gave up and moved on.
Afterward she told me she was asking whether I'd done any baking in the bakery, as if 11 year old me had swaggered in, rolling up my sleeves, and said "Step aside, Jean-Claude, I've got this."
Haven't done for ages, Tony got rid.
I would prefer Latin over most of the shit kids are taught.
Basically. Some of the Tory desire for Latin is undoubtedly a culture war play and harking back to nannies and public schools from back in their day, but that doesn't mean Latin in itself needs to have those connotations.
I had to do one in 2002. I assumed it was still the case. Having done research, it looks like they binned it in 2004. I'd have loved that at the time, as I was absolutely crap at German (still managed a B).
Yeah I thought it had been changed during my time.
I did three languages at A level. It was interesting as I was basically godlike at them and didn't have to try, they were easy A*s. Arguably set my academic career back as it meant I also didn't try at anything else, because those were going to cruise me home for the needed grades. Even now I'm still probably only in this job because of language skills which I still remember from 2006. Not really learned anything since then.
As for shit like home economics, that is just too basic to merit formal education. Anyone remotely smart can figure it out on their own. As for people too thick to figure it out, being taught it in school will not make a difference.
Back on topic, this is ticking all my boxes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-58114686
Feel good Oscar winning entry in ten years, or feel bad if he gets shot by a roving DEFRA agent.
What the hell is an Alpaca and how have I got to 41 without knowing they exist?
........... what.
It's basically a Llama.
I thought I might get that response.
I mean, I know what Llamas are, but I've genuinely never heard of Alpacas. What's she doing with the thing in the first place? Milking it?
You can shear it for wool I think.
The thing is better travelled than I am...Defra has defended its methods after it was revealed the tests have never been trialled for their accuracy in detecting bovine tuberculosis in alpacas, and that Geronimo had tested negative on four occasions in New Zealand.
To answer your second question I've no idea how you've got to 41 without knowing what one is.
So it seems. You can buy Alpaca duvets.
https://www.google.com/search?q=alpa...hrome&ie=UTF-8
Someone I used to work with came into work pissed off because her boyfriend had sponsored an Alpaca for her birthday once.
My sister in law did the same to me, but with a Penguin. (A black and white flightless bird that lives south of the equator. The largest of its kind is called the Emporer Penguin and can be found in the Antarctic).
I didn't realise people did that for adults, I thought it was an unimaginative present for children who're interested in animals.
Spikey.
I thought the same.
All I got from Latin (apart from the GSCE) was the ability to count sentences ahead in class so I could work out which particular bit of text I would be required to translate [and get on with figuring out how to do that] and a now faded memory of learning the verbatim translations of various epic poems [Germanicus and Piso, Orpheus and Eurydice] so I didn't have to know any actual Latin when it came to the exam, where you had to translate sections of them.
A language which utilises billions of clauses and only puts the functioning verb at the very end of all of them is fucking daft.
Obsessing over how education has to be "useful" in a strictly getting a job way is stupid and Latin has value, but no more than, to use an obvious example, Norse literature.
They have a weird human type look to them. Not a fan.
You ought to have a basic grasp of latin if you're working in Currys.
I don't think that's an alpaca.
Isn’t it a llama?
Alpaca's have the little hairdo, and are generally smaller/cuter.
That looks more like a hairy llama.
It only occurred to me recently, as there's a house on the walk to school called Llama, but doesn't llama mean name (or 'called') so my question is, has this things name developed over a misunderstanding about someone asking what it's called?
I know there's lots of different ideologies represented under the Tory establishment banner, but I do enjoy the obsession with "prestige" cultural shite like opera and latin and the way you're supposed to pronounce Magdalen College, Oxford contrasted with the uber-capitalist let-the-market-decide shit that's used as an excuse to cut funding.
In 2018, 62% of Arts Council England’s music pot went to opera, lol.
So the story goes (re niko and his llamas). Llama means call, like appel in frog.
It's a mixture of inability to change from what was drummed into them as kids (i.e. opera is good and other things are bad), and fear of the masses liking other things and then wondering what else they might like done differently.
As a cricket man and a small c conservative I am endlessly frustrated by these old clowns not knowing what is actually good about things they profess to love. In the case of opera, the music and performance are good, the toffing about and ra-raing are bad. That's not why they want to preserve opera though. It's the toffing about they want to preserve. They think it's the inaccessibility that makes it good. It fucking isn't. Make jeans, nay, shorts compulsory in the opera house.
Yep, I agree with most of that.
My mate (of that hilarious youtube video I shared that everyone loved) was briefly going out with this mega mega posh girl and a few people in her family and general social circle claimed to have a love of opera, but when matey tried to engage with her uncle or whatever on Wagner or some shit, he got absolutely nothing. His gf explained it was nothing more than a networking event for them.
I go to brum symphony hall all the time, and the ticket brackets are like:
super posh seats - Ł50, Ł10 for under 30s
slightly less posh seats - Ł40, Ł10 for under 30s
etc etc
They only release the cheap seats a week or so before the event, so for super popular shit like Dvorak's New World Symphony and anything Beethoven I might not get to sit front and centre of the circle (which is absolutely fair enough), but this has meant I've been able to go to about fifteen live classical music things, and I've even managed to drag along my mates who are incredibly suspicious of things like classical music. I reckon at least a couple of them, having discovered classical music is fucking mega, will continue to go even after they stop qualifying for the cheap seats.
When I went to see R V-W's pastoral symphony at the Albert Hall during the proms, this daft old twat gave me and my mate (in jeans, drinking BEER like absolute legends) the dirtiest looks, before asking us what was on the programme, and basically just shrugged when I told her.
Last edited by igor_balis; 06-08-2021 at 05:35 PM.
Libby.
It's a pit.
Do you mean a pile of dust?
Is there anything worse than seeing an old bloke crack their head open? The noise is always horrific and they go down in one swoop.
Maybe you should stop killing them?
Maybe if they stopped drinking, I'd put the effort in. Nothing like being told the ambulance will be an hour when you can see a hospital from where he fell.
Is this your old man or what's the story?
Just some old pisshead who hit the deck as I was leaving Tescos. I wasn't going to bother but his head was royally cracked and he wasn't moving.
More like he turned up in his trilby and his fingerless gloves and they pissed themselves.
Not quite. I think the picture you have of him is almost right, but he's less wacky and zany than you'd imagine, but also probably less likeable. @mugbull help me out here - describe my mate you met (not the old long-haired one)
Trilby, fingerless gloves, his wallet on a chain... What a total wanker.
i hate you so much
Went past the scene of Old Man Down this morning. His bloodstain was still there but a burger van was parked on top of it. Saw an absolute knacker come out of the Market Tavern. Wet patch on the arse of his trackies and one untied shoe. The North East distilled in one human being.
You seem strangely invested in this old geezer. Are you sure you didn't do it?
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