(no subject)

[kittydesade]

Compare how Russian and English give short answers to questions:

-- Миша болен? Is Misha Ill?
-- Болен. Yes, he is.
-- Он пойдёт к врачу? Will he go see the doctor?
-- Наверное, пойдёт. He probably will.
-- Он знает, что с ним? Does he know what's wrong?
-- Нет, не знает. No, he doesn't.

In English, short answers contain helping verbs. In Russian (and, I think, in Irish, and Japanese to an extent... well, Japanese has a different construction. Possibly German, though, must look that up...) the short answer repeats the focus word of the question.

1. Вы здоровы? Здорова.
2. Вы принимаете витамины? Не принимаю витамины.
3. Вы когда-нибудь лежали в больнице? Лежала (once?)
4. Вы вчера ходили к врачу? Не ходила.
5. Вы делаете зарядку? Каждый день, делаю зарядку.
6. Вы бегаете? Бегаю.
7. Вы плаваете? Иногда плаваю.
8. Вы заботитесь о своём здорове? Да, забочусь (о своём здорове).
9. Вы занимаетесь спортом? Не занимаюсь спортом.
10. Вы чувствуете себя хорошо? Чувствую себя хорошо.


So, when I was in college, one of my majors was anthro. And in order to get an anthropology degree you had to take at least two courses from each of the four subgroups of the anthro department: Biological Anthro, Archaeology, Cultural Anthro, and Linguistics. I got out of one linguistics course, if I remember right, by also taking a language, but for my second Biological Anthro class I took Primate Biology and Behavior, also known as Monkey Lab. I hated it. It was at 8 am. But I shared it with a friend who had a shirt with a monkey face on it that said 'I Fling Poo', so it wasn't all bad.

The teacher was fun. I still don't know if it was her sense of whimsy and mischief or just one of those hilarious miracles of timing, but the week we had prospective students at the school was the week we did mating behavior. So, at about 8.20 in the morning, there I was, sitting blinking bleary-eyed at my primate teacher, this tiny middle aged ish (40s? 50s?) woman talking about baboon mating practices. And then, with little over a dozen half-awake students and a handful of prospies watching, she leans her hands on the table and bends at the waist and describes, in graphic detail with clinical terms, exactly how a female baboon in estrus makes this known and presents herself to the male. Think of Linda Hunt doing this, only with a less distinctive voice.

And that is how my Cat-Cow pose became Presenting Baboon.

I've discovered yoga in the morning when you're sleepy and thirsty and really don't want to is much more fun when you give it fun, personal names. Mountain pose is now Tron pose. Go on, I dare you to stand in Mountain pose with your hands up, if you're a Tron fan, and not imagine that disc hovering above you. And then claim it's more fun that way. Presenting Baboon, the half-Bridge pose is now London Bridge (which is falling down), etc. Exercise is so much more fun when you think of it as superhero training instead of exercise. I'm not exercising for an hour and a half in the morning, I'm training to be Silk Spectre. Or Catwoman. Catwoman would also be acceptable. (You can't tell me you didn't see that coming.)

I see LJ is still twitching and writhing in the corner there. I don't even, you guys. Surely there must be something better these DDoSers can do with their time. Or at the very least they could broad-send a b... you know, I'm not going to finish that comment, it was actually kind of ugly, morbid, and cynical. And I've been bitter and cranky enough this week. Instead, go look at this which says interesting things about people in general. Their sample size was 70,000, which is pretty impressive, but I haven't looked into detail on where they drew their sample from. Anyway, interesting, both the questions asked and the way the answer split.

Trying that veggie-feta-pita-and-balsamic thing today! We'll see how it goes. We'll see how the balsamic tastes, I might throw in some olive oil... you know, I think I will. It may be oil, but it's still good for you, and vinaigrette isn't meant to be slathered on so it's not like I'm eating much of it at any one time. Anyway, we'll see! Yay

Comments

[kikibug13]

Вы когда-нибудь лежали в больнице? Лежала (once?) (однажды - once)

Russian looks good! :D

NOM NOM NOM and the names always rock, and mmm yoga.

[kittydesade]

You'd think they would put that in the back of the book glossary. But you'd be wrong.

Woot! That seemed a simple one, yeah. Also, that was the LAST OF THE CHAPTER.

Mmmm yoga. Yoga fun.

[kikibug13]

You know, that means that if you get through with the last chapter (I haven't miscounted, right?) early, you can use the rest of the time to stock up a bit on sleep before the con. Because the con is... a con.

Yooooga fun. One of these days I'll manage to get back to getting up with my first alarm and having time for it. For now, sticking to crunches in the evening and a few neck/shoulder stretches in the restroom at work. ;)

[kittydesade]

... I hadn't thought of that, but that might not be a bad idea. At the rate I'm pushing through these things, considering I dropped a few days over the last month on Russian anyway, I might well be able to. And yeah. And Dragon*Con is a dragon of a con.

:)

[kikibug13]

You've been distracted! Plus, it's not like you've finished your self-taught academic course in a language so neatly close to it before?

Makes a good place to stop and regroup. ;)

[kittydesade]

It's not like I've finished my self-taught academic course in a language before! This is scary new territory. Then comes

*drum roll*

Reinforcing! And expanding and all.

[kikibug13]

Which just happens to be the more fun part of it for some! ;)

[kittydesade]

Hey, I actually get to read, interpret, and understand real grown-up sentences. Or try and write them in Russian. That is the most awesome part.

[kikibug13]

... I need more languageing icons.

Also, this.

[longmagpieroads]

That's a good way to think about exercise. Thanks for sharing it.

[kittydesade]

Y's welcome. :D