Category: TTFN

WELCOME BACK TO UVIC September 2022!

! WELCOME BACK !
! to UVIC !
! September 2022 !
! … and The CALL Facility too !

A full week has  passed since classes started at UVIC! That would cover every day that has classes! It has been extremely busy on campus, especially outdoors with so many orientations, booths, tents and activities like Thunderfest for all students, especially new students! WELCOME TO UVIC!

The  Computer Help Desk had tents up at Thunderfest as well as the day before classes started last week. CHD had a brand new PRIZE WHEEL to give away prizes! YAY CHD!

A couple of photos of the tents for all the activities and staffed by ALL kinds of CHD staff from new Coops to Consultants to Supers to Full Time Staff to our Associate Director too! GREAT TEAM EFFORT FROM EVERYONE! Those tents DO require team effort to setup and take down! YAY CHD!

All sorts of exciting stuff will be happening throughout September
& all upcoming semesters!

Did you know you can reserve Student Study Spaces, including the desks at the back of The CALL Facility? There are Project Rooms in BEC, Group Study Tables in Clearihue (CALL), Virtual Reality (VR) Studio in BEC and a Digital Media Studio in HSD! ALL from THIS WEBSITE! Photos below!

A few more Dual Monitors

CALL now has DUAL MONITORS ON ALL COMPUTER WORKSTATIONS! And that is on all the Macs and WIN computers! I was able  to re-purpose a bunch of monitors heading towards recycling and they now have a new lease on life in CALL! And it did not cost a penny! I used all available cables,  monitors, dongles and power bars! BONUS FOR BEING A GREEN CALL FACILITY! Here are many UVIC Green Recycling Sites to check out too! These and the best of my Pages are always at the right hand side of each of my Bog Blog Posts. 

I am always tinkering with my CALL Facility orientation, starting as a PowerPoint and with the goal to be under 5 minutes TOTAL as a presentation! I have tweaked my BETA version  and now have what I think  I will use as my file! And as a YouTube video as well!

CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist II
                     CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II

AND I have the next CHD All Staff Training Jeopardy ready!  Greg’s Playlist II and all new questions, answers, prizes and lyrics and CHD questions to try and answer! I even have NEW TYPES OF QUESTIONS TOO! But you will have to wait and .. also be staff at CHD to get the invite to the training! Come for the training … but stay for the food … and CHD JEOPARDY!

And huge HUGE NEWS THAT … I can’t really tell you about …  but WILL! There are new computers coming! Wait, they are ALREADY HERE! But wait, they are not yet ready to deploy! YES NEW  COMPUTERS! CHD staff unpacked them and we have to store them for now, as classes have started, so maybe  by Reading Break I will  let everyone know where they will be deployed! YAY NEW COMPUTERS! Stay glued to my Bog Blog for that and any other breaking Computer Help Desk news!

And how about a new feature every so often – a Throwback Link to topics … somewhat close to this one! LOL! And even some parting advice at the end of this blog, if you read that far!  I sure hope you do!

The best feature of the CALL layout (thanks to rolling desks!) is distancing to make sure everyone has enough room, should they want it. There are lots of open workstations for students and of course, all new computers from last August 2021 too.

CALL has  hosted many mid-terms, Finals and special workshops including a Chat Café with Korea! Really! So come on down and see what you  have been missing out on as a study space for yourself and fellow students!

Thanks to EVERYONE for all your help and support over the past 2+ Covid years. Without my colleagues support and friendship, I have no idea how I would have fared! THANK YOU ALL! And hey, to quote one of my favourite  TV shows of all time …. Hill Street Blues ….. and I have to mention St. Elsewhere too. AWESOME SHOWS! ENJOY!

CALL Towering Tech Arrivals

CALL Computer Refresh Deja Vu .. All Over Again

The Recycling of CALL … and HSD!

Early Computer Help Desks!

TTFN!

The CALL Facility … and other Mysteries of UVIC – Updated July 2022

DEJA CALL … all over again!

So, what exactly IS …
The CALL Facility at UVic?
Well, here goes!
Including new ‘BETA‘ content
for September 2022 !

I have a NEW PDF (and PDF-video!) for a NEW version of The CALL Facility Orientation for September 2022!

  ⬇️ September 2022 ⬇️
NEW BETA VERSION
The CALL Facility Orientation
  ⬇️ Click Below to download ⬇️

And just below is my “Director’s Cut” YouTube version, converted from PowerPoint – and less than 2 minutes in length (1:59! LOL!) I will definitely have some updates and upgrades between now and then as I ‘Field Test’ this new approach to showing everyone The CALL Facility and preparing for September 2022.

Previous versions (Page) of my CALL intro had MANY slides of all the available resources for each  language/course/Department that used CALL for homework, assignments, WICKET, etc. That has totally changed due to Covid and I wanted a very quick, very informative slide show that ANYONE could quickly see (and show!) and not be resource or ‘click heavy’. I hope I have accomplished that!

I will continue to tweak it and after a few live CALL orientations, I will update these resources! Of course, I retain the right to .. include my brand of humour throughout! Oh, by the way, without a doubt, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is THE BEST STAR TREK SERIES OF ALL TIME! And … Spoiler Alert – this could actually pop up as a Jeopardy Questions in the new September CHD Training Day! You .. never … know!

The CALL Facility is STILL one of the Hidden Gems of Clearihue! Enjoy!

I will  have future Bog Blog posts about “Heading Back to UVic“,  “Oldest Computers in the World“, “On Vacation“, “Welcome Back to UVic” in September, and even some updated Pages and more totally random stuff that I seem to … maybe … specialize in! LOL!

CHD Jeopardy Greg's Playlist II
   CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II

And … another SPOILER ALERT – a brand new CHD Jeopardy Greg’s Playlist II for September CHD Training too! YAY JEOPARDY!

Thanks to EVERYONE at CHD for participating and your support too! I can’t make CALL Orientations or CHD Jeopardy without all of you and your assistance, support and … rolling eyes!! Thank you!

TTFN!

 

My Favourite ‘Favourites’ at OAC!

! MY Favourite ‘Favourites’!
! AT OAC !

It occurs to me that …  I really like blogging here at OAC! I published a daily blog in the initial months of remote computing and all of a sudden, I had published almost 230 Posts! And a handful of Pages too. What is the difference between a ‘BogPost‘ and a ‘BogPage‘, welPages and Postsl, I wrote a Post about that called “Pages and Posts … What Gives?“

And of course, that led me to think about which ones were my … favourites amongst them all! Yeah, not fair, but … I make the rules here! So I will now attempt to list, in no particular order, my “Top 10 Favourite Posts”

I will  have one ‘filter’ though … the Post had to have the word “favourite” in  it somewhere – preferably the title! So that will sub sort it quite a bit! So,  HERE GOES!

TOP 10 FAVOURITE POSTS
AT MY ‘BOG BLOG‘

  1. “Think Different or . . . Apple Commercials Through the Years” would be a favourite at anytime, simply because of the sheer imagination of Apple Commercials. A long ago summer project was to learn how to create a DVD and what better source than … Apple commercials! And I think my favourite Apple commercial is for an iPad … “Your Verse Apple iPad Commercial – What Will Your Verse Be?” Watch it and try to disagree with me!
  2. “I’m Sorry Dave or . . . My Favourite Computer AI Voices in Movies and TV” easily makes my Top 10. A gimme if ever  there was one as we reference many phrases and moments almost DAILY at CHD! In other  words, Make it So,  Bogman!
  3. “1, 2, 3, . . . . or My Favourite Language Lesson of All Time!” and to this day, it is STILL my favourite language lesson of ALL TIME! My first ever TEACHING job was in Calgary,  teaching  basic computing  skills. Including BASIC as a programming language! Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code! Literally … BASIC!
  4. “Open Book Exams . . . . or . . . . My Favourite Textbooks“. How can anyone LIKE a textbook much less make it a Favourite? Well, I did! I have kept many of my favourite textbooks throughout the years! Why not! They helped me get through many a tough course and … that I enjoyed them was a side bonus!
  5. “CART2D2 – There is no try! Do or Do Not Young Skywalker!” THIS is a favourite because CART2D2 is a favourite! We are still playing around with this to find some great uses and the next big use will be at our first IN PERSON  CHD TRAINING SESSION on May 28th! YAY! There is no try … Do or Do Not!
  6. “Comparing Apples and Oranges but not actually ….. Oranges!” Recycling is HUGE at UVic and I try to recycle as much as I possibly can. And when CHD had quite literally a MOUNTAIN OF TECH show up last summer, CALL was used as a staging area for so much tech! And with so much PACKING AND CARDBOARD TOO! So any chance I get to promote recycling, I take it! And we are in the beginning  stages of a new refresh so … warm up your Blue Bins, UVic!
  7. “Throwback Thursday . . . or . . . Language Quotes! (and a bit of nostalgia!)” Who doesn’t enjoy a quick quote as a comeback or as a poster in their office! I probably only have a few stored in my long term PRAM that could be ZAPPED at any moment! So quotes about computers, life and especially Languages, is right up my alley in CALL!
  8. “Bold Italics Comic Sans . . . or Word Processors Through the Years” One of my first ever Computer  Science assignments, on punched cards no less, was to write a program to replace 3 words (that my Instructor had set in a paragraph (read from a mainframe!) with 3 other words. THAT WAS VERY HARD! But now, Gmail docs, Office, Pages … all have keyboard SHORTCUTS for Find and Replace! And none of them use punched cards as source code! Only shows that I correctly guessed that my future career … was NOT to be a Programmer!
  9. “I Excel at PowerPoint . . . or Computer Puns and Jokes” What would any Top 10 List be without including a post about my favourite jokes and puns! I never let an opportunity to ‘pun’ go unpunished! And I am usually RESTRAINING myself too!
  10. “CALL CHD JEOPARDY OPUS“. How could I create a Top 10 and NOT include Jeopardy! Okay, a bit of a cheat here as this is actually a PAGE that can be accessed anytime from any of my Posts. AND is always updated to the most recent version of JEOPARDY! In fact, the first IN PERSON CHD Training will be on Saturday, May 28th and I will have a brand new Jeopardy – Greg’s Playlist! And it will have new elements such as Fill-in-the-Blanks, Multiple Choice and even some Scavenger Hunts for prizes!

So many Posts/Pages … so little time! I am not writing at the same pace, but reserve my Posts/Pages for my remote day, unless something comes up.

It might take awhile, here’s to my next 230+ Posts and Pages and Randomness at UVic! YAY!

TTFN!

New CHD Staff Training
Coming UP
… and a new Jeopardy too!

Video Playlists at OAC – COOL!

! VIDEO PLAYLISTS!
! AT OAC !

I discovered a feature of WordPress here at OAC that can create Video Playlists in a post! I have used Photo Gallery quite a bit, once I learned how to use them, and published some of my favourite photographs I have taken at this post, Photography Gallery.

This feature allows you to build a .. Video Playlist .. as the name indicates. Very much like a YouTube Playlist, but for OAC purposes, based on media you have at your own OAC Media Library.

The Online Academic Community has some great Tutorials on Organizing Content and the using The Dashboard too!

All you have to do is have some video media (MP4/M4V work best) uploaded to your Media Library. Then in your new or already existing Post/Page, click on the “Add Media” button. Under “Actions“, click “Create video playlist“.  All the videos that are in your Media library will now appear. Click on the ones you want to be in your playlist and a Blue Checkmark will appear on each one.

Then in the bottom right hand corner, click on “Create a new video playlist“. Then click “Insert video playlist” …
et voilà …your video playlist is inserted into your Post!

You can change the order if you want by editing the Video playlist quite easily, if you want to change the order from how you  uploaded them.

If the OAC Media Library does not want to upload your video, use Handbrake to convert to either MP4 or M4V. Free software for both Mac and WIN and works like a charm for converting SO MANY FORMATS! 

A few more helpful links for creating a Video Playlist at OAC. Not all the features mentioned  will work at OAC but there are many hints and images at these sites to help create your Video Playlists at OAC. ENJOY!

  1. Tutorial: How to create a WordPress video gallery
  2. Insert an Audio or Video Playlist
  3. How to Create a Video Gallery in WordPress (Step by Step)
  4. How To Make A Playlist On YouTube (2022)

TTFN!

New CHD Staff Training
Coming UP
… and a new Jeopardy too!

CALL Dual Monitors

! CALL DUAL MONITORS !
! NOW INSTALLED !

CALL Instructor Stations #37 & #38
                            CALL Instructor Stations #37 & #38

The CALL Facility now has dual monitors on each workstation! Well, not all of them. The Instructors stations (#37 & #38) are connected to the VDP and can project to the entire room. And room is needed for laptops and materials at each station. 

The idea to install them came from a Poster Session for Linguistics, described in an earlier post! It was so successful that the monitors at HSD (in storage) that were headed to be recycled, a box of HDMI-DVI dongles and some DVI cables were found …. DUAL  MONITORS! And at absolutely no cost at all! I joke that I found a penny under a station, so my budget not only came in UNDER budget .. but showed a profit!!!!

There are combinations of Portrait and/or Landscape and relatively easy to switch around. I will survey students throughout the summer to see what combination might be preferable. 

Most students are away for the summer and fewer classes are actually scheduled so it will still look like ‘new’ equipment for September!

Thanks to colleagues T, H and G for helping me set them up! Those cable trays are heavy, awkward and filled with .. cables! LOL! And a very green mini-project, saving tech from a landfill too!

Some previous posts on recycling are “The Recycling of CALL and HSD!“,  “CALL Computer Refresh Deja Vu ….. All Over Again” and “UVIC Recycling Links“.

TTFN!

BE READY!!!!

READY!

ON VACATION! Back on AUGUST 30!!

I AM NOW ON VACATION!

What an exhausting and long year since last August – my last full vacation!

And exhausting … for ALL OF  US! I am so fortunate to have been able to  work with such amazing and incredible colleagues at The Computer Help Desk over the past … 500+ DAYS! Yes, it has been that long since we started working remotely, late in March of 2020!

Without ALL of their support, humour, leadership, imagination, guidance  and every single possible ‘intangible‘ that each and every single one of them, ALL BRING to our Teams meetings, emails, texts, GIFs, Emojis, Jeopardy, Quote Contests, it would have been impossible to accomplish a fraction of what WE ALL DID AS A TEAM!

THANK YOU ALL!

A few key UVic and BC websites for returning to campus in September for everyone!

  1. Return-to-Campus Guidelines now available
  2. Return to campus info for students
  3. Communicable Disease Plan now available
  4. UVic News
  5. Update on getting your COVID-19 vaccine
  6. Remote work arrangements announced for the fall
  7. Working remotely
  8. Post-secondary studies during COVID-19
  9. NEW COMPUTERS IN CALL! YAY!
  10. NEW FURNITURE IN CALL! YAY!

Not to worry . . .

August 30th to prep for
. . . Septem . . . PURR !!!!

 

Pandemic


I will bring Empire Donuts when I return to UVic!

~~Bogman~~

 

Working From Home . . . What Could Go Wrong?

Working From Home . . . 
What Could Go Wrong?!

DEFINITELY NOT my most productive morning since working from home!

Full Disclosure: Having a relatively frustrating morning, with, you guessed it … my computer! So, probably a short post today.

DOUBLE Full Disclosure: Taking a Tea Time Out, breathing and … over it now!

FIRST AND FOREMOST – amazing colleagues! I can’t say enough about everyone I work with at the Computer Help Desk! Thanks everyone! And they are doing the same for Students, Staff and Faculty with knowledge, humour and steadfast patience!

My laptop went wonky this morning! Still a bit wonky, but still doing what it does best – allow me to work from home during these interesting times! Everyone was quick to help, offer suggestions and give advice and I am back doing my morning OAC post! 

The only downside, would seem to be my bookmarks/Favourites in Edge have gone rogue! And if THAT is the worst thing that has happened on ‘Yet Another Manic Monday‘, then I am good to go with that! I spent the better part of the morning finding and re-setting my bookmarks and access to them. NAILED IT! Well, maybe … THUMBTACKED IT!

I had to take my own advice and just … let it go! I can easily, slowly, rebuild my Favorites and just keep on working at home! A few things that I always try to remember and put into perspective:

  1. PERSPECTIVE! Yup, just how important is it.
  2. Tea! Better than coffee for stress reduction
  3. Meditation – just letting things go. Thanks to Henri at UVic’s Multifaith!
    1. Breathing … kind of a sub-category, at least for me!

Not too much more. Those work for me and me alone. Yes, a big bag of oversimplification, but, it works for me. 

So, a perspective story! My lawnmower started on the second try this weekend! YAY! But the rip cord to start it .. RIPPED OUT! So, standing there, lawnmower RUNNING and no way to start it again … Command Line Decision – just start cutting and don’t stop! Just like in Finding Nemo – “Just keep swimming!”, except … mowing the lawn!

I even emptied the catch bag – WHILE IT WAS RUNNING – and kept on mowing! Whew, finished frontyard, lane, alleyway and backyard in about 50 minutes while on FULL THROTTLE!

Makes a good story and then the best part – there are kits to replace the staring cable for under $10!

In hindsight,it was not as stressful as at the moment! But … I decided to …. just keep mowing, just keep mowing and it relieved my stress! Thanks Dori!

I also did a previous post on “Relieving Stress . . . International Words and Self-Care Trends”

And I leave you with some great UVic and other sites on stress including BC and Canadian government sites.

Enjoy!

  1. 10 Ways to Cope with Anxiety about Coronavirus (COVID-19) (UVIC)
  2. Ways to cope if you are in isolation due to COVID-19 (UVIC)
  3. Anxiety and Stress (UVIC)
  4. Managing COVID-19 Stress (BC Government)
  5. COVID-19 (BC Centre for Disease Control)
  6. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (Canada)
  7. World’s Most Advanced Lawnmower

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

    ENJOY!
            
   TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

Most Insane Lawnmowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kopi and Kaffee and Café and Kafés and … COFFEE in Different Languages

Kopi and Kaffee
Café and Kafés
and
Coffee in Different Languages!

I install JAVA every single morning! And I tend to update it again within hours! And you probably know where I am going with this – COFFEE!!!!

Full Disclosure: I am drinking coffee right now, as in … RIGHT NOW!!!! And the rumours are true … I have a coffee mug shaped like … The TARDIS!

Ah, that morning nectar, that brown liquid ambrosia, that chocolate wine, that beige magic … and … enough with Thesaurus.com!

And below are just a few of the many words for coffee in other languages!

 

Chinese: 咖啡 (Kāfēi)
Malay: Kopi
French: Café
German: Kaffee
Japanese: コーヒー (Kōhī)
Korean: 커피 (Keopi)
Portuguese: Café
Russian: Кофе (Kofe)
Spanish: Café
Afrikaans: Koffie
Dutch: Koffie
Finnish: Kahvi
Greek: Καφές (Kafés)
Hindi: कॉफ़ी (Kofee)
Icelandic: Kaffi
Romanian: Cafea
Swedish: Kaffe

 

 

Did you know that coffee dates back to 800 A.D.? And that in Arabic, it literally translates into ‘wine’! Cool! There are multiple links below, as always, and you can try a few out and find out even MORE interesting facts about the World’s Most Popular Beverage, by far – if you don’t count … TEA!

And what about coffee here in Victoria! You basically practice some Italian every time you go into a Starbucks – Grande, Venti, And Trenta. But what about some great coffee locations here in Victoria!

Full Disclosure – I like ALL the coffee shops in town! They are all amazing! But the best part of coffee is always … the conversation and companionship with coffee buddies! Check out CoffeeCrew.com for a list of all the great LOCAL coffee shops here in town, updated to April of this year! Nope, I don’t get anything from this at all. It is just a great site for finding local coffee! And you probably already know who runs the site!

And, the whole idea of the topic of this blog, originated in yesterdays’ blog about Made Up Languages in movies. Specifically, the Heptapod B language!

Why? Because it was described at one site as a ‘Coffee Stain‘ language! What a great segue, eh! Oh and one more cool site about Arrival and Linguistics!

And I leave you with some great coffee sites to peruse on your next Java Break!

Enjoy!

  1. HOW TO ORDER A COFFEE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
  2. 21 Surprising Coffee Facts That Will Perk Up Your Afternoon
  3. 16 most interesting facts to know about coffee
  4. 30 Coffee Facts That Every Coffee Lover Should Know
  5. 17 Things You Didn’t Know About Coffee
  6. Coffee Facts
  7. 22 Facts About Coffee: The World’s Most Important Beverage
  8. How to Order Your Local Cup of Coffee in Different Languages
  9. Coffee in Different Languages and Cultures
  10. Words for “Coffee” Around the World
  11. HOW TO ORDER COFFEE IN 8 LANGUAGES
  12. HOW TO SAY COFFEE IN 45 LANGUAGES
  13. How to Say Mocha in Different Languages
  14. Coffee Crew Blog (in Victoria!)
  15. Coffee Crew (in Victoria!)
  16. What’s Hot in the Victoria B.C. Canada’s cafe scene (during COVID19) – Updated April 2020
  17. 12+ Extremely Caffeinated Coffee Brands
  18. 10 Most Expensive Coffees in the World in 2020

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

    ENJOY!
            
   TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee Facts

The Basics
About Coffee

WEIRDEST Facts
About Coffee

7 Facts About Coffee
That You Probably Didn’t Know

How to Order a Coffee in Italy

How to Order a Coffee in Greece

How to Order a Coffee in Russia

How to Order a Coffee in Japan

 

 

 

 

 

 

pe’vIl mu’qaDmey . . . or Curse Well in Klingon . . . or Made Up Movie Languages

pe’vIl mu’qaDmey
or . . .
Curse Well in Klingon
or . . .
Made Up Movie Languages!

Now you know how to gracefully exit yet another Klingon late night gaming party! You never know when learning Klingon will save your life!

Full Disclosure: Contrary to many rumours, I do not speak Klingon. I just like to have the Netflix Closed Caption on for any Science Fiction movie that has … space languages!

 

DOUBLE Full Disclosure: Early disclosure but my favourite made up language is from the movie ‘Arrival‘. Not only is it a fabulous movie, but they managed to add something new to a language that is CRITICAL to the storyline! WARNING!:- spoilers below about what that is!

The most popular and well known ‘Alien’ language is without a doubt, Klingon! Star Trek has become part of our Pop Culture ever since Spock first said ‘Illogical’. For many years, I would imbed an ‘Easter Egg’ in my CALL Facility demos that had Klingon as one of the many courses taught at UVic. And then … IT REALLY HAPPENED!

And of course, one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and prequel The Hobbit, contain MANY made up languages by J.R.R. Tolkien! And another UVic course was offered as well, but treating Middle Earth more as a history course than a Linguistics course!

And even more blockbuster movies contained made up languages: Avatar (Na’vi), Arrival (Heptapod B), Despicable Me (Minion), Serenity (The Galactic Language), Harry Potter (Parseltongue), Cloud Atlas (Old Georgie) and one not for the faint of heart in A Clockwork Orange (Nadsat).

SPOILER ALERT!: And my favourite of them all, that would be top of my own list to learn would be ….. HEPTAPOD B! This is a language that is quite literally … FLUID or maybe SMOKE or maybe SENTIENT INK! And it allows for Time Travel! There simply is no other cooler language than Heptapod B! I will be the first to register when it is offered at UVic!

And if Heptapod B ever IS offered at UVic, since it is a Time Travel kind of language, you would never have to do any homework because … you would have already learned it! That is my kind of course!

Imagine ordering Take Out in …. Heptapod B! They would already know when and what you wanted and it would arrive … INSTANTLY! So many benefits! 

And I leave you with the best Elvish script from The Lord of the Ring:

Enjoy!

  1. The top 10 made-up movie languages
  2. 10 FICTIONAL MOVIE LANGUAGES WE’D LOVE TO LEARN
  3. Arrival — Decoding the Universal Language of Time
  4. A 100-word dictionary was made to create the alien language in this year’s highly anticipated sci-fi thriller ‘Arrival’
  5. HOW DO YOU SPEAK HEPTAPOD B?
  6. Learning From Time
  7. Fictional language
  8. 12 Fictional Film and TV Languages You Can Actually Learn
  9. 11 fictional languages created for movies and books
  10. Top 9 Best Made Up Languages Ever Created
  11. When Hollywood Needs A Made-Up Language, They Come To Us
  12. 6 Fictional Languages You Can Really Learn
  13. Klingon Phrases
  14. Klingon proverbs
  15. 18 Klingon Phrases That’ll Save Your Life One Day

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

Arrival’s Linguistic Relativity
and Time Perception

Top 10
Fictional Languages

Arrival
Embrace the Problem of Language

Arrival: Sabotaged
Diplomacy Scene

Accent Expert Breaks Down
6 Fictional Languages

4 Fictional Languages
You Can Learn

5 Fictional Languages
You Can Actually Learn

Artlang: A Compilation of
Movie and TV Clips

 

J.R.R. Tolkien Reads
A Poem in Elvish

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of Unconscious and Precocious Surveillance of Foudroyant Chrysanthemums . . or Hard to SPELL English Words

Of Unconscious and
Precocious Surveillance of
Foudroyant Chrysanthemums
or . . .
Hard to Spell
English Words!

Yet another sentence that you won’t find at Google. BUT, each word IS spelled correctly!  And the reason being … SPELLCHECKERS!

Full Disclosure: Eye I am knot bad at spelling, but I am not grate at grammar! Bear with mee! 

DOUBLE Full Disclosure: My Grade 1 teacher traumitized me when under constant threat of being whacked with her ruler, could not properly spell ‘cat’ in her presence! All that could come out of me when challenged by her was ….. ‘KAT’! 

WAY back when, I took a computer science course at the University of Calgary. One ‘advanced’ assignment was to read in a random paragraph, generated by the Prof, then scan the paragraph and change some words to … OTHER words! They weren’t misspelled, but it was the pre-cursor to spellcheckers, grammar checkers and word processing! Oh, did I mention … we had to program in FORTRAN and … ON PUNCHED CARDS!!!! Good times, good times … KNOT!

Everyone probably has a few words that they consistently misspell, including the word, misspell!

It just doesn’t ‘look right’ with a double-s in the middle! Other words that always seem to throw me are: pronounce, pronunciation, comfortable, principle & principal, compatible & compatible, weird, catchup & ketchup, and of course … CAT! Some are context based confusion for me, some are just … they don’t look right!

So why do some people misspell words? Turns out, it can be a major cognitive challenge!

It turns out that misspelling in the brain (if it’s not being influenced by some kind of learning disorder, like dyslexia, which is another matter entirely) is a multi-layered problem involving diverse areas of brain tissue and multiple processes. Spelling, neurologically, isn’t as simple as rummaging in a brain-bin, finding a word, and reproducing it perfectly on paper. There are many stages where things can go slightly awry, and new science means we can pinpoint exactly where in the brain various processes are going wrong. Not much of a comfort when you’ve misspelt the main word in the title of your Powerpoint presentation, but there it is.

And one of my favourite words and that I often spell wrong is QUIXOTIC! It has a neat pronunciation and an imaginative, literary and historic background! Beauty and Chaos all in one word, including how to pronounce it!

What a wonderful word quixotic is! While it is most often used to mean equally impractical and idealistic, it also has the sense of romantic nobility. Its source is from the great Spanish novel “Don Quixote,” whose title character is given to unrealistic schemes and great chivalry. In the middle of a recession and high unemployment, it would be quixotic to imagine that you could quit your job and find another easily.

Spellcheckers are amazing … and annoying at the same time! If I recall, our lab computers have spellchecking turned on automatically for documents in Word/Office. And that causes a clear 50/50 split amongst students using Office! Literally half the students want it turned OFF when it is ON. And you can guess the other half! You can’t hope to win …. best you can hope for is a tie!

Personally, I just crank out the text, I try and catch my spelling mistakes, but I know that upon another read through, I will let Bill Gates decide what word I want to use. OOPS, forgot about that US vs Canadian spelling! And that might also be a future post too – different spellings for common words in US, Canada, UK, Australia, etc. and more curiouser and curiouser … WHY?

And nice to know that Word has spellcheckers in foreign languages too! That is always a ‘weight off my shoulders’ for First Year German students! LOL!

Enjoy!

  1. 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling
  2. 25 Hard Spelling Bee Words & Meanings
  3. 15 of the Hardest Words to Spell in the English Language
  4. Top 10 hardest words to spell
  5. These are the hardest-to-spell words in the English language
  6. 10 Hard Words to Spell in English
  7. The 8 most Difficult words to spell
  8. Difficult Spelling Words Quiz
  9. WHAT ARE THE TOP 100 HARDEST WORDS TO SPELL?
  10. 100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English
  11. 300 Most Difficult SAT Words
  12. Robert Heckendorn’s List of Hard to Spell Words
  13. Why Some People Are Bad Spellers, Unscrambled

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

Top 20 Hardest
English Words to Spell

7 Year Old Child Spells out
the LONGEST English Word!

8 Extremely Long Words
Everyone Must Learn in English

Top 20 Hardest English Words
to Spell! Guess the Right Word!

Top 10 Hardest Words
to Spell

10 Difficult
English Words to Spell

Can You Spell
These 10 Difficult Words?

How to Pronounce the
Longest Name in Canada

Home Simpson
I Am So Smart