I SHOULD know this...!

I dont know exactly why I was pondering this, but the other night I wondered to myself why the second 'A' in Canada changes sounds when the word is changed to Canadian. In 'Canada' it makes the 'ah' sound, while in 'Canadian' it makes the 'ay' sound.

Then I realized that, as an English major, I should be thinking in terms of 'long vowels' and 'short vowels'. But for the LIFE of me, I can NEVER remember which is which. I just had to look up which was which to find out that the Long Vowels are the vowels that sound like they are pronounced (the 'a' in Canadian), while the short vowels are softer (the 'a' in Canada). And even though I studied this all through grade school and am a current scholar of the English Language and Literature, I can almost guarantee that I will not remember which are which in the morning.

What are some of the simple facts or bits of knowledge that you can never remember, but you should, because its part of your major or you're constantly reminded of it, or it should just be something that everyone knows?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I always forget that there are 3 feet in a yard. You have no idea how humiliating it is to be corrected on a simple conversion problem by one of your 4th grader students.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Every now and then I tend to forget how to spell basic words or I see the spelling of a word and I cannot seem to remember whether or no its the correct spelling. I also sometimes have a mathematical breakdown and forget how to do subtraction and I have to spend a good minute or two composing myself and reteach myself 1st grade math again.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I have absolutely NO concept of units of measurement. At all. I've tried so many times to get my head around visualising concepts like "fifteen yards", "forty kilos" and "one thousand feet", but no matter how I go about it, I can't make any sense out of it. Until a few years ago I had to struggle to remember the relative lengths of one kilometre and one mile.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Pretty much everything everyone has said. I also have trouble with grammar, and speaking of schoolwork, I can copy out an entire chapter of any of my books five times over and still remember nothing. In fact I had a psychology exam last thursday in which I spent an hour explaining this fact to the examiners and apologising for flunking.

The most annoying thing is being able to quote lyrics, movies and television shows by heart even without trying. If anyone can suggest a career involving this I will be set for life.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Vocabulary of a foreign language. I look at it for hours, but then forget a good bit of it. VERY frustrating.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Bernard Black

Pretty much everything everyone has said. I also have trouble with grammar, and speaking of schoolwork, I can copy out an entire chapter of any of my books five times over and still remember nothing. In fact I had a psychology exam last thursday in which I spent an hour explaining this fact to the examiners and apologising for flunking.

The most annoying thing is being able to quote lyrics, movies and television shows by heart even without trying. If anyone can suggest a career involving this I will be set for life.

You might be an auditory learner. Try reading the chapters you have to memorize out loud and see if that helps you remember what you're trying to study.

FELIPE NO

Chinese characters. I can remember them short-term, but I lose them really fast after that. For the most part, school stuff sticks in my head pretty well. Once I figured out the way my mind wraps itself around concepts and memorizing things, everything started going more smoothly.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I should be able to spell certain words... But then for me, it comes to that point where I look at a word so much that I forget how to spell it. It's horrible.

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My worst part is to estimate anything; even to estimate a short measurement, I always get wrong.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The only issue I have is when it comes to using the proper names for items. Like different bike parts, or computer parts or anything. I've learned a lot about my bike and my computer simply by taking it apart and putting it back together. I'm very good at things like that. I know what each part does and how it does it so to speak. But in a conversation with someone else who knows bikes, I come off as appearing stupid because he's using all the right names for the parts and I have no clue what he's talking about. It makes things awkward sometimes.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I don't know anything involving conversions, weight, or measures of any kind, and am subsequently terrible at estimates. If someone were to ask me my height, I'd have to measure it with a ruler and a wall. For weight, I arbitrarily say kilograms or pounds with whatever the number is, letting someone correct me. Same for height and such with mixing up feet, inches, meters and all that.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

english is a fairly lax language (we're "sloppy" in pronunciation in comparison to other germanic and romantic languages) and i think it's just easier to use the "ay" than the "ah" because of its placement ("ay-di" is much easier than "ah-di").

i studied linguistics for while and it's really fascinating.

as a vocalist, i feel dumb talking with singers because most of the time i can't identify songs by title, composer, or lyrics. i have to hear the song, and that makes me look silly.

I was speaking idiomatically.

^^ Is this meant to be a "laugh with" or a "laugh at" kind of post?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

As a piano performance major(who was "good" enough to get a scholarship) I feel bad when I don't know how certain things work, or haven't heard of certain things.

"Play the piano with a dark tone, not a light tone."
"What?"

"What does ____ mean? How should I do this?"

I feel very incompetent at times.
But I know I don't suck, though!

Every once in a while, I'll forget how a certain word is spelled or how to add/subtract...

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Nahual

As a piano performance major(who was "good" enough to get a scholarship) I feel bad when I don't know how certain things work, or haven't heard of certain things.

"Play the piano with a dark tone, not a light tone."
"What?"

"What does ____ mean? How should I do this?"

Your teacher should have realized that you don't know basic(to me basic) things about the piano. If your teacher continues to be oblivious talk to the director of keyboard studies (or whatever the name is at your school) to try to get a better teacher. A good teacher considers who they're teaching, not just the music.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Giro0001

Your teacher should have realized that you don't know basic(to me basic) things about the piano. If your teacher continues to be oblivious talk to the director of keyboard studies (or whatever the name is at your school) to try to get a better teacher. A good teacher considers who they're teaching, not just the music.

I'd like to clarify that my teacher hasn't seen how little I know since I can do most of what we work on fine. It's when I'm with other students that I see how little I know compared to them.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I always pronounce the word 'gesture' as 'guess-ture'. Until recently I totally thought cold-sores and canker-sores were the same thing. I never can remember Jon Voigt's name when I see him in a movie. It wasn't until I was out of high school that I realized that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is the same as the alphabet song.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Quote:

It wasn't until I was out of high school that I realized that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is the same as the alphabet song.

Baa Baa Black Sheep, too.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I never knew that.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I often joke that you stop being able to do simple math after taking Calculus for a while.

It's really not that far from the truth.

How ya doing, buddy?

I am forever screwing up what words end with "ent" vs. "ant". It's embarrassing how often I check to be sure I spelled a specific word correctly when it ends either way.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Muzza

^^ Is this meant to be a "laugh with" or a "laugh at" kind of post?

i don't understand what you mean by that, sorry

explain?

FELIPE NO

Oh, it's just that you're going on about the sloppiness and laziness of the English language, and you're not capitalizing, using correct grammar etc. Nothing but light-hearted observations.

(I know you were mainly referring to pronunciation, but still~)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I once forgot Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Made quite a bad impression on a girl.

Jam it back in, in the dark.