Monday 22 September 2014

Tongue Twisters


Tongue Twisters are not only for light-hearted linguistic fun and games. They serve a practical purpose in practicing pronunciation. English tongue twisters may be used by foreign students of English to improve their accent, actors who need to develop a certain accent, and by speech therapists to help those with speech difficulties.

When their use is for one of these more serious reasons, then tongue twisters are generally subdivided into categories classifying them by the particular vowel or consonant sounds they exercise. The Peter Piper twister, for example, clearly provides practice for the P sound.

Tongue twister not only add the challenge of proper pronunciation of difficult words and syllables, but also have been shown to effectively help rhythm and tone, as well as adding fun, interest and humor to an otherwise dull set of drills. They boost confidence and aid with the development of a sense of humor in children, and can make sometimes stressful speech therapy more light-hearted and easier on the individual. Because of their very nature, tongue twisters are fun for not only individuals, but also for the whole family, and can easily become a game for parents and children, or even a professional practicing their skill….

If you understand, say "understand".
If you don't understand, say "don't understand".
But if you understand and say "don't understand".
How do I understand that you understand? Understand!

Monday 15 September 2014

Cryptology
Decode this quote by Thomas Henry Huxley, address on university education delivered at the formal opening of John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland…

                                                                               

"I ONANTC AYS HTTA I AM IN ETH TEHLSGITS GRDEEE SPEDIMRSE BY RYUO SSGEBIN, OR RYUO AILTMEAR EEURSRCSO, AS HSCU. ZSEI IS ONT RRDENUGA, DAN RYRTEITRO SEDO ONT EMKA A ITAONN. ETH TEGAR USISE BTOAU HHIWC SANHG ERTU TYBLISUMI, DAN ETH RRTREO OF NGARVEOHNIG ETAF, IS AHWT RAE UYO IONGG TO DO HIWT LAL EESTH SINGHT ?"

"I CANNOT SAY THAT I AM IN THE SLIGHTEST DEGREE IMPRESSED BY YOUR BIGNESS, OR YOUR MATERIAL RESOURCES, AS SUCH. SIZE IS NOT GRANDEUR, AND TERRITORY DOES NOT MAKE A NATION. THE GREAT ISSUE, ABOUT WHICH HANGS TRUE SUBLIMITY, AND THE TERROR OF OVERHANGING FATE, IS WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH ALL THESE THINGS ?"

 The words were jumbled to make you jumble along;)


Monday 8 September 2014

Mind Quotes


The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
ROBERTSON DAVIES, quoted in The Wordsworth Dictionary of Quotes


To know psychology ... is no guarantee that we shall manage our minds rightly.
WILLIAM GLOVER, Know Your Own Mind


The will ... is the driving force of the mind. If it's injured, the mind falls to pieces.
AUGUST STRINDBERG, The Father


Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind.
JEFFREY EUGENIDES, Middlesex


Those who exert the first influence upon the mind, have the greatest power.
HORACE MANN, 


The mind grows by what it feeds on.
JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND, Lessons in Life 


Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Essays


Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.
HANS MARGOLIUS, quoted in A Toolbox for Humanity

Monday 1 September 2014

“Thinking Cap” - How many times I have been ambushed with this term? My simple counting skills also fail to acknowledge that. When in thinking mode will still believe I’m wearing it, cause have been so much fed on this term. A 'thinking cap' was previously known by the appealing name as 'considering cap'. The figure who comes to mind when wondering such a cap is Sherlock Holmes. There's no record of his wearing a cap to accompany the jacket though. Nevertheless, such caps possibly did exist. The 'considering cap' is explained at great length, in fiction at least, in The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, 1765, which usefully includes an etching too. I can't find any concrete record of actual considering or thinking caps. Nevertheless, the metaphor must have arisen for a reason and the use of real thinking caps is as good a reason as any. Citations which include lines like "I must put on my thinking cap" are ambiguous as it is difficult to determine whether they refer to actual headgear. I'll pass this one over to the archaeologists. The one I wore was imaginary one although researchers have recently built something that sounds a lot like a real one. Using a simple form of electrical stimulation, it seems to speed up the brain's natural learning process. Given a chance will still go for my imaginary one as there is no end of making myself handicap to the easiest.
THINKTHINKTHINKTHINKTHINKTHINKTHINKTHINKTHINKTHINK

When two airplanes almost collide why do they call it a near miss? It sounds like a near hit to me!

Why do you press harder on the remote-control when you know the battery is dead?

Why are they called apartments, when they're all stuck together?

Why is carrot more orange than an orange?

Why are they called buildings when they are already finished? Shouldn't they be called builts?


Strangely no answers are to be awaited in this as they should only make you ponder….