So, I managed to get another book skimmed, and am starting to feel like I have Tricky Concept #1 under some semblance of control. Should be ready to put words to page on Thursday. Which is not a moment too soon, as I need to give my Fellowship Institute presentation two weeks from today. Yipes!
And now, something completely different for you smarty-pants types out there (and I'd be surprised if my readers were anything but): Freerice lets you challenge your vocabulary skills while contributing to fund organizations that send food to places that need it. I tend to get stuck around level 45 or 46. So. There's your challenge, y'all.
14 comments:
Meh - I HAD been having a productive day before I saw that rice thing... I thought I had a good vocabulary, but I fell apart around level 42.
Weird how the vocabulary works. I wouldn't have thought that I knew that "tinea" means "ringworm," and yet I had no doubt. (Could this be one of the many weird medical facts I picked up with my dissertation?) I've tried twice -- mid-40s, both times.
Not surprisingly, I'm doing really well on terms borrowed from Irish or Scottish dialect.
These facts alone tell you who I am . . .
I know, it's a time suck. But I console myself with the knowledge that, unlike most of my time sucks, this one does good for myself and others.
500 grains a day. Then I make myself stop.
And anon: yes, I think I've penetrated your clever disguise!
Total time sink. I would get up to 48 or 49, and then sink back down, and then work my way up...There is only so much where Latin helps!
Okay, anon#2, you have to give me a clue, so I can worship at the feet of your 48/49-ity. The highest I ever managed was 47, and that for only a word or two. As you can imagine, "knowledge of Latin" does not narrow it down much for a medievalist blogger.
c'mon -- give me a hint?
Hey,
I'm anonymous #1 (the one who recognizes Scottish/Irish words) and I got up to 50 on my third try!!!! Tell me I rock!
Holy crap, anon #1... yes, you rock. I'll make a point of worshipping you in person when I see you.
Wow. Fifty.
I get stuck around level 46 too. Thanks for handing me another time-waster on a platter...that site is addictive!!
Oh gee thanks Notorious, just what I need. Another distraction?
Glad you've wrestled Tricky Concept to the floor; jump on it while its subdued and get it on paper!
I finished on 48 after 1000 grains, but got as high as 49 and spent most of my time around 46-47. Not to effulgate myself as a retiary pleonasm (how neb!) but I only knew about a third of the words I guessed correctly.
There's a certain Jedi mind trick some people can play with multiple-choice test-makers, especially vocabulary tests. By our inflated standardized test scores shall you know us.
@ matt: And here I was, wasting time going through Latinate roots.
I heard about this on NPR the other night. If you go to http://www.opb.org/radio/ and then click on the "consumer consequences" link, you're taken to a game that helps you measure how many planets it would take to sustain humans if everybody lived as you do. It's a great eye-opener, especially for those who think religiously recycling is enough. Also a bit depressing at times.
Yay! Way to go for you getting a handle on tricky concept!
Anonymous #2... I actually got up to 50. The secret is that at the highest levels there are relatively few words, and they cycle through, so you start remembering them.
But some are very weird definitions, and I start thinking: are you using this word in this way or that...
And I'm an early modernist, not a medievalist. But knowledge of agriculture and armor helps.
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