Thursday, February 5, 2009

Being small helps sometimes

I was thinking of writing on the difference between different nations’ cultural mesoiras, accomplishments and focus, but I won’t. It seems obvious. Vdal.



There is something to be said for being small and flexible — like a palm tree that can withstand a storm vs. a cypress that will fall.

Being 190 cm (6'3") tall, however, I don’t think I can pull this off (I had problems while fencing too; if somebody got “within” my reach and I didn’t retreat fast enough, it was difficult for me to parry — a disadvantage balancing or even outweighing a benefit of longer reach). So, I’ll have to settle for a gun.

I wonder if this guy’s poking fun at his opponents actually hurts more than his physical abuse of them.

8 comments:

le7 said...

AHHHHHHH why did I stop studying Japanese? I used to understand a lot more. :-(

le7 said...

...subscribing.

Anarchist Chossid said...

You mean, if you’re attacked by a small and fast Japanese guy, you’ll know what he’s saying?

I used to be interested in Japanese. Also, in Chinese (mostly calligraphy, but also language itself). Actually wrote a paper about Chinese grammar (it doesn’t have tenses, and the whole philosophy to future and past tense is fascinating).

Right now I am only interested in the triple package: LK, Aramaic, Yiddish.

le7 said...

I used to love Japanese. It's so complex and beautiful... the writing system... ach gorgeous.

I also used to be this way with Spanish. I'm way better with Spanish, used to be practically fluent... alas.

But yeah same here.

shmulie said...

Japanese - no, unfortunately. LK, aramaic, yiddish, spanish yes. Boring!

I imagine there are deep ties between our language and our lifestyle. With our lifestyle going global, is there a future for eastern languages? Can confusionism live where Wall Street rules? (Excuse the generalizations, and if there's no truth at all here, excuse all of it.)

le7 said...

You speak the Spanish eh?

shmulie said...

From back in my days in Argentina. Easier to learn when comparing the conjugation to Hebrew.

le7 said...

Ah yes I have heard that referenced. Pretty cool.