Made up my own survey about reading and language.

[serene]

It's short, but not very fluffy. I'll put my answers in a comment so that you can cut and paste this if you want to use it for your own answers:

1. Describe the first (or an early) phrase/idiom you remember figuring out the meaning to.

2. What is the first thing you remember reading for pleasure?

3. (Especially for porcinea) Do you consider yourself "a reader"? If not, how would you describe your relationship to books and literature at the current time?

4. What's the book (story/play/whatever) you've re-read the most often? What is it about that piece of literature that excites you the most?

5. If you suddenly woke up tomorrow with the writing talent and motivation to write anything you put your hand to, what kind of work would you start churning out?

6. Tell about the person in your life, if any, who most influenced your feelings about language and reading.

7. What are you reading right now? And do you recommend it/them?

Comments

Re: Good Survey

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Figuring out that a clock being "fast" or "slow" really meant that it was ahead or behind, not that it that the hour hand went around in less or more than twelve hours.

But it gets ahead or behind (chronically, at least) because it *does* move at the wrong pace, right?

BTW, now the voices in my head keep chanting "fare-thee-well, fare-thee-well, fare-the-well my faerie-fey". Thanks a lot :P

*beam* lcohen would be so proud!

Re: Good Survey

[someotherguy.livejournal.com]

But it gets ahead or behind (chronically, at least) because it *does* move at the wrong pace, right?

That's probably the origin. ( Do you remember pre-quartz clocks that had a speed adjustment screw? ) I think the specific context was something like my grandmother saying that the clock was 4 minutes fast, and I couldn't figure out if it would pick up 4 minutes every hour, ever 12 hours, or every day.

I was pretty young at the time, but it really stuck in my mind because it was the first time I really understood how often phrases take on meanings that don't exactly match the literal meanings of their component words.

Re: Good Survey

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

( Do you remember pre-quartz clocks that had a speed adjustment screw? )

Yeah! I have a wind-up alarm clock that has one, too.

I think the specific context was something like my grandmother saying that the clock was 4 minutes fast, and I couldn't figure out if it would pick up 4 minutes every hour, ever 12 hours, or every day

I remember being confused by that, too. I asked you about it because I was afraid I had figured it out wrong. :-)