Agricola/Agricolae

[susandennis]

I finished reading Marshall Chapman's book last night. Towards the end there were several pages on our high school (which she describes as a "Moravian convent") experiences. She talks about the rules. I'd totally forgotten the one about always having to wear a minimum of a full slip in the dorm hallways. Naked chicks need not apply.

And she talked about the curriculum which had not even been tweaked since the 1800's. We were required to pass two years of Latin. Being the brilliant student that I was, I managed to polish off this requirement in three years flat. This will be the very first time I have ever, in my adult life, used that knowledge. (See entry title - it means farmer.)

We also - every single girl in the school - had to memorize and recite before an audience - the first 52 lines of the prologue to the Canterbury Tales - in middle English. I can still - sadly - do this today. There has not been much call for it but if when I want to disperse a crowd, I can do it in a heartbeat.

She did also mention that the school called itself 'college preparatory' and it was. Like me, by the time she got to college, it was a cakewalk. I worked hard to get up to mediocre at this convent. My college prep tests put me into advanced placement classes in everything. I fixed that immediately. I had bridge to play and peace marches to march and beer to drink and drugs to find... who had time for advanced placement shit??

Memories... Ok, I'm done. Tonight I tap into my currently very healthy ToBeReadNext pile. Sweet.

Comments

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

Whanne thatte Aprille with his shoures soote, the droughte of March hath perced to the roote ... I can summon a little of Chaucer, too. :)

[susandennis]

MAKE HIM STOPPPPPP!!!!!!!

[melodysk.livejournal.com]

I went to a Girls School , we had to learn deportment , ballroom dancing and ironing ;)

I have only ever used the latter in everyday life :)

[susandennis]

See... you got the good stuff. We did not learn ironing... we learned how to manage domestic employees (HA!) who iron. But, we did have classes on smoking etiquette!

[melodysk.livejournal.com]

Jammy baggage! Smoking etiquette! WOW!

deportment

[pinkrose70.livejournal.com]

He he he....I haven't heard the word "deportment" since my Catholic Scool 4th grade report card!

I always was too timid to even whisper in class, so I did fine.

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

We were required to pass two years of Latin... We also - every single girl in the school - had to memorize and recite before an audience - the first 52 lines of the prologue to the Canterbury Tales - in middle English.


.... holy eff ....

[susandennis]

Yeah, no shit - it was more than 30 years ago and the scars haven't healed yet.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

I only got as far as...

bellum, bellum, bellum,
belle, bello, bello,
belli, bellos, bellos,
bellorum, bellis, bellis

War. What is it good for?

Perhaps that's why I worked in the defence industry, that's as far as I got with Latin? Before that it was all about the farmers and sailors overvoming (supero) the young girls (erm, puelli? 30 years ago). Latin was a bit dodgy if you ask me, but then that's probably why catholic priests liked it. Yes, I went to a catholic boys school at was taught by priests, I'd still like a few words with Fr. Dunn about his violent temper.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Nice hat!

[victory-rose.livejournal.com]

I actually took two semesters of Latin in secondary grammar school as an elective - the only thing I still remember from that is how to conjugate love (amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant - I think).

Of course I had to take both Old and Middle English at University - don't really remember any of the Canterbury tales (we were probably supposed to read them), and only vaguely remember Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (I actually picked Sir Gawain off the floor a few days ago - one of the cats had knocked a bunch of books off one of my book shelves).

I used to love trying to read Old and Middle English aloud, it looked so familiar and yet so strange.

[susandennis]

Ok, this is a really dumb question but it is my journal so I'm aloud, right? Is English your first language? You certainly write like it is and the fact that you can actually read Old and Middle English... holey moley. I've never heard Icelandic spoken so it might well be like English.. is it? Help me here.

But as far as reading the Canterbury Tales? I think we had to but I could not tell you today what the first 52 lines mean much less what the Tales are actually about. It's so much doooda dooda to me. Sad.

[victory-rose.livejournal.com]

I consider English to be my second language although technically it's my third - started studying Danish at 10 and English at 12. I elected the Languages Department at the secondary grammar school (so took German, French, and Latin), and then studied English at University (never finished my BA though - got stuck in the middle of my thesis about the use of social and literary conventions in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre).

I can't really read Old and Middle English - just took a semester of each at University. But Icelandic and English are both Germanic languages, and Icelandic is about the closest you get to Old Norse these days - so it's probably about the most antiquated language of the current Germanic ones (and we resist any changes to it with teeth and claws). Therefore, it seems to me that the older the English gets, the more similar to Icelandic it seems.

Old and Middle English seem both familiar and strange because I can recognize elements of both English and Icelandic in them.

That's probably a very jumbled explanation, but that's the best I can do for now. ;-)

[susandennis]

Wow. There is little that impresses me more than people who know more than one language. I took those Latin courses and I took French and neither stuck at all. I cannot imagine how knowing more than one language even works in the brain. It's just a miracle to me.

Amazing. Thanks for explaining.