Quotations and Literature Forum

what unholy creature possessed my soul and i wrote my own nickname as "Tony", i don't know.

just i read some of my older posts, and saw what a terrible English i was speaking. of course my English is still far away from being perfect, but now i think i can understand even some slang, and i sometimes understand DSW's posts. if this is not "improvement", what's?

ok, and why i felt that i should write this? because i wanted to thank gumtree she, having the heart and manners of a noble queen, helped me much and sent me a gift which will be inherited by my grandchildren as "a sign of friendship between people who haven't seen each other and living in distant corners of the world."

thank you, GT.

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"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
Voltaire

I take this to mean the earthquake missed you?

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السلام عليكم

Tony, that was just small private gesture to someone who has taken the trouble to really learn a new and very difficult language well and to enjoy and experiment with using it. But, - to quote from the Immortal Bard "Enough - no more!"

And while I do truly appreciate the sentiment behind the heart and manners of a noble queen bit, in modern parlance don't go OTT - you all know I enjoy being a Very Grumpy Old Duchess when it suits me!

"OTT" check out the idiom for homework!!

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The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
e e cummings (1894 - 1962)

DSW, yes it missed (:

GT, "over the top" ?

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"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
Voltaire

I'd have to say, the improvement in Tony's English is dramatic. Better in fact than half the toothless, moccasin wearing, tattooed f@$#wits around here, and they claim to be native speakers of the language.
I would like to be able to learn languages as well.

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السلام عليكم

i'm shedding tears of happiness (: thanks, DSW (:

alas, i see that my mind will never work as an Englishman's, i will understand english speakers well, but will never compose perfect phrases. our languages belong to different language families and there's not even a single similiarity between them. especially, i will never be able to totally understand "perfect" tenses and will never be able to translate Turkish "reported past tense" into English. But glad that this language (in fact i find modern-day English "tasteless", i like the English used by some authors and poets which preserves its "germanic" aura) opened many windows and doors into great realms, it was a great experience to read Milton and Tolkien and Poe.

enough seriousness, let me share a Turkish saying about learning new languages. can be loosely translated as: "a tongue can not be learnt without touching tongues to each other". some say this saying's origins trace back to the Ottoman era, you know first European nation to which Ottomans sent envoys were French, and the way they kiss impressed our ancestors it seems

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"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
Voltaire