tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503608482894645077.post5821014679716494495..comments2023-03-31T03:08:53.464-07:00Comments on Flowing Reflections: Ushuaia, end of Jan. 2008A Conformerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17312939307696267987noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503608482894645077.post-16184768867413645642009-06-13T18:21:38.474-07:002009-06-13T18:21:38.474-07:00Maybe it's a distinction without a difference,...Maybe it's a distinction without a difference, as Red Sox announcer Ned Martin used to say. To me, 'parenthetical' implies long self-indulgent excursions away from the main point. What you do is layer meaning and add texture with those parentheses.johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503608482894645077.post-71263357785449811762009-06-13T17:42:53.419-07:002009-06-13T17:42:53.419-07:00Small addendum: while in Mexico, there was a month...Small addendum: while in Mexico, there was a month and a half period I spoke almost exclusively Spanish, so much so that I started using some Spanish words while thinking, even if I was thinking in Hebrew.A Conformerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17312939307696267987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503608482894645077.post-49081847633258456622009-06-13T17:34:36.494-07:002009-06-13T17:34:36.494-07:00I can agree with it not being clotted (to me, clot...I can agree with it not being clotted (to me, clotted sounds worse than convoluted, the word I'm pretty sure I used. I like complication), but not parenthetical? Really? There isn't a paragraph without parenthesis, and most have more than one set. It's not a bad thing, in my eyes. But it is the way I write. I wasn't trying to diss myself, just describe the way I see my own writing. The words I used weren't negative per se, in my opinion. Anyway, your opinion interests me a lot, as a writing professor (and as my only commenter), so any thought will always be welcome.<br />As for the languages question- well, those three iz all I got, for now. But your question is a good one. I have a half thought-out, half-written piece about that- the strangeness of multilenguality (definitely not a word, but it sounds better than the spellchecker's multilingualism). A preview, to somewhat answer your question: I obviously think and speak best of all in Hebrew, but I feel like I write and read better in English (at lest when it comes to literature, since most of the books I've read were in English), yet I speak more instinctively in Spanish than in English. My English vocabulary is much bigger than my Spanish one, and maybe even than my Hebrew one. But there are some subject and ideas I've spoken about a lot in Spanish, so I feel more comfortable communicating them in that language. Also, even though I worked for more than a full year as a technician in the US, names of tools in English always elude me. Which language is the most fun? Spanish, for me. In short, it's kinda complicated, quite interesting and very introspective.<br />Can we agree that I'm long winded, at least? Hehe.A Conformerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17312939307696267987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503608482894645077.post-73951996359118742942009-06-13T15:03:33.174-07:002009-06-13T15:03:33.174-07:00I don't think your writing is clotted, parenth...I don't think your writing is clotted, parenthetical, and discursive, the way you suggested it might be in your first post. <br /><br />Do you think in Spanish, Enghlish, Hebrew? Clearly, this is written by someone who has no trouble finding his way around either South America or a paragraph!<br /><br />What other languages have you got?johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.com