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Entry tags:
questions, questions, who's got the questions
that interview meme. dude.
i promised![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jgesteve i'd include the rules, so here we are:
1. leave a comment if you want, and i'll do my best to come up with five questions to ask you.
2. update your journal, when you've answered them, with my questions and your answers; include this explanation.
3. ask questions of others if they leave comments in your journal, etc.
before answeringjgesteve's questions, though, I had to answer darthrami's questions from, like, months ago -- bad fox, not answering them in a timely fashion.
1. What is it that draws you to the field of linguistics? Or rather, what drew you there in the first place, and are those the same things that keep you there?
What drew me there in the first place was a requirement that, as a French major, I take two semesters of linguistics. My intro class was incredibly exciting and intellectually stimulating, and at the same time, my French classes were boring me to tears. After one semester at college, I switched majors, and I've never looked back. I guess it's the same things that are keeping me in the field -- I continue to find it fascinating.
2. If you could get your brother and his fiancee the perfect wedding gift - regardless of price - what would it be?
Hmm. If I could get them anything, anything, I'd get them in to the graduate programs of their choice (law for him, MFA in writing for her). If I'm limited to things that can actually be purchased, aside from the fact that I don't have the means, I'd get them ... hrm. I'd buy them a house, I suppose, because I know they eventually want a place of their own with a yard so they can have a dog.
3. PHD or no PHD? (that is the question)
Ph.D., please.
4. Why did you choose your university? The location? The rep?
The fact that they accepted me? Seriously, that was it -- four Ph.D. programs said no, for various reasons, but this one said Sure, come on down and do the M.A., we'd love to have you. I'd applied in the first place, following all those rejections, because it was in-state and I could afford it, as well as having a program in the subject; the rep, I'm afraid, had nothing to do with it, and (now that I know the "department") wouldn't if I had to do it again.
5. Why, in your opinion, do people find these questions so fascinating?
It's interesting to contemplate how little we know about people who are so important to us -- even those we know relatively well, as you and I are a case in point.
and nowjgesteve's questions:
1.) Why do you study linguistics?
It's very satisfying to me to (try to) work out the puzzles of how language (ours and others') got how they are. The language is sort of like a giant Rubik's cube that you know can never be completely solved -- the challenge is to see how close to completely you can solve it.
2.) If you could be the head of the linguistics department at say Oxford or an Olympic level curler, which would you pick? Why?
I don't think I'd want to be the head of the linguistics department at any university -- the administrative crapola I'd have to deal with would sour the whole thing for me. But curling at the Olympic level wouldn't be stress-free, either ... still, I think that'd be the choice. I'd rather be an excellent curler with a garden-variety tenured position and some decent income from publications than a just-for-fun curler with a high-profile job in my field.
3.) Do you believe in God? Santa? The Easter Bunny? The Ether Bunny? Ghosts? Possibility of Time Travel?
In God: not usually. Sometimes things happen to make me sure there's something besides random chance at work -- but other times, things happen to make me positive there's not. And other times, things happen to make me hope like hell there's not, because if there is, it's got it in for us.
In Santa: literally, no. Conceptually, absolutely.
In the Easter Bunny: well, no.
In the Ether Bunny: sure.
In ghosts: see "God".
In the possibility of time travel: it'd be nice, I guess, but on the other hand it wouldn't -- and I don't think, I guess, no, I don't think it's possible. Except, you know, forward. And slowly. :-)
4.) How do you solve a problem like Maria? (Just Kidding) What musical instruments do you play, and why do you play/did you start playing them (aside from "to make music")?
I sing, and I play (or have played) the piano, violin, bagpipes, and trombone. The first lessons I had were in piano, and I think I started because my folks asked me if I'd like to and I was seven and said yes, please. (I may have had friends who were already taking lessons.) I started playing the violin in fourth grade, when music classes at my school split into chorus and instrumental -- everyone took both, and in the instrumental track in fourth grade you picked a string instrument. I had a violin that my grandmother had played when she was younger; I couldn't play that one yet, but I picked violin because I'd be able to keep going with it outside of school, if I liked it, since I had my own instrument. I played the trombone in fifth grade when we were allowed to switch from strings to wind instruments if we wanted. Along about high school, I started taking voice lessons, for the same reason (I suppose) that I'd kept on taking piano lessons: there wasn't a lot further I could get without specific training, and I wasn't satisfied with how I was using the instrument (either one, voice or piano) just on my own. See above, re: linguistics; it's the same attitude, I think. And I took bagpipe lessons when I was studying in Scotland, because it seemed wrong not to. :-)
5.) If everyone on this planet is "bound by a trail of six people," do you think that you are actually only six degrees away from Kevin Bacon? And if yes, please describe the six (or less) people.
Well, according to the strict rules of the game, I'm not any degrees from Kevin Bacon, because I've never been in a film. But speaking generally of acquaintance or random meeting, then I suppose I must be fewer than six degrees away -- I've bumped into enough people, anddarthrami knows even more. Let's see: I'm good friends with darthrami (1), who has hung out with Mr. Kyle Secor (2). Kyle Secor was in City Slickers with, among others, Mr. Daniel Stern (3). And Daniel Stern was in Diner with Kevin Bacon (4). I could probably get closer, but it would require serious application of thought, and I don't have the energy right now ...
i promised
jgesteve i'd include the rules, so here we are:1. leave a comment if you want, and i'll do my best to come up with five questions to ask you.
2. update your journal, when you've answered them, with my questions and your answers; include this explanation.
3. ask questions of others if they leave comments in your journal, etc.
before answering
jgesteve's questions, though, I had to answer darthrami's questions from, like, months ago -- bad fox, not answering them in a timely fashion.1. What is it that draws you to the field of linguistics? Or rather, what drew you there in the first place, and are those the same things that keep you there?
What drew me there in the first place was a requirement that, as a French major, I take two semesters of linguistics. My intro class was incredibly exciting and intellectually stimulating, and at the same time, my French classes were boring me to tears. After one semester at college, I switched majors, and I've never looked back. I guess it's the same things that are keeping me in the field -- I continue to find it fascinating.
2. If you could get your brother and his fiancee the perfect wedding gift - regardless of price - what would it be?
Hmm. If I could get them anything, anything, I'd get them in to the graduate programs of their choice (law for him, MFA in writing for her). If I'm limited to things that can actually be purchased, aside from the fact that I don't have the means, I'd get them ... hrm. I'd buy them a house, I suppose, because I know they eventually want a place of their own with a yard so they can have a dog.
3. PHD or no PHD? (that is the question)
Ph.D., please.
4. Why did you choose your university? The location? The rep?
The fact that they accepted me? Seriously, that was it -- four Ph.D. programs said no, for various reasons, but this one said Sure, come on down and do the M.A., we'd love to have you. I'd applied in the first place, following all those rejections, because it was in-state and I could afford it, as well as having a program in the subject; the rep, I'm afraid, had nothing to do with it, and (now that I know the "department") wouldn't if I had to do it again.
5. Why, in your opinion, do people find these questions so fascinating?
It's interesting to contemplate how little we know about people who are so important to us -- even those we know relatively well, as you and I are a case in point.
and now
jgesteve's questions:1.) Why do you study linguistics?
It's very satisfying to me to (try to) work out the puzzles of how language (ours and others') got how they are. The language is sort of like a giant Rubik's cube that you know can never be completely solved -- the challenge is to see how close to completely you can solve it.
2.) If you could be the head of the linguistics department at say Oxford or an Olympic level curler, which would you pick? Why?
I don't think I'd want to be the head of the linguistics department at any university -- the administrative crapola I'd have to deal with would sour the whole thing for me. But curling at the Olympic level wouldn't be stress-free, either ... still, I think that'd be the choice. I'd rather be an excellent curler with a garden-variety tenured position and some decent income from publications than a just-for-fun curler with a high-profile job in my field.
3.) Do you believe in God? Santa? The Easter Bunny? The Ether Bunny? Ghosts? Possibility of Time Travel?
In God: not usually. Sometimes things happen to make me sure there's something besides random chance at work -- but other times, things happen to make me positive there's not. And other times, things happen to make me hope like hell there's not, because if there is, it's got it in for us.
In Santa: literally, no. Conceptually, absolutely.
In the Easter Bunny: well, no.
In the Ether Bunny: sure.
In ghosts: see "God".
In the possibility of time travel: it'd be nice, I guess, but on the other hand it wouldn't -- and I don't think, I guess, no, I don't think it's possible. Except, you know, forward. And slowly. :-)
4.) How do you solve a problem like Maria? (Just Kidding) What musical instruments do you play, and why do you play/did you start playing them (aside from "to make music")?
I sing, and I play (or have played) the piano, violin, bagpipes, and trombone. The first lessons I had were in piano, and I think I started because my folks asked me if I'd like to and I was seven and said yes, please. (I may have had friends who were already taking lessons.) I started playing the violin in fourth grade, when music classes at my school split into chorus and instrumental -- everyone took both, and in the instrumental track in fourth grade you picked a string instrument. I had a violin that my grandmother had played when she was younger; I couldn't play that one yet, but I picked violin because I'd be able to keep going with it outside of school, if I liked it, since I had my own instrument. I played the trombone in fifth grade when we were allowed to switch from strings to wind instruments if we wanted. Along about high school, I started taking voice lessons, for the same reason (I suppose) that I'd kept on taking piano lessons: there wasn't a lot further I could get without specific training, and I wasn't satisfied with how I was using the instrument (either one, voice or piano) just on my own. See above, re: linguistics; it's the same attitude, I think. And I took bagpipe lessons when I was studying in Scotland, because it seemed wrong not to. :-)
5.) If everyone on this planet is "bound by a trail of six people," do you think that you are actually only six degrees away from Kevin Bacon? And if yes, please describe the six (or less) people.
Well, according to the strict rules of the game, I'm not any degrees from Kevin Bacon, because I've never been in a film. But speaking generally of acquaintance or random meeting, then I suppose I must be fewer than six degrees away -- I've bumped into enough people, and
darthrami knows even more. Let's see: I'm good friends with darthrami (1), who has hung out with Mr. Kyle Secor (2). Kyle Secor was in City Slickers with, among others, Mr. Daniel Stern (3). And Daniel Stern was in Diner with Kevin Bacon (4). I could probably get closer, but it would require serious application of thought, and I don't have the energy right now ...