fox: linguistics-related IPA (linguistics)
fox ([personal profile] fox) wrote2003-04-16 09:47 pm
Entry tags:

ego-boost

phone rang half an hour ago.

it was M, a fourth-year student from my typology class last semester (which was cross-listed for undergraduate and graduate credit, which is how we were both in it). nice kid. studying spanish linguistics. she was calling because she's writing a senior thesis; she's had a first draft back from her advisor, and she hopes to hand in a final draft tomorrow, and she's a little stumped by something in one of the articles she's reading ("by the sixteenth century, estar had completely ousted ser from aspectually compound tenses"), and she was hoping i could help her out. see, she's decided i Know Things about linguistics, and will therefore be able to explain what that means and why it matters.

now, i don't speak spanish, and i haven't read the article in question, so i don't have the context -- so all i could do was give my best guess, based on what i think i'd mean if i used the phrase "aspectually compound tenses". but, dude! baby undergrad ran into a concept she didn't understand, and decided, i know! i'll call my friend fox the smart grad student. she can help me!

[falls down]
drglam: Cloned kitten, in a beaker (Default)

[personal profile] drglam 2003-04-16 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a great feeling isn't it? I just love those moments when I've got an undergrad or junior grad student saying "Help me Obi-Sian Kenobi!"