You can use my derriere to try and lure him here if that will help also.

I like it. And here is another one you might enjoy. I found it in a historical novel I recently read about early Rome when the army in Germany would be attacked by little bands of warriors, whose aim it was to get the Romans to chase them into the woods, scatter them and pick them off. Since these forays had little meaning to the army mission, the general refused to be baited and commented, "Aquila non captat muscas." It reminded me of another application for the saying, that on the internet (or anywhere else for that matter) people should not stoop to engage in arguments with people who are only looking to pick a fight or be annoying. I decided it would be my motto for '08 and put it on my desktop message. For those of you who are curious the sentence reads, "The eagle doesn't take/capture/attack flies." There are other fun ones we should look up and insert in our posts for fun! (The people on RA probably think we are nuts.) Spareribs

I like it. And here is another one you might enjoy. I found it in a historical novel I recently read about early Rome when the army in Germany would be attacked by little bands of warriors, whose aim it was to get the Romans to chase them into the woods, scatter them and pick them off. Since these forays had little meaning to the army mission, the general refused to be baited and commented, "Aquila non captat muscas." It reminded me of another application for the saying, that on the internet (or anywhere else for that matter) people should not stoop to engage in arguments with people who are only looking to pick a fight or be annoying. I decided it would be my motto for '08 and put it on my desktop message. For those of you who are curious the sentence reads, "The eagle doesn't take/capture/attack flies." There are other fun ones we should look up and insert in our posts for fun! (The people on RA probably think we are nuts.) Spareribs

I'm thinkin' there's more to learn in this Master's forum than running. Very nicely put Ribs.

You can use my derriere to try and lure him here if that will help also.

.......let's hold that back as a Secret Weapon....... ...........first, see if they can Handle the New Members they got NOW........ a few extra THOUSAND might crash the site//////

As long as we're off on the language stuff, I'd like to ask Ribs, DH, et al (ha! Threw in some Latin) if they think it's possible to take language lessons successfully later in life (i.e., at my age). I took three years of Latin in grades 7-9 and two years of French following that. I think I had a knack for it, although I was not exactly dedicated to learning it at the time. I never used any of it until I did a bunch of business travel to Italy in the 90s. I was actually surprised how much it started coming back on some side-trips I took to France, and I started picking up some Italian, which seemed to come pretty easily. I was at least able to make myself understood in stores, ristorantes, etc. So after retirement, I was thinking of taking a language course at the local Community College. I'd either pursue Italian since I have a head start on it, or maybe Spanish, which would be the most useful around here. Do you have any thoughts on this? Vocabulary is the most difficult thing, and I'm not sure how much my ancient brain can retain these days.

OK Holly......your first months rent is due anytime

As long as we're off on the language stuff, I'd like to ask Ribs, DH, et al (ha! Threw in some Latin) if they think it's possible to take language lessons successfully later in life (i.e., at my age).

roch, You can learn languages at any age. The key is repetition: Repetitio mater memoriae. If you study 15-30 minutes a day, you will learn more and faster and retain it better than if you study longer but less often. I don't even want to use the word "study." Just practice. Since you asked, personally I don't think Italian is very useful: I believe it's spoken only in Italy--someone correct me if I'm wrong--and there isn't as much worthwhile literature compared to other languages you could choose. Spanish is spoken in many countries around the world, so it would be a better practical choice. There is also a thriving modern literature. French probably has a greater literature than Spanish, but is not spoken widely. And much of the best literature is not modern. Latin has a great literature over a 2,000 year span but is rarely spoken. You are not going to be able to use your Latin in Latin America, no matter what Dan Quayle says. Also, it's harder to learn because it is so heavily inflected, and so terse. Ancient Greek has a great literature, and is easier to learn than Latin once you get past the different alphabet. Really, the alphabet is something you learn on the first day of class, so it's not a big deal: alpha, beta, gamma, et cetera. You will notice the first two letters of the Greek alphabet are the source of our word "alphabet." But Ancient Greek is still harder than modern Western languages, and of course is no longer spoken, though Modern Greek is not so dissimilar: when I vacationed in Greece in July, it was fun to translate road signs and other Greek text solely based on my paltry knowledge of Ancient Greek. Well, there you have my off-the-cuff thoughts on the matter. In the end, it comes down to personal preference. You should study whatever language you feel motivated to study, just as you should do whatever exercise you are motivated to do. If someone tells you to study Spanish but you really want to learn French, you probably won't learn as much; just as if someone tells you to run but you really want to swim, you probably won't exercise as much. Dark Horse

DH, how fast does the Army immerse newbies in Monterey?

Ribs, Monterey is very intensive from the start, and if you can't keep up they send you home. Let me say, I don't think you have to speak a language, or even practice speaking a language, to enjoy reading it. I think having someone else to study with can be very useful. Read Benjamin Franklin's excellent autobiography for his account of how he and a friend learned Italian (I believe) together: "We played chess together, the loser being assigned a lesson to learn by the winner. Since we played pretty equally, we beat one another into a knowledge of that language." (paraphrase from memory) If I recall correctly, Franklin had trouble with Latin at first, but after he had studied modern Romance languages he found Latin easier. I myself have done very well by finding an equally motivated study partner, and sitting together and going over things together and quizzing each other. I also think a study group could be very useful. Last month I posted a notice on the library bulletin board looking to form a Latin study group to read Cicero together, but no one has responded yet. Dark Horse