Comments on: A Narnian birthday

by: Ben

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:39:59 +0000

Okay, okay, I’m actually from Krypton. Please tell me Lex is dead.

No, I have taken classes in all of those, but let me rush to add that I’m horribly rusty on most of them. I haven’t read any Coptic since 2002. And I got a D in Middle Egyptian. (Of course, I had an A up until the last day of class, but that’s another story for another time.) Even with Latin I haven’t kept it up as much as I should, so it’s not nearly as impressive as it looks. (And most of those I only studied for one semester.) I’m quite human. Quite. :)

Dead languages are incredibly awesome. For one thing, pronunciation doesn’t matter. :P For another, the aura of the past has this mystique, this romance that wafts in from who knows how many hundreds of years ago and tingles at the back of your neck. It’s not always like that, but the coolness is definitely there. I suppose I ought to add that my love of dead languages in no way means I loathe modern ones — I dabble in French and German and Spanish and occasionally Russian and Italian, for example. And I served in Thailand, so I’m somewhat fluent (though not truly fluent :)).

Collective legs makes y’all sound like a spider. :P

by: M

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:07:23 +0000

I do like the thought of the morbidity of studying a dead language, like studying a tomb to figure out how a people lived.
But that many? Agree completely with E, you must be pulling our collective legs.

by: E.

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:22:28 +0000

Greek, Old and Middle English, Coptic AND Middle Egyptian? Please tell me you’re somewhat kidding—no amount of reassurance from you can get you out of this one. You are super-human, admit it.

by: Ben

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 05:01:51 +0000

Donna: Hmm, sounds familiar. ;) Mere Christianity is brilliant.

A: Yeah, and eventually Greek, too. And Old English and Middle English. And it was a combination of Lewis and Tolkien that started me studying Coptic and Middle Egyptian. I kind of have a thing for dead languages. Is that morbid? :P

This may sound kind of kooky, but I feel like Lewis and I are acorns from the same tree — a kindred spirit. And so, yes, I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to die so I can sit Jack down and chat for hours and hours. ;)

by: A

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 02:04:10 +0000

You took up Latin because of Lewis? That’s incredible. I’m very, very impressed. And indeed, yes, Lewis has changed us all. Won’t it be utterly fabulous to just talk and talk to him in the next world? Sigh.

Happy Birthday, ol’ boy. You’ve changed us all.

by: Donna

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:24:46 +0000

Oops. I hit the send.

Louisa (1832) and her father Bronson Alcott (1799)were born 33 years apart on the same day.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898)

Madeleine L’Engle (1918)

Looks like great company!

I have enjoyed Lewis’ works for a long time. I remember stumbling across Mere Christianity, when I was 17. I reread it again this year, 35 years later. Oh, the difference life experience makes…

I saw Shadowlands for the first time this year. I like it too.

I also like Lewis from the standpoint as a learner and as a teacher.

by: Donna

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:14:11 +0000

Interesting. I love Lewis, as well, I just never knew 29 November as his birthday. Every year of my life I have celebrated 29 November, as it was my father’s birthday. When he was born Thanksgiving was celebrated on the last Thursday of November, and he was born on Thanksgiving Day. Then FDR changed that.

So, I was curious, who else shared that day. Louisa May Alcott