[B-Greek] Is Greek practical?
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Fri Nov 26 10:29:13 EST 2010
< I think that friend Phosphor would agree.>
I do agree, yes. It took me a while to figure out why I enjoy Greek so much as
a hobby. It is the perfect blend of work and leisure. We are hard-wired to be
productive, which is why so many people spend their weekends at the Home Depot.
But there is immense pleasure in doing something that requires effort but does
not produce anything practical. Learning Spanish or Sign Language for your job
is one thing. Learning to speak Ancient Greek is something else. It's where one
finds oneself in control. If my goal is to read through the Greek NT in one
month or finally finish the Symposium, it is something I can do for myself, and
precisely because I don't HAVE to do it, it is fun. Cleaning leaves out of the
gutter is not fun. Putting up Christmas lights is. What a piece of work is a
man.
<You can't imagine what a thrill it is to read the Odyssey in the original.>
Yes, yes, yes. I learned Homer by accident, thinking it would help my NT
Greek. It really has not. It is as practical as watching Mr. Brady, yesterday,
on 3rd and two, throw the ball for an 85 yard touchdown. Just as practical and
just as fun. What a piece of work...
Mark L
FWSFOROS MARKOS
________________________________
From: cwconrad2 <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Fri, November 26, 2010 7:42:23 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] Is Greek practical?
The Old Curmudgeon today has a nice quote from W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's
Edge --
on whether Greek is practical
(http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/2010/11/it-doesnt-sound-very-practical.html)
"Greek's morе difficult. But I have a very good teacher. Until you came here I
used to go to him three evenings a week.'
'And what is that going to lead to?'
'The acquisition of knowledge,' he smiled.
'It doesn't sound very practical.'
'Perhaps it isn't and on the other hand perhaps it is. But it's enormous fun.
You can't imagine what a thrill it is to read the Odyssey in the original. It
makes you feel as if you had only to get on tiptoe and stretch out your hands to
touch the stars.'
This is really true -- or so I and some others think -- it's worth testing! I
think that friend Phosphor would agree.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (ret)
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list