A Revelation

[bloodyrosemccoy]

I think I’ve finally put my finger on just what, exactly, feels so wrong about my having joined a liberry teen-focus group: lack of understanding of the basic goal of getting teenagers to read.

All I’m saying is, I was the teenager who inspired whole panels of teachers, counselors, and parents to convene in order to figure out how to get me to stop reading.

I may be out of my depth here.

Comments

[hrhleia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have that problem all the time. There are tons of words I know the meaning and use of, but the way I would pronounce them in my head is not correct. Unfortunately, I usually only discover this when I say them wrongly in front of people. If they are feeling generous, I only get a funny look and correction instead of laughter. It would happen more often, but most of them aren't used in daily conversation.

I didn't usually get caught up in the dictionary, but I did in the encyclopedia every time. The only reason I haven't fulfilled my goal of reading the whole thing is a lack of time, and that they aren't as portable as most novels.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention "island"--that's one I learned from video games, actually. I was very small when I started playing Super Mario World, and in charge of reading the text to my smaller siblings. Mom happened to walk by just as I authoritatively read, "Yoshi's Is-land," and she explained to me that it was "island," which is spelled funny.

I took a college freshman seminar on science fiction once, and we spent the first week on the subject of How To Pick Up What A Sci-Fi Word Means Using Contextual clues. I was surprised that this needed explaining, but then I treat sci-fi words like any word I don't understand--and it's something that doesn't even happen consciously at this point.