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How many people speak Greek these days? A lot more people hear "your butthole" than "the sky" when they hear that name. Besides the 'coolness' of associating w

How many people speak Greek these days? A lot more people hear "your butthole" than "the sky" when they hear that name. Besides the 'coolness' of associating with the ancient Greeks, the naming does not have much to do with today's world. Not that I advocate changing it but the choice of language seems pretty arbitrary too.

bawolff 5y ago
Speak greek: very few. Know the basics of greek mythology: basically anyone even remotely well educated.
mdp2021 5y ago
> How many people speak Greek these days At least a couple of billions, when they have 'tachycardia', 'hydraulic', 'geosynchronous', 'Uranus' in their vocabulary. > A lot more people hear Well, they are missing a module, aren't they? > coolness The label you choose for "knowing your language" is "cool"? Some would say, "duly". > today's world What entitlements has that "world" you are mentioning? > the choice of language Unclear. If that is arguing against the choice of the ancients, entitlement for judgement remains appropriate. But sure, if you want to call it "S7" in your papers, it will probably work and nobody will stop you. Of course, others will call it as they deem appropriate - oftentimes with reason.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  I understand the words are still used a lot but it feels very artificial. The old Romans and Greeks seem to be adored by academia, especially the arts side. I used to do very well at school and they put me in a latin class to prepare me for 'academic greatness'. But I hated it, I just don't want to be learning about a stuffy language that was invented millennia ago. Luckily I was able to drop out a year later and focus on the sciences which I loved. I never needed it at university obviously (for computer science English offers much greater benefits) I know these languages and cultures have had a great influence on our society and languages now but they were also really primitive people socially (blood games etc). I don't have much respect for them nor for my own middle-ages ancestors. I just wanted to learn about now and the future and don't care how we got there. The classes felt really stuffy to me. And much more tangential than regular history classes. The same thing with Medicine: Doctors were basically clueless only 200 years ago. Almost all progress we have made in medicine was long after the ancients were long dead. There is no real need to use latin for medicine. It's just the language they use 'because it is'. Anyway because of this unwanted expedition at school I have more hostile to the ancient languages :) I'm aware my opinion is very polarised. For what it's worth I have the same with Dutch literature, after I was forced to read 25 'classic' literature pieces for my exam I vowed never to read any Dutch literature again and I never have. I found their works horrible, pompous and contrived. I consider the literature community there basically one big circlejerk of losers. Which is fine by me, they just shouldn't have forced it on me.
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    > primitive people Well, you are writing already in a forum of relatively selected participance, are not you? Even today if you checked averages, medians and modes (types) there would be (there is) little to be happy about. The context here is about the "milestone setters" we had them then and we have them today. Not all of the progressive instances of the past are strongly seen today - far from it. And in fact, > all progress we have made in medicine the current extreme focus on disease and neglect of health which can be perceived nowadays in some areas should suggest that the "primitiveness" you see is really not gone and transversal though history. Of which it is said, "a curse which will force those who ignore it to repeat it" (similarly to gambling as "the tax on those ignorant of mathematics"). Sure, we have this exciting creational power to exploit "today": nonetheless, you have to "cultivate the man" - otherwise, what you will get is "a brute with heightened power at hand". In that context, > the words are still used in my former reply I was literal and brief when I enumerated transliterations («'geo-' 'synchro-' etc)». More than the words, the roots are still used. In all of these tokens we in turn threw in. To have some proper acquaintance with the terms you use should be part of the art - they are your instruments... You can have different priorities, but if you work with wire or pans or blades, it is welcome to spend an adequate degree of consideration of those entities. And you use language. When you look into it, its origins become relevant.

bawolff 5y ago

Speak greek: very few. Know the basics of greek mythology: basically anyone even remotely well educated.

mdp2021 5y ago

> How many people speak Greek these days At least a couple of billions, when they have 'tachycardia', 'hydraulic', 'geosynchronous', 'Uranus' in their vocabulary. > A lot more people hear Well, they are missing a module, aren't they? > coolness The label you choose for "knowing your language" is "cool"? Some would say, "duly". > today's world What entitlements has that "world" you are mentioning? > the choice of language Unclear. If that is arguing against the choice of the ancients, entitlement for judgement remains appropriate. But sure, if you want to call it "S7" in your papers, it will probably work and nobody will stop you. Of course, others will call it as they deem appropriate - oftentimes with reason.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
I understand the words are still used a lot but it feels very artificial. The old Romans and Greeks seem to be adored by academia, especially the arts side. I used to do very well at school and they put me in a latin class to prepare me for 'academic greatness'. But I hated it, I just don't want to be learning about a stuffy language that was invented millennia ago. Luckily I was able to drop out a year later and focus on the sciences which I loved. I never needed it at university obviously (for computer science English offers much greater benefits) I know these languages and cultures have had a great influence on our society and languages now but they were also really primitive people socially (blood games etc). I don't have much respect for them nor for my own middle-ages ancestors. I just wanted to learn about now and the future and don't care how we got there. The classes felt really stuffy to me. And much more tangential than regular history classes. The same thing with Medicine: Doctors were basically clueless only 200 years ago. Almost all progress we have made in medicine was long after the ancients were long dead. There is no real need to use latin for medicine. It's just the language they use 'because it is'. Anyway because of this unwanted expedition at school I have more hostile to the ancient languages :) I'm aware my opinion is very polarised. For what it's worth I have the same with Dutch literature, after I was forced to read 25 'classic' literature pieces for my exam I vowed never to read any Dutch literature again and I never have. I found their works horrible, pompous and contrived. I consider the literature community there basically one big circlejerk of losers. Which is fine by me, they just shouldn't have forced it on me.
- mdp2021 5y ago
  > primitive people Well, you are writing already in a forum of relatively selected participance, are not you? Even today if you checked averages, medians and modes (types) there would be (there is) little to be happy about. The context here is about the "milestone setters" we had them then and we have them today. Not all of the progressive instances of the past are strongly seen today - far from it. And in fact, > all progress we have made in medicine the current extreme focus on disease and neglect of health which can be perceived nowadays in some areas should suggest that the "primitiveness" you see is really not gone and transversal though history. Of which it is said, "a curse which will force those who ignore it to repeat it" (similarly to gambling as "the tax on those ignorant of mathematics"). Sure, we have this exciting creational power to exploit "today": nonetheless, you have to "cultivate the man" - otherwise, what you will get is "a brute with heightened power at hand". In that context, > the words are still used in my former reply I was literal and brief when I enumerated transliterations («'geo-' 'synchro-' etc)». More than the words, the roots are still used. In all of these tokens we in turn threw in. To have some proper acquaintance with the terms you use should be part of the art - they are your instruments... You can have different priorities, but if you work with wire or pans or blades, it is welcome to spend an adequate degree of consideration of those entities. And you use language. When you look into it, its origins become relevant.