I'm Still an Idiot

OK so I'll be honest-- I am known for being somewhat of an idiot. Not in the 'I brush my teeth with dish soap' kind of way, just that at times I appear less intelligent because of my inability to properly articulate what I'm thinking. This includes (but is not limited to) stuttering, stumbling, awkward pauses in the middle of a thought, etc. etc. etc...

Part of me thought that that aspect of my intellectual awkwardness would ease it's way out of my repertoire once I arrived at graduate school. Haha not really...

Here's the set-up: I was in my seminar class (Studies in Environmental History), along with my prof. and the ONE other student (who, while clearly intelligent has difficulty articulating because English is not her first language) in the class (really, using the word 'class' is a stretch, as there are three people in the room-- which, might I add, is my professor's office). So the two-hour long discussion going poorly because Ayuka and I both disliked and failed to completely grasp the readings for this week, and I was trying to inject something into the dialogue in order to keep it going. Now bear with me, this isn't huge, but for someone who is graduate history student it is pretty sad to mix these up, especially in this setting. Anyway-- I went on this three-minute long comment about the history of environment and the viability of writing historically about sound and smell with respect to the environment, and mixed up 'subjective' and 'objective.' Probably would've been better if Prof. Endfield didn't crack a smile and correct me. Ouch. Couple this with me incorrectly counting how many people were in the room last week and I kind of look like an idiot.

At least England isn't changing me for the worse, as I'm already kind of a doofus.

A Flavourful and Skilful (not really) Comment

Forever I have been plagued by a curiosity as to why, oh why words in England are spelled/spelt differently. Is it really necessary? Why can't we all just get along?

Historically speaking, the differences date back to the 19th century when good old Noah Webster first published his dictionary of the English language (according to the interweb, 1828). His reason for changing -our to -or and -ise to -ize, among other things? To show that the English spoke by Americans was unique from that of the Brits. Wow. Yet another excellent display by Mr. Webster (I've never been a huge fan, as an amatuer historian of education: the lesson plan, among other things).

A little more browsing on the ol' Google leads to some comments by some famous names! Hooray!
-GB Shaw said that the US and UK are "two countries divided by a common language."
-Later, Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying that the US and the UK "have really everything in common...nowadays, except, of course, the language."

What got me on this topic, you ask? Well, as I am enrolled in a university (or is it universitie?) in England, I've already been exposed to a fair share of these different spellings. It is just odd to read an academic journal or a handout in class and have the word program spelled 'programme' over and over again. On a minor tangent, the weirdocity went a step further today in my Frameworks for Environmental Management class. We are currently in the middle of learning about and discussing environmental law, so naturally we are discussing the governmental bodies associated with environmental legislation and enforcement. But instead of the EPA, Congress and the Justice Department, we're discussing the European Commission and it's relations with the European Environment Agency, the Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice. Why is this weird? Because any course discussing juridprudential history in some way has been about America. I understand that this sentiment for someone who so desperately ached to attend graduate school in England is a bit, well... stupid, but you have to understand where I'm coming from hurr.

Regardless, I'm sure there will be more ridiculitude of this nature to come, as I am nuts and these people can't spell (although I now write the date and time as they do here: 2.30PM; 2.10.08 for October 2nd, 2008).