In Pursuit of Language

Dear Reader,

I'm going to try to keep this one short, as difficult as that is for me!

So, last week something Dr. Finlayson (my pathology professor - who reminds me so much of the lovable Sybil Trelawney, played wonderfully by Emma Thomson) quite rightly said that "studying medicine is like learning a new language." We learn about 2000 new words just in our first two years, which is about the same number of words you would learn if taking a foreign language course. (Aside: shouldn't we getting two degrees then?)

And to begin with, that's exactly what it had felt like; sitting in Monkton lecture theatre (too early in the morning, I might add) with the lecturer speaking in some-other-unknown-language, interspersed here and there with a few English words like "and, the, a". Especially in Dr. Aland's (our anatomy professor) lectures. Anatomy! now there is a subject that requires it's own 'extensively detailed dictionary and correct pronunciation kit'. Instead of saying "to the side and up a bit" you have say something like "Laterally Superior to ... at the Cranial end of the Dorsal root ganglia..." etc.... If you can understand that upon first hearing it then you deserve an award. For a detailed description of our Anatomy session's and the (duh duh duuuuhhhh) Dissection Room, I refer you to a blog by my poetical friend.          

A Confession: (haven't had one of those is some time) I've always found the history of language fascinating. Being multilingual as I am, I'm always surprised to find connections between different words. For example, pineapple is the same in French and Urdu! Often the etymology of words, like ananas (pineapple), can be quite interesting. (It's one of the things I really like about a little wiki here! To think someone actually goes to all the trouble of finding where words originate from. So next time you  look  up something on that site, make sure you read the etymology of the word.)
 

Anyway, I've noticed that language tends to travel with people. I believe Alexander the Great was one of the biggest culprit for this phenomenon. Honestly, he went all over the place with a war hammer in one hand, (I'm not quite sure what was in his other hand - probably the reins of his horse), spreading destruction, disease and language in his wake. Built himself quite an empire, he did. It's a shame he never got to see the aftermath of his work. (Make sure you click on the map and see the bigger, more coherent, version.)

 
The next big one after dear Alexi, has to be The Crusades. They lasted lasted over a thousand years, killed millions upon millions of people, and some people (quite wrongly in my opinion) believe they are still going on today. The crusades were not only a collision of swords on the battle field but also a collision of cultures. It's not a very new concept for most of us now in our modern-media-driven-lives, but it was definitely new for those poor farmers-turned-crusaders back in the 1st millennium. Looking back, I can't help notice the stark contrast between these two opposing sides (that happen to have the same origin, I might add). While Europe was going through it's 'Dark Ages', the Middle Eastern Nation happened to be experiencing, what we now term, the 'Islamic Golden Age'. Talk about a juxtaposition (look up it's etymology!).

I think I've gone on for long enough now, I'm pretty sure you don't want a history lesson right now. And anyway, I must go and have lunch. I'll leave you to contemplate your own use of language.

(Note: I need to blog about the nerd-fighters and John Green at some point, preferably after the dreaded exams)   

Nida

P.S. - What do you think of the change in the appearance? Let me know, leave a comment.