Disgruntled English Major

February282013

The awkward moment when someone in your upper-division English Lit class thinks Shakespeare wrote in Old English.

*Sigh*

Let’s run through this again, shall we?

Old English: Beowulf. A Germanic language that bears no resemblance to English today. Unintelligible to you unless you’ve actually studied how to read it.

Middle English: Anything by Chaucer. Looks funky on paper because there was no standardized spelling for words back then— and everything was copied by scribes, who tended to make their own mistakes. You can probably read it untranslated, though it takes some practice and can get frustrating if you’re not used to it.

Early Modern English (Also called Elizabethan English): Anything by Shakespeare. Yes, his plays have been around for like 400 years, but that shit’s Modern English, folks. You shouldn’t have too much trouble reading it. The use of thou and thee might throw you off because we don’t use those anymore, but anyone who’s studied a foreign language like Spanish knows the difference between familiar and formal tense; “thee” is familiar, “you” is formal.

Modern English: What we write and speak today. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary in 1755 and Noah Webster’s dictionary in 1828 helped us establish uniformity of spelling, which was somewhat lacking in earlier forms of English.

Everybody got that? Awesome.

Bringing back this classic to (very belatedly) celebrate this blog’s one-year anniversary.

Thanks for everything, my lovely fellow English majors!

english major disgruntled english major

January142012

“Dante’s Inferno”

…No, not the video game.

I have to say, it annoys the crap out of me when people refer to Inferno as if that’s all there is to the work, rather than it just being the first part of a three-part epic poem. Or worse, as if that’s the title of the entire poem: Dante’s Inferno.

Sure, it’s correct to say something like: “I’m reading Inferno, from Dante’s Divine Comedy.” But stop this including-the-author’s-name-as-part-of-the-title nonsense.

I don’t know what it says about our society that the most recognized part of Divine Comedy is the part about Hell, but come on, can we show Purgatorio or Paradiso a little love?

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January122012

littleradge:

gpoy

English major paradox: Ostensibly, we’re all people who enjoy reading and writing, and yet no one complains more about having to read or write an essay than we do.

(via luckychihuahua)

I usually complain until my BioSci major friends offer to let me do their problem sets english nerd english major english major problems disgruntled english major lit major

8AM

Hello lovely followers!

There are quite a few of you now. This pleases me. (I’ve done my best to keep being disgruntled, but I guess I just like stuff too much. Not to worry, I still have a few rants in store for you.)

As a reminder, you’re all quite welcome to submit English-related tirades of your own, or pictures of something only English majors would find awesome, or, hell, just tell us what you’re reading for your classes right now.

Otherwise I’m just going to keep lurking in the english major tag and reblogging everything I find there.

*lurks*

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January92012

Well this is just depressing as all hell.

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January82012

litmajorlemur:

I bought All Quiet on the Western Front today and it was absolutely covered in “used” and “on sale” stickers. I have spent hours removing them all and getting rid of the sticky residue.

Story of every quarter of my life.

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12PM

Read it 1st: Don't Let the Movie Ruin the Book.

A website you bibliophiles might enjoy.

Read it 1st was envisioned by Hank Green and created by Nerdfighteria, an online community of awesome people who do awesome things.

We created Read it 1st because five of the top 10 movies of 2010 were based on books. Most of the people who watched those movies had never read the book. In fact, most people in America read fewer than two books per year. While movies are great, and we love them, the stories from those movies were originally envisioned in a different way. A way that requires more interaction, more brain, more relaxation, more free time, and more commitment. We think those are all things that the world doesn’t have enough of these days.

So we wanted to tell the world that we were pledging to read the book before we watch the movie from this day forth. And we also wanted to invite the world to do that with us.

I can’t even comprehend what it would be like to read less than two books a year. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever taken a class that required less than six.

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January62012

I don’t need to make as much money as all my Engineering friends, I just need to make enough to get a place like this. Especially one with a ladder.

(In reality I’ll be living in an apartment until I’m like, thirty, slowing being crushed under the weight of all my piles and piles of books that I no longer have shelf space for.)

(Source: blowingbubbles-atmydog, via bookshelfporn)

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January52012

English majors: Eloquent in class, foul-mouthed everywhere else.

(via luckychihuahua)

english english nerd disgruntled english major english major problems vocabulary

12PM

The awkward moment when someone in your upper-division English Lit class thinks Shakespeare wrote in Old English.

*Sigh*

Let’s run through this again, shall we?

Old English: Beowulf. A Germanic language that bears no resemblance to English today. Unintelligible to you unless you’ve actually studied how to read it.

Middle English: Anything by Chaucer. Looks funky on paper because there was no standardized spelling for words back then— and everything was copied by scribes, who tended to make their own mistakes. You can probably read it untranslated, though it takes some practice and can get frustrating if you’re not used to it.

Early Modern English (Also called Elizabethan English): Anything by Shakespeare. Yes, his plays have been around for like 400 years, but that shit’s Modern English, folks. You shouldn’t have too much trouble reading it. The use of thou and thee might throw you off because we don’t use those anymore, but anyone who’s studied a foreign language like Spanish knows the difference between familiar and formal tense; “thee” is familiar, “you” is formal.

Modern English: What we write and speak today. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary in 1755 and Noah Webster’s dictionary in 1828 helped us establish uniformity of spelling, which was somewhat lacking in earlier forms of English.

Everybody got that? Awesome.

English major English major pet peeves disgruntled english major english nerd Shakespeare Chaucer Beowulf old english middle english modern english english major problems

Disgruntled English Major

A place for those who study English literature to express their discontent in everything from the misuse of apostrophes to lack of income. Some say we're pretentious asshats. They may be right. But at least we're well-read.

The awkward moment when someone in your upper-division English Lit class thinks Shakespeare wrote in Old English.

“Dante’s Inferno”

Hello lovely followers!

Read it 1st: Don't Let the Movie Ruin the Book.

The awkward moment when someone in your upper-division English Lit class thinks Shakespeare wrote in Old English.