Randomness.
Sep. 20th, 2007 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brinshannara(Don't ask me why, but I can't seem to stop posting to LJ, despite my initial desires to post elsewhere.)
Anyways, some random stuff that doesn't make me want to kill people:
- The Canadian dollar hit parity with the American dollar today. Know when that last happened? BEFORE I WAS BORN. 1976. It was under 62 Canadian cents to the US dollar as recently as 2002. I remember getting a paycheque in American dollars for ~$5800 and getting $9900 and change in Canadian funds for that at the bank. Of course, while this is clearly a source of national pride, and is good for Canadians in that we can go to the US and not be like "oh, $5 American is $7.50 Canadian!"... but apparently it's bad for Canadian industry. I think it's close to 75% or 80% of our exports go to the United States -- who are now getting less product for their money, so they're buying less. Americans buying less means less is being sold, period. And our tourism will likely take a dive, as Americans have been all "haha, 1 US dollar is equal to 73 Canadian ones!" for the last couple of decades.
- Italian is fascinating, but I'm currently all mixed up after class, because I keep wanting to speak Italian, but am only thinking in French and then trying to convert it to English. Did you know we almost never use the subjunctive in English? I never really learned English grammar. I learned a LOT of French grammar, though, and have been toying with the subjunctive in French since... grade 7? Grade 8? But we almost never use it in English, and when we do, we often don't realize it, because the only difference between the present indicative and present subjunctive is the 3rd person singular. Indicative says "she goes", subjunctive says "that she go".
Also, despite my intense dislike of the subjunctive, I must train myself to use it more frequently, because, apparently, I make a LOT of mistakes in both French and Italian with it.
Example in French: Je pense qu'elle est une bonne personne. (indicative, DESPITE the "I think that")
Example in Italian: Penso che lei sia una buona persone. (subjunctive, because it's not a certainty.)
Example in English: I think that she is a good person. (indicative, DESPITE the "I think that")
But another example:
Example in French: Je pense qu'elle vienne a la fˆte. (subjunctive, because it's not a certainty.)
Example in Italian: Penso che lei venga alla festa. (subjunctive, because it's not a certainty.)
Example in English: I think that she may come to the party. (subjunctive!)
But who SAYS that? No one. "I think that she WILL COME to the party" or "I think that she IS COMING to the party".
We often use "to think" and then the gerund or future or infinitive form of a verb to indicate that it isn't a certainty, rather than use the subjunctive.
God, I'm so glad I already KNOW English. I can't imagine learning that.
And now, off to Sociology of the Media.
Anyways, some random stuff that doesn't make me want to kill people:
- The Canadian dollar hit parity with the American dollar today. Know when that last happened? BEFORE I WAS BORN. 1976. It was under 62 Canadian cents to the US dollar as recently as 2002. I remember getting a paycheque in American dollars for ~$5800 and getting $9900 and change in Canadian funds for that at the bank. Of course, while this is clearly a source of national pride, and is good for Canadians in that we can go to the US and not be like "oh, $5 American is $7.50 Canadian!"... but apparently it's bad for Canadian industry. I think it's close to 75% or 80% of our exports go to the United States -- who are now getting less product for their money, so they're buying less. Americans buying less means less is being sold, period. And our tourism will likely take a dive, as Americans have been all "haha, 1 US dollar is equal to 73 Canadian ones!" for the last couple of decades.
- Italian is fascinating, but I'm currently all mixed up after class, because I keep wanting to speak Italian, but am only thinking in French and then trying to convert it to English. Did you know we almost never use the subjunctive in English? I never really learned English grammar. I learned a LOT of French grammar, though, and have been toying with the subjunctive in French since... grade 7? Grade 8? But we almost never use it in English, and when we do, we often don't realize it, because the only difference between the present indicative and present subjunctive is the 3rd person singular. Indicative says "she goes", subjunctive says "that she go".
Also, despite my intense dislike of the subjunctive, I must train myself to use it more frequently, because, apparently, I make a LOT of mistakes in both French and Italian with it.
Example in French: Je pense qu'elle est une bonne personne. (indicative, DESPITE the "I think that")
Example in Italian: Penso che lei sia una buona persone. (subjunctive, because it's not a certainty.)
Example in English: I think that she is a good person. (indicative, DESPITE the "I think that")
But another example:
Example in French: Je pense qu'elle vienne a la fˆte. (subjunctive, because it's not a certainty.)
Example in Italian: Penso che lei venga alla festa. (subjunctive, because it's not a certainty.)
Example in English: I think that she may come to the party. (subjunctive!)
But who SAYS that? No one. "I think that she WILL COME to the party" or "I think that she IS COMING to the party".
We often use "to think" and then the gerund or future or infinitive form of a verb to indicate that it isn't a certainty, rather than use the subjunctive.
God, I'm so glad I already KNOW English. I can't imagine learning that.
And now, off to Sociology of the Media.
