#98QBKiller Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Man, that's some deep ****! Kind of like a Jack Handey moment...... I've actually thought about that before and I have no answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsonny Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 I've actually thought about that before and I have no answer. Dear Cecil: In what language do deaf people think? I think in English, because that's what I speak. But since deaf people cannot hear, they can't learn how to speak a language. Nevertheless, they must think in some language. Would they think in English if they use sign language and read English? How would they do that if they've never heard the words they are signing or reading pronounced? Or maybe they just see words in their head, instead of hearing themselves? — Cathy, Malvern, Pennsylvania You're on the right track, kid. But first a little detour. Your speculations raise a larger question: Can you think without language? Answer: Nope, at least not at the level humans are accustomed to. That's why deafness can have far more serious consequences than blindness, developmentally speaking. The blind suffer many hardships, not the least of which is the inability to read in the usual manner. But even those sightless from birth acquire language by ear without difficulty in infancy, and having done so lead relatively ordinary lives. A congenitally deaf child isn't so lucky: unless someone realizes very early that he's not talking because he can't hear, his grasp of communication may never progress beyond the rudiments. The language of the deaf is a vast topic that has filled lots of books--one of the best is Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the World of the Deaf by Oliver Sacks (1989). All I can do in this venue is sketch out a few basic propositions: The folks at issue here are both (a) profoundly and ( prelingually deaf. If you don't become totally deaf until after you've acquired language, your problems are . . . well, not minor, but manageable. You think in whatever spoken language you've learned. Given some commonsense accommodation during schooling, you'll progress normally intellectually. Depending on circumstances you may be able to speak and lip-read. About one child in a thousand, however, is born with no ability to hear whatsoever. Years ago such people were called deaf-mutes. Often they were considered retarded, and in a sense they were: they'd never learned language, a process that primes the pump for much later development. The critical age range seems to be 21 to 36 months. During this period children pick up the basics of language easily, and in so doing establish essential cognitive infrastructure. Later on it's far more difficult. If the congenitally deaf aren't diagnosed before they start school, they may face severe learning problems for the rest of their lives, even if in other respects their intelligence is normal. The profoundly, prelingually deaf can and do acquire language; it's just gestural rather than verbal. The sign language most commonly used in the U.S. is American Sign Language, sometimes called Ameslan or just Sign. Those not conversant in Sign may suppose that it's an invented form of communication like Esperanto or Morse code. It's not. It's an independent natural language, evolved by ordinary people and transmitted culturally from one generation to the next. It bears no relationship to English and in some ways is more similar to Chinese--a single highly inflected gesture can convey an entire word or phrase. (Signed English, in which you'll sometimes see words spelled out one letter at a time, is a completely different animal.) Sign can be acquired effortlessly in early childhood--and by anyone, not just the deaf (e.g., hearing children of deaf parents). Those who do so use it as fluently as most Americans speak English. Sign equips native users with the ability to manipulate symbols, grasp abstractions, and actively acquire and process knowledge--in short, to think, in the full human sense of the term. Nonetheless, "oralists" have long insisted that the best way to educate the deaf is to teach them spoken language, sometimes going so far as to suppress signing. Sacks and many deaf folk think this has been a disaster for deaf people. The answer to your question is now obvious. In what language do the profoundly deaf think? Why, in Sign (or the local equivalent), assuming they were fortunate enough to have learned it in infancy. The hearing can have only a general idea what this is like--the gulf between spoken and visual language is far greater than that between, say, English and Russian. Research suggests that the brain of a native deaf signer is organized differently from that of a hearing person. Still, sometimes we can get a glimpse. Sacks writes of a visit to the island of Martha's Vineyard, where hereditary deafness was endemic for more than 250 years and a community of signers, most of whom hear normally, still flourishes. He met a woman in her 90s who would sometimes slip into a reverie, her hands moving constantly. According to her daughter, she was thinking in Sign. "Even in sleep, I was further informed, the old lady might sketch fragmentary signs on the counterpane," Sacks writes. "She was dreaming in Sign." — Cecil Adams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahmayzin Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 OMG!!! Who is that??? Hayden P. "Save the cheerleader save the world"....she's legal..lol. Fine as frog hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#98QBKiller Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 (edited) — Cecil Adams Nice answer. I always enjoy reading the Straight Dope. Sorry Mark, Edited. Edited September 2, 2010 by #98QBKiller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark The Homer Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 11. Please do not use the “Quote” feature to quote pictures, large blocks of text or embedded YouTube videos. It wastes space and unnecessarily extends and clutters threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0ublestr0ker0ll Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Damn QBK, Moderator owned, I think that calls for a Tito/Van Damme dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVAbrendan Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACW Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Vince McMahon :hysterical: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVAbrendan Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACW Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 http://www.thesneeze.com/2007/the-great-pizza-orientation-test.php That's actually pretty cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailGreen28 Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Well there were about 3 things in that play that deserved a flag (Facemask, roughing the passer, late hit on the body slam) so I think he was justified in getting up demanding a flag. He didn't seem as upset once he saw he got one though.Looked to me like he wrapped his arms around his helmet, nothing wrong with that.If Suh had tackled a running back that way, would it still be a dirty play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitman21ST Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Looked to me like he wrapped his arms around his helmet, nothing wrong with that.If Suh had tackled a running back that way, would it still be a dirty play? If the running back didn't have the ball, probably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostofSparta Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Looked to me like he wrapped his arms around his helmet, nothing wrong with that.If Suh had tackled a running back that way, would it still be a dirty play? Here, watch the video again. Especially right around the 44-45 second mark when they slow it down. Suh's hand (just 1) is inside Delhomme's helmet, and turns his head almost 180 degrees. And yes, if the play were over (like say the RB had fumbled the ball out of bounds) and Suh slammed him to the ground for no reason, I'd probably call it a dirty play. But regardless, if you watch the video like I said, it's clearly a facemask. That much is clear at least: 9E_2uC42jsA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixcuincle Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullnelson9999 Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 5Ns-kXeQCMk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sinister Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 (edited) @ Nats brawl... Nice flying lariat:ols: Edited September 2, 2010 by Mr. Sinister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsknbill Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 UVqRq3wjtSo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Van Damm dance NEVER gets old.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss_Hogg Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 dirty play by Suh, I'de be pissed if I played for detroit too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titaw Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 (edited) Friggin PRICELESS!!! (NSFW - language) for whatever reason when I try to youtube braket this thing it only displays a blank page. Edited September 2, 2010 by Titaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullnelson9999 Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Friggin PRICELESS!!! (NSFW - language) tieA5wfcgH4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostofSparta Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Ok, which one of our resident arachnophobes did this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Friggin PRICELESS!!! (NSFW - language) for whatever reason when I try to youtube braket this thing it only displays a blank page. That's awesome! Freakin hilarious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frostyj Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Friggin PRICELESS!!! (NSFW - language) for whatever reason when I try to youtube braket this thing it only displays a blank page. Copy and past the section inbetween the ='s Reminds me of this 08xQLGWTSag&feature Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sinister Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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