(no subject)

[tahnan]

There's a question that linguists get all the time after they tell someone they're a linguist, which is, "How many languages do you speak?" It's an intensely frustrating question, because it misses much of the point of the work a linguist does.

Similarly, I know that friends who have masters' degrees in children's literature dread questions about whether that means that they're writing a children's book. (Also, nearly any question that mentions Harry Potter.)

So I ask my readers, out of curiosity. When you tell people something fundamental about who you are or what you do ("I'm a linguist"; "I have a Masters' in Children's Literature"; "I'm from Serbia"; "I have a wooden leg"; "I brew beer"; or what have you), what question is it that you dread getting in return, but which seems to be fairly inevitable?

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

usually?

I mean, sure, personally, I'd be curious what the C major prelude from book I would sound like on an organ in a room with a long reverb time. But when you say they usually mean the Toccata in d, I have to wonder what the other 1% mean. :-)

[kayre]

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"

:)