Would you trust the linguistic intuitions of someone who has been studying Latin or Greek for three days?
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Questioning whether brief study of Latin or Greek makes someone a reliable linguistic judge.
- In plain terms
- Short study doesn't guarantee linguistic insight.
- What can you take from it?
- Depth of expertise matters for reliable intuition.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How much study is enough for competence?
- What other factors affect linguistic intuition?
Another view
Even brief exposure can provide useful perspective in some contexts.
More from Larry Wall
In Clintonese, that would be 'You are free to infer that I was saying that.' :-)
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