Reading

[emschin]

Yesterday I took the newspaper a couple of blocks down the street, to the place I get work done on my car. They provided the coffee. I had finished the paper and did some of the crossword puzzle before they were done

Comments

[roadskoller]

You've instilled that into each of your children too.
I can't thank you enough.

[vocalista001]

Oh me too! Reading was something I just figured out early.

I discovered it was a secret magic.

Adults seemed amazed at my gift for it. I wasn't sure what to make of that. Weren't the other kids doing this too?

It was then I knew I could *eventually* figure the adult's stuff out as long as I could read it....of course a lot of that adult stuff required "experience" to properly decipher it.

:D

[curlicue]

What an astute observation. I, too, loved browsing the encyclopediae (wikipedia before there was wikipedia). And don't get me started on dictionaries. I'm looking up a word and before I know it I've wandered all over it.

However, at work when I need a dictionary I typically type it into Mirriam Webster.com It's not the same, but it's quicker. However, there's a Winston's Dictionary over my desk (At home a Winston's lived on our table...we lived at our table) at work and at home, one dated 1952 and the other dated 1946. Both suitable for making my point that "shortlived" has a long I sound, since it modifies "life" the noun, not "live" the verb.

Of course, shortlived with a short i sound is now the accepted pronunciation even though the short i version MAKES NO SENSE. It's probably even the perferred pronunciation. Still IT MAKES NO SENSE. So any time I am corrected for pronouncing it with the long i sound, I'll happily flip open my Winson's and thump it at 'em.

[toadflax234]

I love to read - but I've no idea how old I was when I learnt.

I do remember a time in my teens though, when I hardly read a thing. There are so many classic books I haven't read yet. I'm planning on reading the ebook versions now.

[rivendweller]

I went to a one-room school, too, for a while. 13 of us in all from grades 1 - 8. Two of us in the 3rd grade. Then we moved up the road, and transferred to a slightly larger school. It had a bookmobile that came around once a week. I read every one of L. Frank Baum's "Wizard of Oz" books. Loved them!