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• On inate inabilities (Score:2)

  by merlyn (47)

  I too have a "blindness" of sorts. I cannot "see" anything that is not in front me at the moment. In other words, I have absolutely no visual recall or imagination. You can imagine what that does to my drawing ability.

  And over the years, people have tried to get me to agree that it was just something I could learn but hadn't yet. But no.

  I'm reminded of a moment from See No Evil, Hear No Evil [imdb.com] where Richard Pryor is yelling into Gene Wilder's ear, thinking that just yelling "loud enough" would get the

  --
  

  • Randal L. Schwartz
  • Stonehenge
  • Re:On inate inabilities (Score:1)

    by godoy (2167)

    I've been reading the Face Blindness [choisser.com] link you posted.
    
    It must be very hard for you. But, as with several deficiencies, I think you found out some way to supply this deficience with an enhancement in something else. Maybe your memory might have been improved to help you remember the stories you tell yourself --- what might help you in anything that requires you to memorize things.
    
    Anyway, this is something I didn't know that existed and thank you for the link to the book explaining what it is.

    --
    -- Godoy.
    • Re:On inate inabilities (Score:1)

      by godoy (2167)

      Where I've written deficience, please read disability. This is a false cognate, and both words mean the same in Portuguese (although I think they can mean the same in English too, deficience sounds too strong).
      
      Sorry.
      
      

      --
      -- Godoy.
      • Re:On in[n]ate inabilities (Score:2)

        by vsergu (505)

        Not too strong, just not quite the right word. Actually that's true for "deficiency", which you used first, as a plural. "Deficience", on the other hand, is not an English word (or at least not since the 1700s). Whether a particular word happens to use "-nce" or "-ncy" is pretty much random, though.
        
        Regardless, I hadn't even noticed anything until you decided to follow up with the apology.
        • Corrections on my English. (Score:1)

          by godoy (2167)

          Thank you. :-)
          
          I wasn't sure, them I reread the first chapter of the indicated book and there it was: disability.
          
          Now I know they are interchangeable, but I'll remember using the second one (disability).

          --
          -- Godoy.
          • Re:Corrections on my English. (Score:2)

            by vsergu (505) on 2002.09.07 7:03 (#12607) Journal

            They're not interchangeable, but in the context of (very good) writing by someone who's not a native speaker, "deficiency" was understandable and didn't stand out as an error. It's not something a native speaker would use in that context, but it certainly wasn't offensive, which I think is what you were afraid of.

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