Topic: Completely illogical

[Petzbreeder]

Let me start by pointing out that because of my learning difficulty, I tend to take things a little too literally sometimes.

I'll give you an example. During rememberance day when I was at school, my teachers would effectively tell me to remember people who died before I came into existence, before my parents came into existence, before my grandparents were even aware of each other's existence!

That is just completely illogical, especially since the school I went to was designed for people with learning difficulties among other things.

They just didn't get it into their heads that I couldn't understand the concept of remembering someone who ceased to exist before I came into existence myself. Surely they could have made their explanation a little easier for me to understand.

My understanding of "remembering" is recalling people or events that I have personally met/experienced and have memories of.

Have you ever had any experiences where something that someone had said or did seemed completely illogical to you?

[SirBlaziken]

My sister, all the time. No, seriously.

[JSM]

Not myself, but my younger brother has autism, so everything has to be explained to him very literally. People often comment that I'm speaking to him like an idiot(people who don't know us very well), but they don't realise he needs very clear instructions.

[Turner]

You're completely right. What they actually mean is to keep in mind the the people who died and the events surrounding them (The assumption being that you are familiar with these). Semantically speaking you wouldn't literally be able to recall that information, only keep in mind anything you've learned about it or from it. Remembrance Day has been known as such since the war occurred, so in the beginning those people were able to recall the event, hence the name, but nothing would really be gained by changing the name of the day.

However, if your teachers deal with kids who have learning difficulties (Especially those with Autism) then they should have been able to see past any apparent pedantry and tell you pretty much what I did above in a much more concise manner.

Stuff like this is also important to think about if you ever find yourself teaching English. A direct translation of the word 'remember' could make a sentence in an imperative context similar to the one you mentioned nonsensical to someone trying to directly translate the word into their own language.

People are illogical though. There have been more than a handful of psychiatrists and psychologists who have drawn the conclusion that love could be categorised as a mental illness, but equally you can't deny people their emotions, whether it's love or hate. It's when they try and reason using them that problems occur. 

[Kpyna]

Stuff like this is also important to think about if you ever find yourself teaching English. A direct translation of the word 'remember' could make a sentence in an imperative context similar to the one you mentioned nonsensical to someone trying to directly translate the word into their own language.

I remember when I went to Costa Rica I met a Guatemalan bartender who wanted me to teach him some English, because he wanted to try to become an American citizen. Trying to teach him was probably one of the most difficult things I have ever done, just because of how weird the meanings of our words are, and how our meanings aren't really literal. My Spanish teacher wants to move to Dubai or somewhere similar to teach English and I gotta give her props for that.

I can't say I really have much difficulty with words and meaning, they're really my strong suite, but I definitely will sympathize as to how much the English language sucks.

[Lord Raven]

My sister, all the time. No, seriously.

Maybe people wouldn't think your insight was unhelpful if you put more detail into your posts.  What does your sister do that's completely illogical?

Not myself, but my younger brother has autism, so everything has to be explained to him very literally. People often comment that I'm speaking to him like an idiot(people who don't know us very well), but they don't realise he needs very clear instructions.

I'm not autistic but I struggle sometimes with this kind of stuff.  You can explain things very figuratively to me sometimes and then other times I need a very blunt and literal explanation otherwise I just dont get it.  It's also very hard for me to explain things very literally to others because I myself have a tendency to use a lot of slang and I'm not too good with words either so I'm definitely the wrong person to get an explanation from (though at least I figure out kinda quickly what part of my explanation sucks and I try to work around it).

[Milsap]

but I definitely will sympathize as to how much the English language sucks.

That's because the English language is made up of Latin, Saxon, Viking and Norman fragments due to our many invaders. For instance, when an animal is alive we call it by its Saxon dervative (Sheep/Cow) while when it's in its food form it's the Norman (French) word: Beuf (Beef) and Muton (Mutton)

It's a complex language, but at the same time fascinating.

What does your sister do that's completely illogical?

She's not a Vulcan?