Deb Nam-KraneNov 12

My husband and I are finally on episode 20 of #TreeWithDeepRoots I am a nerdy person to the point of making people cringe, but this has made even me stop and say, "Wait, a #kdrama about the development and propagation of the *alphabet* was that popular? That frequently discusses philosophies of government? And for international audiences as well?"

The big nerd in me is now, like, okay, do Hindu Math next.

Show threadRonsboy67
@dnkboston That one would for many be a big fat zero #TooEasy #SorryNotSorry 😀
Nov 12 at 2:10pmWeb
Show threadDeb Nam-KraneNov 12
@ronsboy67 I just want you to understand the level of nerdiness--nay, geekiness--you need to have achieved in order to make that joke (to say nothing of getting it, LOL).
Show threadRonsboy67Nov 12
@dnkboston Guilty as charged, said the man who was similarly stunned by TWDR . It went so much deeper into all things linguistic than I expected, left me in ratpures
Show threadDeb Nam-KraneNov 12
@ronsboy67 Dude, when they brought out the "container" for the vowels, I was like, oh my god, it always looked like something to me, but no one ever explained it. This is so cool!
Show threadRonsboy67Nov 12
@dnkboston yes! What impressed me was the way the Sejong character talked about the impact of physiology on phonology - as you say it's almost unbelievable that a #kDrama with content like that should have been a ratings smash
Show threadDeb Nam-KraneNov 12
@ronsboy67 I think they could have spent a little more time on the Buddhist (Sanskrit?) roots. The movie with Park Hae Il and Song Kang Ho talked about that more (but maybe the producers had to draw the line somewhere).
Show threadRonsboy67Nov 12
@dnkboston Sanskrit is written in devanagari, but even though I found that script relatively easy to learn, Hangul's simpler still and its structure is definitely more consistent, I think. Probably from having been consciously designed.
Show threadRonsboy67Nov 12
@dnkboston And just to be super clear, I mean that I find devanagari easy to read, not Sanskrit. That thing's a polysyllabic monster I don't really grok a word of 😂
Show threadDeb Nam-KraneNov 12
@ronsboy67 I'm not even remotely tempted, LOL
Show threadDeb Nam-KraneNov 12
@ronsboy67 Absolutely. I learned it when I was nine and six years later just needed a brief refresh on a few consonants. One of my sisters learned it when she was 24 in 45 minutes. It's one of the most logical, easy to understand systems in the world.
Show threadRonsboy67Nov 12
@dnkboston I remember reading an article in the mid-90s calling it "the alphabet you can learn in a weekend" Definitely true of the script. Its language, not so much. 😀
Show threadDeb Nam-KraneNov 12
@ronsboy67 I am so bad with languages (unless you count math). I know a bunch of words, and because I was around a lot of Korean speakers when I was little, I can slip into the rhythm after a little bit, but trying to speak--ha!