08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Rules of Magic Don't Make Any Sense
Some children would have waited until after their first trip to Diagon Alley.
"Bag of element 79," Harry said, and withdrew his hand, empty, from the mokeskin pouch.
Most children would have at least waited to get their wands first.
"Bag of okane," said Harry. The heavy bag of gold popped up into his hand.
Harry withdrew the bag, then plunged it again into the mokeskin pouch. He took out his hand, put it back in, and said, "Bag of tokens of economic exchange." That time his hand came ou... 1 
notes
notesRational Potter experiments with a magical bag that will give him whatever he asks for and doesn't understand why it can understand some requests but not others.
08 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
The Nature of Language Affects a Child's Understanding of...
It turns out that, just by the nature of the grammar of their languages, Korean- and English-speaking parents talk about the world quite differently. Korean (like Latin or French) uses an elaborate system of different verb endings to convey different meanings. As a consequence, Korean-speaking parents can, and often do, omit nouns altogether when they talk to their children. A Korean mother can say the equivalent of "moving in" when she sees the baby put a block in a cup, without saying anyth... 1 notes
notesKorean mothers focus of describing the world in verbs, English mothers focus on nouns; as a result, Korean children are better physical problem solvers while English children are better at understanding how objects fit together associatively.
