By Tabby - 06/08/2011 20:39 - United Kingdom

Today, I had to tell my teenage son that no, his knowledge of the English language was not passed down to him genetically. FML
I agree, your life sucks 28 598
You deserved it 3 863
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Top comments

Mipz 2

You've proven yourself dumber than him.

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Comments

DalekScythe 0

5 is a dumbass, and 53 I think is making fun of 5, or just trolling.

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fyreshadowes 2

If I'm not mistaken, it's been proven that human children of all races are born with the ability to make any of the unique noises/sounds associated with any given language. For example, the rolled "r" sound that doesn't exist in English, but does in many other Latin-based languages. Or the many sounds in Russian that are almost impossible for a native English speaker to pronounce. This is one of the reasons why children who are born in a foreign country to immigrant parents can learn to speak the language of the host country more fluently than their parents' native tongues. If your son believes that he was born into this world fully equipped to speak English fluently from day one, then it's his school's fault for not educating him properly. If he simply means that he does well in English subjects, such as grammar and literature, then being good at a specific subject is something that can be passed down genetically. Perhaps you should have made your post more clear to avoid confusion.

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LordGoober 13

107- I doubt 5 is smart enough to reproduce...

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Nuahavizu 17

It would sure be a lot easier if we were born with the ability to speak a few languages, rather than trying to learn em, eh?

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Leachica 0

im sorry but if your son is that dense you prob should spend a little more time helping with his home work...

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Leachica 0

im sorry if he is that dense you should prob be spending a little more time helping with his homework.

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iloveluddy 1

I study linguistics and in fact your son is partially correct. According to the theory of Noam Chomsky all children are born with a Universal Grammar that gives us a natural affinity for learning language. This is what sets us apart from other animals. Most languages have a few basic structures in common (this is where the UG comes in) which is what we are born with. As we observe other humans in our environment we pick up the unique rules and structures of our given language. Think about this, did you teach your son every little grammatical rule and word that he knows? Did anybody. Most likely not. We have a natural affinity for language. This ability to learn new languages generally reduces by the age of fourteen making learning a new language more difficult. So, in reality your son isn't as stupid as you've made him out to be. :)

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Dilwann 27

I study psychology and we saw the same theory. Point is, OP's son was referring to English in specific, which is not passed down genetically. The only genetic thing is that he has the possibility to learn grammar without it even being pointed out. But even so, he was wrong. He meant that he, as a baby, would understand English better than any other language, which isn't the case. You can throw around theories all you like, but if they don't apply to this case, it's irrelevant :)

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cinder2theblock 0

How is this fml, everyone asks a dumb question every now and then

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