Re: Cool visual illusion


JGCASEY wrote:

> >
> > Yeah, yeah.
> >
> > "Wallah", of course, is a common term used by fakirs
> > [uhhh, mgicians], when executing their stunts. John
> > is just a bad speller ;-)
>
> Thanks to the spell checker I think I am improving :)
>
> It interests me that some people would use the ability
> to remember the unintuitive spelling of a word as a
> measure of intelligence. Yet I always got high marks
> for my story telling while others, with perfect spelling,
> couldn't think up a story to tell. I even know someone
> who suffers from Aspergers who could remember how to
> spell words perfectly long before the age most of us
> learn to read. Yet again has no imagination or the
> ability for analytical thinking at all.
>
> I remember an old English teacher who complained that
> the editorial in his Christian group newsletter had
> spelling mistakes and poor grammar. I asked him what
> the editorial was about, he couldn't remember that,
> only that it had mistakes that really annoyed him.
>
> Just like people who suffer from dyslexia I just have
> to learn to live with my memory defect I guess.
>


If you google "wallah" and "magic", you'll find lots of hits. But Wolf
and Lester are probably correct, in that it's an anglicization of some
french word. It will also help if you hit your top-hat with your magic
wand next time you say it.

Speaking of dyslexia, a friend of mine has 2 [count'em two] PhDs, and
he says he's dyslexic. He has a phenomenal memory for factoids [uh,
facts], but poor ability to follow a sequential verbal description for
more than a few seconds. And, as it turns out, there is an article in
the latest issue of Scientific American mag about a savant with
significant brain abnormalities, but who has an almost photographic
memory, including of things he heard just once 40 years ago, etc. He
also has a difficult time with sequential thinking.

.

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