I have to confess that I never really understood (and still don’t fully) what Type II and Type III sevens and eights were but...

I pulled out my Mike Baron’s Wordbook® today. I wanted to find out what percentage of the Type II and Type III sevens I knew (or would know) having learned (or will learn) all the sevens in DG-ORIENTALS+? along with all the top 5,000 sevens. It’s at least 2/3 of the Type III’s, but much less so the Type II’s.

Then, for fun, I glanced at the lists of the Type II and Type III eights. MAN! Just based on what I know in the eights now (the top 2,000 eights and the five-vowel-eights...) I know at least 90% of the Type III eights, and again, much fewer of the Type II’s. But again, I only know the top 2,000 eights, whereas I’ve now made flashcards for the top 5,000 sevens.

Some time ago, I remember saganist telling me that someone from his club in Salt Lake City saying to him, “You can’t know all the words.” He told me that his response was, “I’m planning on it.”

Our joke used to be that I would do my imitation of Don Music from Sesame Street (the Muppet who played the piano and sang twisted versions of nursery rhymes). If he got frustrated, he’d shout at the top of his lungs:

“OH! I’ll never get it! NEVER! NEVER!”

And then bash his head into the piano keys. OK, fess up people, who else remembers Don Music from Sesame Street?

That’s how I feel about studying right now.