You study...what?

When people ask what I do/study -- even people I know well -- I'm a little stumped as to what to say. If I give them the short-n-sweet, they respond with a glazed over look. If I give them the long-and-longer, well...it's pretty much the same look. Now that I've had a year or so of practice, here's how I've boiled it down: start with one word, and if they want more, go to a phrase, then a sentence, then a paragraph. For example: "Rebecca, what is it that you study again?"

Neurolinguistics.
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Neurological disorders impact on language.
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Aphasia, which is a disorder which often follows a stroke and impacts language processing.
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Aphasia. You see, after a stroke, some people have one or more lesions in their brain which impair their ability to understand and/or produce language. While their speech musculature might be completely fine, they just can't connect concepts with words to a greater or lesser degree.
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(And if they really want the whole story -- I've given this answer maybe once -- add to the above:) More recently, some people believe that aphasia co-occurs with impairments in attention and working memory. My research looks at how attention and working memory might play a larger role in word finding difficulties, the primary characteristic of aphasia, than we think.

Are you still with me? No? Oh well.

Getting closer

Just a moment to post. House purchase appears to be moving forward, despite sellers' legal hurdles. Had inspection today:

Inspector: "You found something really special here."
Ray: "Yeah, my wife loves old houses."
Inspector: "Well buddy, you hit the jackpot."

Stay tuned. Some day I will get back to regular blogging.

Happy thoughts

The house we're trying to buy may slip away due to bankrupt agents without integrity and large financial institutions without a soul.

Expecting the best, preparing for the worst, and meanwhile working on thinking happy thoughts.