Linguistics Olympiad!?!

I know there are many; notice traditional, proper ones right at the top of the list, starting with the most prestigious, the IMO. Since then, they've introduced all sorts of IMOs through the 90s, including a 'Philosophy IMO' and 'Geography IMO', lol. Looks like academic degradation stretches to International competitions, not just degrees and GCSEs.

The IMO is best because:

1) It is the hardest and most prestigious one
2) The cleverest people in the world take it
3) It's designed to pick out the talented and gifted, not ones with a posh voice
4) It was the first one, and it's the one people care about

Linguistics Olympiad is a joke, and so are some of the others in that list. The only other one that has any weight is the Physics Olympiad; notice how it came 2nd.

I can't wait for the Media Studies Olympiad, lol. That'll come out soon.

I would have equal respect for someone capable of sitting the IOL as someone sitting the IMO.

1) Hardest? Depends on your way of thinking. I seem to recall something about people with a basic understanding of maths being able to do it...? Prestigious, maybe. But is prestige all that matters here
2) define cleverest. I think that Mozart was one of the cleverest people who has ever lived, but I doubt he was any good at maths. The best mathematicians take it, and the best linguists take the UKLO.
3) I go to a comprehensive and come from a working class background. No posh voice here.
4) It was the first one? Well, I'm pretty certain people discovered how to speak before they discovered maths! The one people care about? The one you care about, perhaps. It depends on which subject you are interested in. I am going to do maths A level, but linguistics is my passion so that is the one I care about.

Isn't the IMO for sixth form students anyway? I'd just like to point out that I'm in year 11 and hadn't had any training for this Olympiad...

Don't start an argument with this guy. He is well known on the maths forums for being a complete idiot and he will argue his ridiculous point of view for pages and pages even when everyone, most of them better qualified than he, is against him.

Hmm that's what I was thinking when I saw his little red gem...he must feel so big, arguing with a poor 15 year old girl who is clearly not as intelligent as him LOL!
I wanted to give you +rep but I haven't got any left :/ Thanks for defending me though

He's lucky to have just one red gem. I guess the people he argues with are too mature to give him neg rep. I've seen him argue about maths several times with someone who graduated in the top 5% of their year in that subject from Cambridge university.

Wow, what an idiot! I was thinking though, in a way linguistics is harder because with maths there are just rules and you learn them and they always work but with linguistics there are different rules for different languages and languages are always changing so there's always more to learn. He's just jealous :P

Be careful with your preconceptions of maths. What you have described is the way maths is presented in school, which is totally different to its true nature. The questions in the IMO are specifically formulated so that they cannot just be solved using standard rules; it requires a strong intuitive grasp of maths to even attempt the questions, much less answer them. There is a reason that the IMO is only accessible to the top few students from each country, just as with the other Olympiads.

It would be nice if he were just jealous, but I fear he actually believes what he is saying.

No, if only! I adore Latin and am self-teaching (not very well though)
There was japanese, an aboriginal language, a south american indian language, one excercise in english where a text had been translated using an online translator that took the wrong meaning of the words and you had to correct it (e.g. it said the deceased afternoon sun, meaning the late afternoon sun etc) and a couple more that I can't remember :L it took two hours for four people to do though, working in pairs on each exercise.

Wow that must've been pretty hard I only know a few european languages so I would've sucked at that! You must be really smart and well done for doing it
Ahh I prefer Ancient Greek simply because I think that the Greeks were better than the Romans culturally

Imo >>>>>>> all other olympiads

No it isn't.

Well In my opinion it is, and In your opinion it isn't.

settled?

In your oh-so-informed opinion? What exactly are you basing this on? it may be the most prestigious and well known, but I certainly wouldn't claim that it is more difficult or more worthy of respect than the others.

Haha thank you but it's more about using logic than preexisting knowledge of the languages
I agree, the Greek culture was better - the Romans pretty much stole everything from them; but Latin is more accessible to learn, I've never seen an Ancient Greek textbook in WHS before :L

I didn't claim that my opinion is 'oh-so-informed', and neither is yours to be honest. When i wrote 'IMO>>>ALL other olympiads', i was referring to prestige and therefore your assumption that i was referring to difficulty is incorrect. I didn't make it explicitly clear what i was referring to, I am sorry, i shall take EXTREME care when posting on an internet forum from now on.

Fool.