Misha's disabillity?

[metalangel]

Once she cuts her hair, her HAs would be visible. But there's nothing there.

Being loud is just her persona that she shows to the world, her facade, a coping or defense mechanism. However, she is still a ditz sometimes, as we see when she is working late with Mutou. People can be intelligent but still trip over their words sometimes.

[brythain]

Once she cuts her hair, her HAs would be visible. But there's nothing there.

Being loud is just her persona that she shows to the world, her facade, a coping or defense mechanism. However, she is still a ditz sometimes, as we see when she is working late with Mutou. People can be intelligent but still trip over their words sometimes.

Correction: she cuts her hair in such a way that a hearing aid on the left ear can't be seen. I know I'm deliberately interpreting it that way, but it's a nice explanation that isn't too esoteric.

[metalangel]

Does she, or is it just that there doesn't seem to be any artwork where you can see her left ear once she's had a trim?

[Mirage_GSM]

Her struggling with certain words kind of makes me wonder, though. Maybe she's just not that good with certain things. She seems quite intelligent, at least in some ways. To be able to master sign language, etc.

This is something that I think is always misunderstood.
I think there are exactly six instances in the VN where Misha seems to stumble over a word:

"Hicchan! I'm very offended! Are you saying you don't trust us, and that we would pull something so d—dis—in—gen—u—ous…? That makes me sad…" (Tuesday)
"You're going though, right, Hicchan? You should at least see what we've ac—complished…?" (Friday)
"You can take one if you want, but you're not the kind of person who would do something that la—sci—vious?, isn't that right?" (Saturday)
"Ah, Shicchan said “It is the duty of the Student Council to keep track of the emotional health of its students! To allow a cons—constituent to spiral into depression unchecked would be an unforgivable failure in the council's duties!" (E3)
"If you value something, you fight. Struggle is proof of precs— preciousness?..." (S2)
"Okay~! Then, Student Council is ad—jour—ned? for today~!" (S2)

Notice something? Right. In every single one of those lines she is translating for Shizune.
There is one more case where she doesn't know how to sign "magnanimous" and has to write it down for Shizune.
So it's not that she has problems with complicated words, she just isn't perfect in sign language yet.
I always cringe when I read a fanfiction that has her stumble over every word with more than two syllables even if there is no signing involved at all.

[brythain]

Does she, or is it just that there doesn't seem to be any artwork where you can see her left ear once she's had a trim?

I have no idea, but it's convenient for my deliberately simple theory choice.

Actually to add to that, I'll go all the way and say she'd likely end up a great translator. She's learnt to make the effort for Shizune, and we see her actually conveying duplex conversation streams, although I don't know what the 'anyone' really implies in this quotation: "I've noticed this before, but it's kind of funny how Misha is always moving her hands and signing not only everything she says, but what anyone else is saying at any given time."

Extrapolate to some broader field, and who knows?

[Potato]

You know what? I think Misha's partially deaf. The clues can be interpreted that way - she mishears Hisao, she speaks too loudly. She might be deaf in one ear, or have diminished hearing in both. Maybe she wears her hair like that to hide hearing aids. Perhaps it has stabilised with time, but it's also a reason for her learning to sign and having Shizune as a friend.

She wears her hair like that because it says "I'm not horribly depressed all the time at all!"

And she learned to sign to talk to Shizune.

[Oddball]

Actually to add to that, I'll go all the way and say she'd likely end up a great translator.

Misha might one day make a great translator, but at the moment, she's very far from it.

Translators need to be able to convey what's being said as well as how it's being said. Misha puts far too much of herself into what' she's saying, and even adds bits of conversation without clarifying that it's NOT coming from Shizune.

Still, she's pretty good at sign language and that's a nice place to start.

[metalangel]

So it's not that she has problems with complicated words, she just isn't perfect in sign language yet.

One of the great and fun things about signing is when someone fingerspells and you just aren’t able to assemble the letters into a word in your head – so Shizune using big words is just making that worse. I think the worst one I’ve personally encountered was ‘intersectionality’.
 
Signing even when she’s not being an interpreter* isn’t uncommon – I know several people who do that too as it’s good practice, and when I talk to my best friend (especially in a noisy location, given she’s unilateral deaf) if we aren’t just signing we are speaking and signing simultaneous to help ensure the message gets across.

Actually to add to that, I'll go all the way and say she'd likely end up a great translator.

Misha might one day make a great translator, but at the moment, she's very far from it.

Translators need to be able to convey what's being said as well as how it's being said. Misha puts far too much of herself into what' she's saying, and even adds bits of conversation without clarifying that it's NOT coming from Shizune.

 
*Misha is not a translator. She is an interpreter. A translator takes written words and translates them into another language. Usually this is only done one way, and from another language into the translator’s native language. An interpreter conveys the meaning as closely as possible back and forth between the two languages – not a literal word for word translation because cultural and linguistic differences make this all but impossible.

[Potato]

Confirmed:

[brythain]

Confirmed:

http://i.imgur.com/kJsl3Ab.jpg

So that's where the fanfic title 'For Want Of A Nail' came from!

[Steinherz]

Confirmed:

http://i.imgur.com/kJsl3Ab.jpg

So that's where the fanfic title 'For Want Of A Nail' came from!

Or it came from the saying....

[brythain]

Confirmed:

http://i.imgur.com/kJsl3Ab.jpg

So that's where the fanfic title 'For Want Of A Nail' came from!

Or it came from the saying....

Well, yes… but this one was too good to pass up. It sort of nailed it.

[Steinherz]

So that's where the fanfic title 'For Want Of A Nail' came from!

Or it came from the saying....

Well, yes… but this one was too good to pass up. It sort of nailed it.

Oh these puns are utterly unable

[CoffeeDrive]

Or it came from the saying....

Well, yes… but this one was too good to pass up. It sort of nailed it.

Oh these puns are utterly unable

I suppose you're expecting some unbearable pun.

[brythain]

I suppose you're expecting some unbearable pun.

Actually, I was expecting something more in groan for the previous one.