Re: Accidental Conlanging

 --- J Y S Czhang skrzypszy:

> Ya know ya have OCLD if ya:
>
>         - haunt many bookstores hunting for linguistics books and foreign
> language dictionaries
I used to do that in my teens. Even worse: when we were on a vacation with my
parents, the first thing I wanted to do was finding the university library,
where I could spend whole days making notes. Quite crazy, eh?
Now, I have one whole bookcase full of dictionaries, grammars, and courses. I
don't buy much, simply because we don't have much space left.

>         - willing to pay exorbitant prices for said books
No. I'm Dutch, remember? Dutch never like to pay exorbitant prices ;)
Seriously, I still feel tempted to buy that Tocharian dictionary. But €/$ 207?

>         - scribble notes on languages - natlang and conlang - at strange
> times of the day and night and even while in the bathtub or sitting on the
> toilet
Sometimes, yes. But not in the bath, though. I remember having made notes
during concerts.

>         - have memorized the _entire_ IPA and at least one ASCII
> representation thereof
Not at all. But the more time one spends on Conlang, the more one gets familiar
with these two babies. That comes by itself, I think, without any special
labour.

>         - talk in your own conlang(s) as well as try to read aloud other's
> conlangs
Not really. Rarely, actually. I don't speak when I am alone, and when I am not
alone, I speak an understandable language.

>         - find yourself automatically attempting to translate advertisement
> slogans and magazine headlines into conlangs while waiting in doctors'
> offices or waiting for a bus, etc.
Never tried that. But the idea is neat, though.

>         - constantly/consistently websurfing for linguistic and conlinguistic
> materials ("I'm goin' surfin', I'm goin' surfin'... Hang Binary, Dude!...
> DiGiBuNGaaAAA!!!)
It's the only thing I ever use the Internet for. No, that's not true. When I
want to see a movie, I check which film goes where and at what time. But I
never buy things through the Internet. I don't even have a creditcard.

>         - don't at all mind the high volume of email postings on the ConLang
> (and related email lists), in fact, LOVE it and can't imagine life without it
I do enjoy that. But Real Life is tough, sometimes. I am way behind with my
messages, haven't written half of the replies I wanted to write, and had to
delete a lot of messages without reading them, which causes me pain in the
heart.

>     And, in my case, conlanging is one major factor in my sobriety -
> nowadays, I rather be conlanging than be drunk, high and/or loaded.
No alcohol. Or rather: I rarely drink, and never too much. Not because of any
principle, but just because don't like it. I prefer milk. Or strawberry juice.
And lots, lots of coffee, of course.
On the other hand, I am quite a heavy smoker. And quite an undisciplined
person, who hates to do administrative things and prefers to forget about them.

>     It's a more interesting, productive, less damaging, creative obsession.
> Kinda makes me wonder if Tolkien called it the "secret vice" for more reasons
> than he let on.
Perhaps he had something like "Real Life", too?

Hey Hanuman, it seems that you - unwillingly - created a new survey. Are you
ever going to publish the results?

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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