Re: alcohol & drugs in ConLangs/ConCultures(was Re: tender age)

In a message dated 9/18/01 12:26:50 PM, czhang23@AOL.COM writes:

<<   ***ConLang/ConCulture***: What are some Conlang/ConCulture concepts,
terms, slang, etc. regardin' alcohol and drugs? Are there socio-cultural
"remedies" like rehab, 12 Step (AA, NA, etc.), Rational Recovery, Secular
Recovery, religious/philosophical/political/socio-scientific prohibitions...?
>>
    I don't create cultures for my languages, but in all of them, I group
alcohol, drugs, and all other destructive substances (coffee, tobacco, etc.)
into one group and usually make it a word that's very difficult to pronounce.
 In my first language I borrowed the word from Arabic for "alcohol", so it
had its true pronunciation with [q] and [H] rather than [k] and [h] (that big
"h" is a voiceless, pharyngeal fricative).  But then, this is me, who wholely
disapproves of all such things (like I'm right in there with that school that
taught all alcohol in any quantity was bad--and I'm not even Mormon, and any
religion!); thus, such concepts in my language aren't even close to
interesting.  I'd be interested to see a language by one of those people who
constantly decries alcohol and cigarettes and other drugs, yet contends that
marijuana is AOK.

-David