Re: Like Father, Like Son (or, Languages and Other Hobbies)

Daniel Wier wrote:
-----<snip>-----
>Anyway, as my number three brother Dwayne would always say, "Everybody has
>to have a hobby".  And here we are, with our hobbies being languages.  Even
>inventing our own.
>
>Any stories to be told here?  Or should I just shut the hell up?
My father is obsessed with birds - he stuffs 'em (taxidermy style). He
has collected over 8000 specimens of different birds from around the
world. Occassionally, he works for the zoological museum doing some
taxidermy work for them in return for access to the museum's vault of
specimens. He just wants to see and identify all the birds of the world
(dead or alive). On day, when he kicks the bucket, he wants me to donate
his collection to the museum.

Like conlanging, its an unusual hobby. Similarly, its not too well met
by others - perhaps more so. Some people simply react with disgust (as
I'm sure some here on this list might). Consequently, he calls Greenpeace
activists and Animal Liberation Front activists as fanatics. I must
therefore stress in his defense that he has never collected birds that
are on the CITES-list (or any other endangered list), and those that he
has today that are endangered are specimens he has collected when he was
a young bachelor (40 years ago) when they were not on any list. Furthermore,
as soon as he has one or a couple of specimens of a specific species, he
refuses to collect that species anymore.

-kristian- 8)