Re: CHAT: Coming out of the conlang closet

Sorry if this's a duplicate - connection trouble.

Maarten wrote:
> > Van: Constructed Languages List
> > Onderwerp: Re: CHAT: Coming out of the conlang closet
> >
> > Well. I never thought of it as a secret, myself--although I did think
> > most people would find it weird, I didn't particularly care.
> >
> > This was until my father came in my room and asked me what I was doing
> > on the computer, and I told him, and he was ready to have me taken to a
> > psychiatrist.
>
>I really don't understand this. Ok, conlanging is not something many people
>do, but I have seen stranger hobbies. My mum collects weird tea puts and
>unclothed teddy bears. She has over two hundred of the former, placed
>strategically all over the house, and several dozen of the latter, in the
>teddy bear corner which you can see directly as you enter the house.
>
>I have never hidden my conlang activities and although most people are only
>politely interested when I mention it (but that happens with all of your
>hobbies), it has never caused me to be not taken seriously.
>
>Actually, I have had more people calling me crazy for one of my other
>hobbies: skydiving.
What nice people you're surrounded by. I've been declared insane by
classmates bescause I willingly read books in my spare times. And what I was
reading back then was mostly Biggles books etc (plus of course history and
popular books on quantum mechanics - I never claimed I was average).

And even at Uni (where I study Technical Physics and Electrotechnics with
some German courses) I've got some really strange looks for saying that I've
learnt some phonology at home for my own entertainment. Telling people that
I invent languages does not, on the whole, seem to be a course of action
that would enhance my social status.

                                                   Andreas

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