Re: Conlang T Shirt

hi,

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Price:

I did originally say 'around GBP 10'. That was before counting two very
important things... postage and tax. British VAT tax is at 17.5%, but thanks
to the stupid way British laws work, all who buy the T-shirt shall be
contributing the British governments treasury. I have not yet had a chance
to
do a final pricing, but it will be in the GBP 12-15 range. multiply by 1.6
for USD, by 175 for YEN, by 1000 for Tanzanian shillings, or by 35000 for
polish zlotys. Roughly speaking, of course.

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Crossposting:

Some of you have been crossposting to various other mailing lists.
Brilliant, I say. But because these people haven't been getting the full
story, the information I am getting back from some of these crossposts is
incomplete. Please, if you crosspost, can you include one of my complete
announcements on the T-shirt status.

ALL ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM ME WILL APPEAR ONLY ON THE CONLANG MAILING LIST.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE IF YOU WANT NEWS AT IT COMES.

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Payment:

Several options, outlined below. Note: send no money yet.

cash - GBP only, no coins. Make absolutely certain that the money cannot be
detected by our wonderful postal workers, as money does still go missing
when sent by post.

cheque - easy for UK citizens and denizens. All others, you may need to ask
your bank. It may be called a foreign check or a foreign draft, and your
bank may make additional charges. It should be made out in GBP to myself
(Fabian van-de-l'Isle).

helpful people - John Cowan <cowan@...> has volunteered to act as
intermediary for USA orders. When you order, send your payment in USD to
him, along with your addresses. He will then forward all this to me, and I
can send the T-shirts out directly to yourselves.

cheque - in any hard currency. I can accept them, but there is an additional
GBP 5 charge, which I do not intend to cover. Another payment method will
likely prove more cost effective.

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Reservations:

These are being made strictly to order - I will not be making any surplus. T
o reserve one, I need:

name (full real name, not internet handle)
address (just country)
email address
quantity
size (S, M, L, XL)
colour (choice of black or white cloth)

The T-shirts they use come in 4 sizes, S, M, L, XL. These have,
respectively, chest sizes 42, 44, 46, 48 inches (multiply by 2.5 for the
equivalent in cm). I was shown samples, and the material is not prone to
fading or shrinkage. They do have *really* cheap material, but I made it
clear on the phone that I was not interested in that. The T-shirt material
weight is 155 g/m^2, if that means anything to you folks.

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Contributions (and corrections):

First, see the web page (URL below) to see if I already have the language.
To contribute to the T-shirt, I need information in the following format:

If you have a correction to make, please, send the correction as you think
it should appear. Don't just tell me I'm wrong ;)

- language name (in English)
- language creator
- transliterated phrase in Latin script.
- interlinear explanation (preferably in a single line or two)
- optional paragraph to appear on the web page.
- the phrase in the original script, as a gif file

If you have a Latin script, just send the text exactly as it is spelt, and
tell me what font you would prefer it to be written in (ie Arial, times,
etc). I have a large collection of fonts and something will probably fit in
with your hopes.

If you use a real-world, but non-Latin script, ask first before sending. I
*may* have a font capable of displaying the script properly. If I do have
such a font, then you need only send me the text in the appropriate
language.

If you use an invented script, then I need a graphic. The ideal graphic will
be:

- monochrome, black text on white background.
- text size equivalent to Latin script at 72 points (1 screen inch)

The print shop is fully capable of handling ridiculously large gif files, as
I can give the  graphics on computer disc. However, please be gentle on
my modem and not send files over, say, a megabyte or ten :)

It is true that I am asking for the graphics you are sending to be larger
than the ones that will eventually appear on the T shirt. However, it is far
easier to shrink a large graphic than to enlarge a small graphic. Big is
beautiful here.

I repeat: do not send gif files with text in Latin script. That is quite
unnecessary.

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Wanted languages:

Arabic
Chinese
Greek
Korean
Nepali
Russian
will entertain convincing arguments for almost any language.

I still want any genuine conlang as well, but these natlangs ought to appear
for various reasons. Some of the languages on the webpage need corrections,
better graphics or improved commentary.

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url

www.rhialto.easynet.co.uk/conlang/tee/tee.htm

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choice of languages:

is based on (in no particular order)

- bona fide conlangs by list subscribers
- natlangs with distinctive scripts
- natlangs that have served as effective interlinguas amongst large numbers
of people.
- auxlangs
- famous conlangs used in fiction

Having said that, auxlangs do have a lower priority, primarily due to the
high level of similarity between many of them. Some of those on the web page
may eventually be dropped because of this.

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fonts:

please do not send me any fonts, ttf or otherwise. Unless of course you have
an iso-8859-3 compliant Comic Sans font ;)

Seriously, I have almost no free time these days, and creating a good
graphic from a font is time consuming. If necessary, send gif files for
unusual scripts.

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Timescales:

I expect to get a preliminary design from the designer in about a week.
There is no official deadline for submitting new languages. The turnaround
time from teh moment you send payment to the moment you receive T-shirts
will probably be about 4-6 weeks.

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Fabian
Jkun li dik il-kitba tpatti it-tieba ta' qalb ta' patruni tieghi.
Jkun li jtaffi ugigh tal-Mitlufin u tal-Indannati.
Jkun li ilkoll li jaqraw il-kitba, qalbhom ihobbu is-Sewwa u l-Unur.
U b'dak l'ghamil, nithallas tax-xoghol iebes.