Re: CONLANG Digest - 4 Oct 1998 to 5 Oct 1998

Sally Caves wrote:

> The word for "bizarre" could be rendered in Teonaht as _nyehra_,
> "strange," _to dorifanrem_, "frightening," _gohheandyt_ "from the
> wilderness," or _vovikkandyt_, "not from home."
>
> These are epithets I would apply to anyone who calls me a lunatic
> for inventing a language instead of balancing forks on my chin.
> ;-)
You have some highly interesting and insightful comments here.  I think
the root of the prejudice of conlanging is much the same as that of any
intellectual pursuit:  the vast majority of people who aren't intellectuals
don't understand why anyone does _anything_ particularly intellectual
in and of itself; it's just that some of these intellectual pursuits have millenia
to back them up as social phenomena and also, sometimes, they are
moneymakers (well, maybe not starving artists sales, but you
know what I mean!).  Conlanging, as a true pastime, and not as the haphazard
occurrence of a few distantly related individuals, is in its infancy, and neither
does it yet have the money making potential that writing books does, or
something like that.  Anything done for the sake of doing it will _always_
confound _some_ people, because their whole lives are oriented around
satisfying their most basic needs rather than more abstract ones. So, it
really shouldn't be surprising that some might think Conlanging is bizarre.
Heck, if it weren't for the fact that painting, poetry, and so forth have
millennia to back it up, _those_ would be considered bizarre, too. ;-(

=======================================================
Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"Why should men quarrel here, where all possess /
as much as they can hope for by success?"
 - Quivera, _The Indian Queen_ by Henry Purcell
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