> 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
> ========================================================
>