Bathrooms, courteous lads, cultural contamination, relay, homosexuality

> > I will just have to be a bystander for this.  It sounds fascinating, but
at
> > this time I can't even ask the way to the bathroom in my lang!
Hmmmm... You know, I haven't decided whether the Shrislia have a bathroom
taboo or not. On the theory that they do, I'll propose something like,

'Excuse me, where is the bathroom?'
K'catubce (k'dasi iam can), daitaz staer nialcaða?
"May [you] enjoy (telling me this), at what place is the necessary place?"

k'-           cat       -ubce               k'           dasi     ia    -m
ca      -n       dai     -t      -az        sta   -er
AgtVal    enjoy   2pSgFuSim      AgtVal    tell      I     Dat    this
Pat     place  Loc  Interr     be    3pSgPrInd


nialc    -aða
need    place sfx

/k'Sat.ub.ce k'da.si 'i.am can 'dai.taz 'sta.er ni'alS.aJ.a/ (J is a voiced
palatal plosive in some dialects, in others /dj/)



> > gets the smooth translation: "That courteous and astute lad had so
> > captured the attention of everyone that no one in King Mark's hall
> > moved." as well as the more word-for-word "The lad [so] courteous and
sharp
> > the eyes of one and all he captured that not one in the hall of King
> > Mark moved himself at all."
For what it's worth:

Conin sui'kaerd nuidarduj jaláïb cloimban majas modatac, ni iksá ñaogat
Bédios Mark pei.

"The-youth courteous and-commonsensical had-captured the-attention
of-everyone in-this-way, that nobody in-the-hall of-King Mark moved."

> Take it as it comes like you're a real life translator from some world
> that's just begun to tap into a galaxy spanning organisation of
> worlds. While you're not about to give up hunting and ritually eating
> the Plant Eating People who live in the equatorial regions, or gutting
> the weakest pups of your mate's litter, this curious text "Thou shall
> not murder"  is still quite interesting;  and can be understood as a
> curious artifact from an alien and inscrutable culture.
I agree with this statement. An incomprehensible statement or philosophy is
more likely to be ignored than anything else. When Westerners watch animé,
for example, so much passes below the level of our cultural perception, and
so much more is seen as kind of weird/exotic but not very germane. (Did you
notice that Rei has no slippers by her door when Shinji comes to her house
in Neon Genesis Evangelion? Did you realize that that was meant to imply
that she never has guests?)

> >>>>  Here are
> >>>>  those that've expressed interest in a new relay so far, to my
knowledge:

I would be interested in trying this out ... no guarantees as to how
successful I'll be!! Matt McLauchlin matt_mcl@hotmail.com, translating into
Lyanjen.

Am I right in understanding that we'll receive the mail off-list?

> Here you go.  Saying that one orientation precedes another or is the
> "default" doesn't necessarily imply anything about merits, and rejecting
> that possibility because it might be abused is foolish.
Indeed. Moreover, I've never understood the entire moral implications of
finding a biological cause for homosexuality. Even if it were a choice (it's
not), one's religion is a choice, and few doubt that people of other
religions ought not to be persecuted.

Matt McLauchlin
Montreal

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