Re: [Conlangs-Conf] Witty slogan

Sai--

I feel that the slogan is not insulting, but rather merely a light-hearted,
even self-deprecatory, way to look ironically at the issue of language
extinction, which of course is a real threat to many languages in the world.
Laugh in the face of death, it is said. That such a good-naturedly humorous
slogan (if looked at carefully, the underlying emotion is not callousness
but wry and affectionate concern) is construed as offensive can only reflect
the over-seriousness of the people who complained.

Eugene


On 3/7/06, Herman Miller <hmiller@...> wrote:
>
> Roger Mills wrote:
> > (snipping Sai's fwd.)
> >
> > Hmm, AFAIK the original slogan was always meant to be _tongue in cheek_,
> and
> > I'm sure we all recognize the tragedy of real language extinction. Be
> that
> > as it may, it is an inevitable process, with many examples in recorded
> human
> > history (and probably even more in the unrecorded past). I consider
> myself
> > as PC as the next person, but sometimes one needs to lighten up.
> >
> > Actually, I was quite taken with the motto proposed the other day--
> > "Your world, your language, your rules".
> >
>
> I like this one a lot as well. Maybe I'll think about translating it
> into one of my newer languages and using it in place of the old Tirelat
> version of the slogan on my green ribbon page:
>
> http://www.io.com/~hmiller/lang/green-ribbon.html
>
> (where I see that it was J Y S Czhang who came up with the original
> slogan.)
>

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