Re: LUNATIC SURVEY: 2005

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 13:41:04 -0500, Sally Caves <scaves@...> wrote:

>LUNATIC SURVEY 2005, by Sally Caves
>A. PROFESSION, DEMOGRAPHICS, INCLINATION:
>
>1. Who are you, and what is the name of your invented language or
languages? Pseudonyms allowed. (Are you using one? asked "Sally Caves")

My name is Paul Sherrill; I used to lurk on the list 4/5 years ago and just
came back recently.  (I'll get around to posting a real greeting later, to
avoid digressing too far, here...)  Of my many, oft-abandoned conlangs the
two most significant are named Aèndelan and soshte.

>*2. Are you new to the Lunatic Survey or have you filled out a version of
this survey before?

I'm new to this.

>3. Do you have a website for you language/world(s)? If so, please list the
URL address.

Not currently.  I used to have one about Marc Okrand's Atlantean, but that
went down long ago.

>4. What is your email address? name at hostsite dot whatever.
paul.sherrill@gmail.com

>5. What is your age? (vague answers allowed, but it is an important
demographic)

17

>6. What is your gender?
Male

>7. What is your nationality?  Where do you live now?
Of/in the United States, for both questions.

>8. What is your native language?
English.


>9. What natural languages foreign to you have you studied or do you speak?
German and Latin

>10. What is your level of education? i.e., your highest degree achieved or
sought?

I'll have a high-school diploma in a few months.

>11. What is your profession? Are you a professional linguist? If so, what
also makes you a conlanger?

No profession as yet

>13. If you are a student, what is your major or your area of study?
I'm not exactly sure yet; perhaps music, perhaps physics/chemistry, or
perhaps linguistics.

>14. How long have you been developing your invented language(s)?
Aèndelan was spawned around 3.5 years ago, and soshte just a few weeks ago.

>15. At what age did you first start inventing a language? Can you briefly
describe your early efforts?

I think I started conlanging at 12 (or 13?).  My first language was
basically a relex of Latin, with a few novel cases.  All of it's
nouns/verbs/adjectives were composed of two roots, the first of which
specified a general class of meaning into which the word fell (I think I
intended somewhere around 20 classes), and the second of which gave the
specific meaning.

>16. What drew you to start inventing a language and/or constructed world?
What was the inspiration?

The inspiration stemmed from two novels: Michael Crichton's _Timeline_,
which got me fascinated with etymology, and Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_
series, which had a conlang named the Old Tongue, or something.  In a few of
its words I was able to pick out some relation to natlangs, which really
drove my interest in coming up with my own language.

>17. Did you start inventing before you had heard of the list or after?
Before you had heard of Esperanto or Tolkien? (I name the two most common
inspirations)

Before I heard of the list or Esperanto.  I had actually read Tolkien
before, but hadn't given his languages much thought.

>18. Tolkien calls it a "shy art" and a "secret vice"; but that was before
the Internet. How secret do you keep it from others outside this list for
much the same reasons?

I don't make any secret of it; if someone asks me what I'm doing when
writing in a conscript, I'll tell them.  But like most of my hobbies, I
don't go out of my way to talk about it.

>19. Yaguello has called it "pathological," influenced, unfortunately, by a
lot of psychiatric writings such as _Le Schizo et la langue_. To what extent
have you encountered such reactions by outsiders you had taken into your
confidence?

Actually, I've never had someone react like that.  People seem to fall into
two classes: those who think it's cool and those who think it's nerdy.

>*20. Do you consider it nerdy to be doing this? This is a term that gets
tossed around a lot. Or actually sophisticated? Do you need to get a life,
or is this your life? What is a life?

I think of it as a little nerdy, but that's generally how I see my whole
life.  I don't know about "sophisticated"; it's not a term I think of in
connection with my life a lot.  I may need to get a life, but certainly not
because I'm a conlanger.  ;)


>21. There has been a connection noted between linguistic and musical
ability. Are you musically inclined? Do you sing and/or play a musical
instrument? Do you compose music?

I play the cello and until a few months ago was intent on majoring in
performance at college.  I'm not much of a composer, though.

(It's interesting to hear that other people have thought there's a
connection, too.  I had some thoughts about this recently that I might post.)


>22. There has been a connection noted between linguistic and mathematical
ability. Are you mathematically inclined or inclined towards computing in
any way?

I guess you could say I'm mathematically inclined.  I'm taking a class in
differential equations, if that's any indication.

>23. What other passions do you pursue that give you creative pleasure?
(painting, drawing, sculpting, calligraphy, model-building, novel or
story-writing, role-playing games, map-making, book-making, poetry,
web-designing, star-gazing or other?)

I write poems and short stories purely privately, and have thought about
pottery.  I can't stand painting or drawing at all, though.  (Not that I
don't appreciate the art forms- they're wonderful- but I don't get any
pleasure out of doing them, myself.)


>B. FEATURES OF YOUR INVENTION
>
>1. Pick the best term for the invented language you are currently invested
in: auxlang, artlang, engelang, loglang, lostlang, philosophical language,
or "other." etc.

artlang.  (Although I'm not familiar with the name engelang...?)

>2. Is your conlang a priori (devised from scratch) or a posteriori (based
on an existing natural language or drawing from a language class such as
Semitic)?

A priori, but inspired by the sound of a few languages.

>4. Do you have a script for your conlang? What is it called? Could you
provide me at a later date with a sample of it?  Is it on Langmaker's
"neography" site?

I do have a script for it, and could provide an example if asked.

>5. Briefly describe the outlines of your invented language (syntactical
structure--VO, OV, etc.; class or type--analytic, synthetic, agglutinating,
incorporative, accusative, ergative, active, trigger, other, combinations,
etc.), noting what you have done with it that is innovative in your opinion.

SVO, agglutinating, mostly accusative with a few hints of ergativity.  The
most novel thing, I suppose, is the use of signs instead of words for
adjectives.  Most of the rest has, I'm sure, been done before: tense marking
on nouns, verbal agreement with the animacy of the subject, a somewhat
unusual number system, and a huge set of pronouns somewhat modelled on
C++/cog (another programming language).  Some of its features were
intentionally chosen to border on being impossible/unnatural.

>7. How extensive would you say your invented language is, now? How big the
vocabulary? Do you provide a vocabulary list or taxonomy on your website if
you have one?

Right now it's quite minuscule; the vocabulary hasn't broken into the
double-digits yet.  Now that I have the general shape of the language down,
I'm moving on to specifics and actually creating a lexicon.

>8. How do you build vocabulary? Some people pull words out of the air;
others build up a base of root words and affixes. Many do both.

I mostly pull words out of the air to begin with, and derive from roots
later on.

>3. Does a constructed world accompany your invention(s)? What is it called?
Yes, there is a conculture surrounding the languages, although the world
isn't mine.  They're set on the world Arda (or was it Rada?) that was home
to a collective language family project started by Aidan Grey years ago
(http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0107e&L=conlang&F=&S=&P=3166).

>*9. Has your language and conworld ever served in a role-playing game or a
world shared by other conlangers?

Shared by other conlangers (see above).

>*10. Briefly describe your conculture (is it within the bounds of this
world? on another world, etc.?)

The conculture is meant to be a realistic as possible, with some allowances
for the different species on a new world.  At the moment, I don't know that
much about it, though, so I can't say much.  (I'm also conveniently ignoring
the fact that some aspects of soshte might not be permissible in the human
mind.  Oh well.  =)

>*11. Are the beings who speak your invented language human or alien? If
alien, what features have you given the language to make it alien or how
have you restricted or expanded its phonology? vocabulary?

They're human.

>12. What do you write in it? Poems? chants? lullabyes? prayers? history?
stories? recipes? Are any of these exhibited on your website?

Nothing yet, although at least poetry is on my to-do list.

>13. Can you speak your conlang? Are you fluent in it? Is this a goal for
you? Have you tried to teach it to an intimate? a companion animal? :)

Becoming fluent in soshte is a long-term goal of mine (if it's possible).
My girlfriend has also asked to come along for the ride.

>14. Have you made any soundbytes of your language? Could you provide me at
a later date with a sample of them?

Actually, I'd never even considered doing this.  Thanks for the idea.

>*15. If you use Roman script, how recognizably "phonetic" is your writing
system? In other words, do you use unconventional letters or letter
combinations to represent sounds? Why or why not? I'm thinking, of course,
of Etabnannery, for those who remember it.

The Roman transliteration is meant to be as transparent as possible.  I
don't believe in complexity for the sake of complexity alone.

>16. How many of you sing in your language and have invented songs for that
purpose?

Not me.  But it sounds like fun.

>*17. How many of you, for entertainment or any other reason, resort to
gibberish? (This is in response to Adrian Morgan's question in December).
Does it give you ideas for conlanging? (Have you ever fooled anyone?) How
many of you have sung gibberish?

I sing/babble in gibberish all the time.  But it's more for fun than for any
conlanging purpose.


>*18. What on-line games do you play? (or devise?) Translations, Babel-text,
Relays, etc.

Nothing

>19. Which do you prefer doing: devising phonology? script? structure?
building vocabulary?

Phonology and structure, for the most part.

>20. Do you start and stop several different conlangs, or do you tend to
stick with one and develop it over years?

I start and stop different conlangs whenever I get some inspiration or some
idea I want to test out.  But Aèndelan went on for three years over the top
of other things, and soshte I'd like to stick with for a long time.

>21. What do you think makes a "complete" conlang, if a conlang can attain
completion? What are your goals for completion? When do you grow "tired" of
your conlang, or don't you?

Completion, I guess, I've defined in terms of the ability to converse
semi-fluently in.  I guess that would require the major portions of the
grammar to be solidified, and having a sufficiently large vocabulary.
(Although I don't think the latter can or should ever be fixed or closed at
a certain point.)

>*22. Which came first: the conlang or the conworld?
That's difficult to answer.  The world existed before my idea for the lang,
but didn't inspire it.  I chose to set it in the world after I was familiar
with the language.

>C. PHILOSOPHY AND AESTHETIC:
>
>1. What aesthetic features do you value in inventing language? Be specific
as to phonology, structure, script, etc.

What's most important to me aesthetically is a sense of unity in the
language.  My tastes in natlangs vary quite widely, but a feature that's
beautiful in one context can be horridly ugly in another if it seems out of
place.  Phonologically, almost everything I do is inspired by a natlang.
Some of my favorites in that regard are German, Czech, Hebrew, and Japanese.
 Structure and script I have almost no specific preferences for; almost
anything has its own appeal.

>2. What commonly applied aesthetics have you ever tried to avoid in your
invention? This has been an oft debated question, especially when it comes
to Tolkien.

I'm not sure that I've intentionally tried to /avoid/ certain aesthetics,
but Tolkien's whole l/r bit is way off, as far as I'm concerned.  Uvular r's > *

>3. Is difficulty or obscurity a goal in inventing a language?
Not generally, but in the case of my most recent lang it sort of is.  I got
a book on GB for Christmas, and that made me want to see what all is
possible.  But I didn't choose difficulty entirely for its own sake.  I
started with two ideas, and everything else just fell into place.  It's not
my fault that that place was Charybdis's mouth.  =)

>4. Is efficiency a goal in inventing a language? This question needn't
cancel out the previous one.

To a marginal extent.  I don't like the idea of needing 15 syllables to
convey, "Yo: where's the food?"

>5. How natural do you wish to make it, or is that a concern? Or rather, how
unnatural do you wish to make it?

It depends on what you mean by natural.  If there's a definition of
naturality that can include non-human languages (perhaps some degree of
complexity, lack of complete uniformity, etc.), then yes, naturality is
important to me.  But just because it hasn't yet been done or perhaps can't
be done by humans isn't necessarily a bad thing.

>6. Can conlanging be sexy? sensual? obsessing? how does it heal or harm you?
Perhaps, to all of the above.  It's a wonderful release for creative energy,
but like any pursuit can take up more time than one intended.

>*7. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of obscenities?
I thought about it.  But I'd rather be vulgar through creative metaphor than
through stock vocabulary.  =)

>8. Can it be mystical? To what extent does conlanging fulfill a spiritual
purpose for you? Or a magical one? Did it ever start out that way?

It is very spiritually fulfilling.  It comprises (or expresses, I'm not sure
which) a part of me shared only by music.  There are very few things in the
world as magical as conlanging, and perhaps none as consistently meaningful.
   But (ironically?) these are feelings difficult to put into words.

>9. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of magical, religious,
or incantatory terms?

I've never really felt the compulsion to do this.

>*10. How many of you have striven to invent words that express novel ideas,
or are not expressed in any natural language that you know?

I love to do this; in fact, it's my favorite part of vocabulary building.

>11. Name a few of the words in your language(s) that you are most pleased
with and are the most original to you.

In what sense?  Along the lines of question 10, the word 'shada' in soshte
expresses, for lack of a better name, 'anti-irony'.  (I'd be hard pressed to
actually define it, though.  I'm still searching for a good definition of
plain old irony.)

One of my favorite words in Aèndelan was 'leìa', which represented a
collection of shades including dark purple, dark blue, most browns, and very
dark oranges.  It also was quite pleasing to justifiably derive 'luìn' as
the word for blue and green, as a nod to Tolkien.

>12. How do you sense that a word is "right" for its meaning? How much do
you labor at fitting a sound to its sense? Or don't you care?

I can't give a full answer to this, but a pseudo-synaestasia has some
effect: I associate every word written in the Roman alphabet with a color,
and usually when a word seems "right" that color generally "fits" with the
concept being represented.

>*13. Do you ever rely on a software program to build vocabulary? Do those
who don't think that's cheating? :)

It's definitely cheating!  But I guess it depends on your objectives... ;)

>*14. Is conlang a hobby, a craft, or an art in your mind? This has been
hotly debated, so the question is not as weird as it seems. Can conlanging
be considered an art? Why or why not?

It's unquestionably a hobby, but I don't think the definition of 'hobby' is
mutually exclusive with that of 'art'.  In fact, in this case, I think
they're largely the same.  No one questions that music is an art, yet I
consider practicing the cello to be a hobby, too.  Art is a tricksy concept
to define, but I think conlanging (at least in some forms) fits.

>*15. If it is, who do you think are its consumers?
Anyone who appreciates it.  I know a lot of people who say that they use
their art to express themselves.  I feel that way about my music, too, but I
don't express myself for the audience's sake- I do it for my own enjoyment.
 If I'm my only audience, that's enough for me.  I don't see why it should
be different for conlanging.

>*16. This question is directed as well at any auxlangers on the list. Is it
an art, a political tool, both? And who do you think could be its consumers?

Can't really comment.

>*17. There has been some exciting talk recently (and over the years) about
what a conlang is or is not. If you could pick a metaphor or write a
descriptive phrase defining "conlang," what would that be?

I can't come up with a creative metaphor, so I'll be lazy and say something
controversial: "linguistic art".

>*18. Why or why not would you eschew the metaphors "miniature" or "model"?
I really dislike both terms.  I hope I'm not presuming too much to use the
first person plural, but we don't set out to create a conlang in order to
reflect language on a smaller scale.  If we fail to develop a vocabulary as
large as most natlangs, or our grammatical structure is relatively simple,
it's not that our destination was closer; we merely haven't travelled the
whole path.  Conlanging isn't like building models of boats; it's like
building your own boat, and perhaps running out of wood along the way.

Conlangs aren't spoken by a whole culture like natlangs are?
If I build a yacht in my backyard but never sail Lake Michigan in it, have I
built a boat or a model of a boat?

>*19. Is a conlang more like a glimpse of something lifesize? (Irina's
suggestion in 2001)

Yes.  Yes, exactly.  Actually, I think it was her who, during my initial
stay here, said she felt she was truly "dis-covering" her conlang pieces at
a time; the whole thing already existed, and she was merely learning one
part of it at a time.  That belief has been the fundamental foundation of
everything I've done with my languages.

>*20. There has been some invigorating discussion lately about what a
conlang can do that most natural languages don't (such as produce OSV
structure, or eradicate verbs) What experiments have you made with your
artlang(s) along these lines?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I'm combining sign language and spoken
language into one.  I'm also playing with a system of pronouns with variable
antecedants.  Basically, there is a large class of pronouns, many of which
have some connotation, such as 'small', 'related to me', 'moving quickly',
and so on, but none of which have definite meaning.  Thus, there is no
"first person singular" pronoun, and so on.  Whenever a noun is introduced
into discourse, it can be indexed with a certain pronoun that will refer to
it until the pronoun is reindexed.  Then, there is a class of words (I'm not
sure what to call them... operators?  transforms?) that can modify the
function of the pronouns: switching the antecedents of two, switching the
connotations of two, augmenting the connotation of one, and so on.  I even
thought about using a system like this to completely merge pronouns,
adjectives, and verbs into one part of speech, but going to that extreme
didn't seem right, for this language.

>*21  What do you think distinguishes a conlang from a natural language, if
you think so at all?  What would it take for a linguist to be fooled into
thinking a conlang was a natural language?

I think, if a conlang is designed to be like natlangs, the only thing that
could distinguish it from "real" languages (aside from the number of
speakers) would be a lack of development: shortcomings in structure or
vocabulary.  But present a linguist with a moderate-length sample of
writing, with all the structures and vocabulary explained, there may be no
way he or she could distinguish it from a natlang.

>*22. How much do you study other languages in order to discover what is
natural in language? Or to discover how you can stretch the boundaries of
language to make it do things that are unnatural?

I read about other languages quite a bit.  I skim through intro language
books at book stores, but the majority of my knowledge comes from ordering
things off of Amazon (like Bernard Comrie's _The World's 50 Major
Languages_, his _Language Universals and Linguistic Typology_, various books
on aspect, modality, phonology, and so on) and reading decriptions of
languages on the internet.  Directly copying whatever you're reading about
is such an easy trap to fall into, though, so I don't like to be in the
process of reading a book and actively conlanging at the same time.

>*23. Can such a language function?
I don't see why not, but I have no evidence one way or another.


>*24. There has been quite a bit of fascinating debate about the relevance
of conlanging to linguistic study. We all know that linguistics can aid
conlangers, but in what ways can conlangers aid linguists? Or does it matter?

Well, linguists currently study what occurs in natlangs, so I suppose they
could look at what occurs in conlangs, especially those that try to violate
human 'universals'.  What they still fail to violate might say something
about the 'language faculty'.

>D. THE LISTSERV
>
>1. How did you first hear of this list?
I stumbled across it looking for information on Jordan's and Tolkien's
languages.  I kept seeing references to the word "conlang", so eventually I
just googled that.

>2. How long have you been on this listserv or on other related listservs?
Continuously? Infrequently? Off and on? More off than on and vice versa?

I lurked for a little over a year about 3-4ish years ago, left because the
volume of mail was too intense, and just came back to lurking at the
beginning of the month.

>*3. What is the appeal of being on a listserv and contributing to it? Do
you think you contribute moderately or excessively, or not enough? Do you
tend to lurk ?

I tend to lurk, mostly because I'm not confident enough in my ideas or
knowledge to feel I can contribute much of interest.  The appeal of being on
a listserv?  In general, I couldn't say, but as for this one specifically:
it not only deals with a great topic, but the level and amount of educated,
intelligent, and thoughtful discussion is truly refreshing.  It's one of my
favorite communities, on-line or in real life.

>*4. For those of you who remember its inception, how has it changed over
the past decade?

n/a

>*5. How helpful has the list been in developing your language? In learning
linguistic information?

Very helpful in both regards.  It's cleared up a lot of linguistic points
that I was confused about, introduced me to new areas that I hadn't thought
about before, and provided the inspiration and impetus to get my own work done.

>6. What books have you consulted? On your own, or because you heard of them
on the list?

_The World's 50 Major Languages_, _Aspect_, and _Language Universals and
Linguistic Typology_ by Bernard Comrie; _Mood and Modality_ by F. R. Palmer,
a book on phonology I can't seem to find now, _Chomsky's Universal Grammar_
by V. J. Cook and M. Newson, a few introductions/primers on linguistics in
general, and a number of language-specific books.  I think I discovered all
of them on my own, although perhaps I was reccomended to read Bernard Comrie
by someone here.

>*7. Do you peruse the websites of other conlangers?
Occasionally, although not as much as I'd like to.

>*8. Do you sense that people on this list are interested in your conlang
and give you feedback on it?

I haven't posted enough of my own work to know.

>9. Have you ever set out to learn at least a little bit of someone's
conlang, if only a word or two, or a phrase?

Yes, although the two examples that I really tried to learn more than a few
words of were Sindarin and Okrand's Atlantean.

>*10. Do you peruse Jeffrey Henning's Langmaker.com site?
All the time.  It's a lot of fun.

>*11. What on-line techniques do you use to showcase your conlang, such as
Audacity or other sound programs, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Fontography, and
so forth? Did you hear of them on the list?

n/a

>12. Have you ever tried to introduce a friend to the list?
Once.  I think he reads it occasionally, and I know he watches the
livejournal community.

>13. Do you know of anyone who does this kind of thing but who has never
heard of the list?

I don't think so.

>*14. What other lists do you frequent related to conlanging?
I used to lurk on the Elfling list, during my initial stint here, but
nothing else.

>*15. What do you think will be the future of the list? I see it giving
birth to alternate lists like Conworld, Lostlanguages, Romlang, etc. What
improves the present list and its helpfulness or entertainment value?

I haven't really been around long enough to be able to answer.

>*16. What Internet technology would you most like to see developed that
would aid you in showcasing your language(s)?

Again, not enough experience to say anything useful

>*17. What lists like conlang exist in other cultures and languages that you
know of?

I'm not really aware of anything else.

>*18. There has been some terrific talk about CONLANG as a community. And
yet so many of us seem to want the world to know of it and respect it. Is
the CONLANG community enough?

I think so, but who am I to determine what the list should be or who should
visit it?

>*19. In my 2000 on-line article
(http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0003/languages.php) I suggested that
the Internet "may provide a site that, with the impetus of competition and
showmanship, encourages inutile and obsessive activity"; I was quoting Jeff
Salamon's article "Revenge of the Fanboys." Village Voice 13 Sep., 1994. He
wrote that over ten years ago. Do outsiders still entertain such notions, do
you think, about listservs like this one? Do you? To what extent has the
list increased obsessive development in you? Would you be inventing as
furiously as you are without the list or knowledge of other inventors?

I don't feel that the list changes my involvement in conlanging; I've always
taken it at whatever pace I feel comfortable with.  As for outsider's
opinions, I don't really know and'm not particularly concerned.

>20. If asked whether it is not better to turn your linguistic talents to
the learning and speaking of natural languages (a common response I've met
with and aimed at criticizing introversion or solipsism), how would you answer?

I would ask the speaker if his/her time reading would not be better spent
writing novels, or his time watching watching Reality TV going out into
reality.  We all have our own pastimes, and it is ridiculous to expect that
one should always spend one's time and effort doing the most "productive" thing.


>*21. In Elizabethan times there were the inkhorn neologisms. There were
ciphers and pasigraphies. Today there is conlanging. Do you think the
contemporary world is more open to language innovation or more closed?

I have so little basis for comparison that it's hard to say.  All I do know
is that I have never met, in person, another person who makes up languages
in their free time.

>*22. What would Tolkien have done with such a community? He writes in "A
Secret Vice" that language inventors "hardly ever show their works to one
another, so none of them know who are the geniuses at the game, or who are
the splendid 'primitives'." He suggests that perhaps in a later time
language invention will become respectable, and such things can be
exhibited. Have we reached that time?

Probably not within the larger community.  The "average person" probably
would look upon it as nerdy and strange, and I have heard (on this list) of
professional linguists who look down on it as a waste of time.  But within
our own community, certainly.  In having a very limited number of those who
appreciate it, conlanging is much akin to the current state of classical music.

>*23. Is there a danger that over-exposure can make conlanging "banal"? To
what extent is it exciting because it is a) considered disreputable, "corny"
or "mad," or b) largely unknown to the world? Does it have a fizzle-out
date?  In other words, is it just a fad, or is it a natural human
inclination that will stand the test of time?

I appreciate conlanging for its own values, not because of its status in the
world at large.  The problem of having a fizzle-out date, or someday running
out of original things to say, is a problem facing much more than just
conlanging.  I am very weary of hearing that question in the context of
classical music or the visual arts; "What can be done that is new?" is such
a self-defeating question compared to, "What can be done that is beautiful?"
 I'd rather not worry about whether conlanging will last 50 years, or 200,
or indefinitely.  As long as I have something to say through the form it
provides me, it still has meaning and is more than just a fad.  I know I've
beat the comparison to classical music to death, but is it just a 350-year
fad that's now dying out?

>Finally, may I have your permission to use any of this material of yours
for my academic work on conlanging? First name? last name? pseudonym? anonymous?

You have permission to use anything I've said, including any/all parts of my
name.

With relief,
After many grueling hours of typing,

`Paul Sherrill