Oops! Spoke too soon! I suspect Teoh is lying, too. :)
Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
Eskkoat ol ai sendran, rohsan nuehra celyil takrem bomai nakuo.
"My shadow follows me, putting strange, new roses into the world."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Clark" <peter-clark@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 10:20 AM
Subject: Results of Poll by Email No. 26
> First, my most humble apologies for the lateness of this poll.
I've only a
> week to go before my master's thesis is due and my grandmother recently
died,
> which entailed a quick flight out to California for her memorial service.
> So--I've been a little preoccupied with other matters.
> However, not one to keep fans of the poll in suspense, here are
the results!
> When asked about their mental health, 21 people responded:
> A. I am boring vanilla-flavoured normal (2 responses, 10%)
> B. I am diagnosed as clinically sane (5 responses, 24%)
> C. Being eccentric burns up calories, y'know (11 responses, 52%)
> D. I have a diagnosed mental condition (3 responses, 14%)
> E. My condition can be controlled with treatment (0 responses, 0%)
>
> First, I think what this poll suggests more than anything else is
the varying
> degrees of our self-perception. Namely, here are a sampling of people who
> answered "C":
> Quoth Sylvia Sotomayor: "Probably C. I'm seriously considering
agoraphobia
> for a secondary hobby."
> Roger Mills: " 'C. Being eccentric burns up calories, y'know' It
must be so;
> I weigh the same now as I did 50 years ago in college.
> "The wonderful young(er) man who helped me (re)build my house
concluded early
> on that I was crazy (he was too, actually, so we got along quite nicely),
> but politely rephrased it as "eccentric", which he defined as a crazy
person
> with a decent income."
> Rachel Klippenstein: "I figure I'm entirely sane and stable, just
a bit odd.
> My most awkward eccentricity is a tendency, when thinking about
linguistics
> or languages, to start practicing sounds aloud, often without becoming
> consciously aware of it for a while. This can happen at rather
inopportune
> times, such as when I'm riding the bus."
> Andreas (not Daniel): "Any mental illnesses I may have are
undiagnosed, but
> I'm widely considered odd/excentric."
> Someone who did not wish to be named: "I would say that I fit into
category
> C, with a glance in the direction of category D. Being eccentric burns up
> more than calories. Trying to do everything all at once and under time
> constraints bestows migraines, depressions, stomach cramps, insomnias,
dizzy
> spells, wild fits of laughter, antic behaviors, rapid speech, bouts of
anger,
> horrendous distractedness, scribblings on envelopes, lost cell phones,
> tingling in the fingers, mild memory lapses, anxiety attacks, careless
> driving, brown studies, crying spells, stiff necks, unwashed dishes,
fatigues
> and faintings, and poor eyesight. Hypomania has been blamed for my
> conlanging and other obsessions, but this hasn't been completely
confirmed.
> Nor does anyone know quite what it is (sometimes called Bipolar II)."
>
> Now, I can't help but wonder if, had this question been asked in
another
> context, if some of the respondants wouldn't have changed their response.
> Conlanging is a rather eccentric (but mostly harmless, except for Marion
> Gunn) hobby; does that pre-dispose people to clacify their mental state
> accordingly?
>
> Anywho, other responses included this gem by Pavel Iosad when he
answered
> "B": "That I am, though I did get a queer look when I told the check-up
> psychiatrist I was going to study at the Faculty of Philology, Dept. of
> Theoretical and Applied Linguistics ;-)"
>
> I suspect Teoh is lying when he said, "I am, in spite of what
false
> impressions people may have gotten from the eccentricity of Ebisedian (or
its
> ellipticality thereof), quite normal. I may have a little ADD, a warped
> sense of humour, and a decidedly different set of interests from most
people,
> but I'm really quite sane.
> "So while I may not be vanilla-flavoured, I'm nevertheless not
eccentric
> enough to require diagnosis for sanity; so I'll stick with A."
>
> Carlos Thompson wrote: "Well. I am not sure. The only time I
ever been to a
> psychiatrist, his diagnosist was that I was "bored". Not sure if that
counts
> as "clinically sane" or not. I know I have a few mental conditions but I
am
> not sure if they are at so degree to be diagnosed as clinically insane..."
>
> In conclusion, if one can pick mental conditions for a hobby, may
I suggest
> something a little more enjoyable? For instance, I have
> laevuslevuslithuanophobia (bonus points to whomever can give me the
accurate
> Latin phrase), but that hardly bothers me at all, except for Steg's
younger
> brother, who I have never met. ;>
> Thanks to everyone who responded, and stay tuned for the next Poll
by Email!
> :Peter
>
> --
> Oh what a tangled web they weave who try a new word to conceive!
>