Re: THEORY: Question about the evolution of language

Dan Sulani scripsit:

> He refused to go anywhere
> and in an attempt to bribe him, I held out a piece of candy and smiled.
> He immediately held up his hand, spread five fingers, and smiled back.
> I repeated my offer and he repeated his response. I then held out to him
> 2 pieces of candy, at which point he held up four fingers! I shook my head,
> and
> again offered him only one candy, and he held up the full five fingers again.
This wonderful story reminds me of the classic Jewish joke about the
debate by signs: http://www.yikgh.org/torch462.htm#havdalah .
Finding this on-line is an indication of the power of search
engines, properly used:  I searched for "'his lunch' near 'mine'"
and every one of the first 8 pages returned contained the story!

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
       I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin