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Re: LUNATIC again

From:Sally Caves <scaves@...>
Date:Monday, November 9, 1998, 1:04
Lojbab wrote:

> We forgive the TV addict, or the football addict,because they > have chosen avocations that someone is TRYING to get them to choose
- they are
> succumbing to societal conformance.
We even forgive the obsessive Guiness Book of World Records fanatics (for spending their lives trying to eat more bananas in fifteen minutes than the current champion), because at least we can watch it on TV and be grossed out by it. But to be a consumer of a conlang, you have to learn it. And people for the most part, especially in America, don't like learning languages for fun.
> I'll stop here, as I would rather not go where this is leading, into a > long sociological diatribe founded only on my in this case uneducated > prejudices against modern societal norms. I am merely trying to get > linguists to respect me. YOu are trying something harder - to get modern > society to respect you %^).
Hmmm, I don't even know if that's quite true, either. I think I'm trying to have fun, and do something I think is intellectually and spiritually invigorating. I am in the process of thinking about an academic article on the Maligned Art, and getting certain academics, who are more open to issues of philosophy and fantasy, to be interested in this endeavor is admittedly easier than getting most linguists interested in it. It's from that angle that I'm likely to approach the topic, but it's a hard one. Especially since I am more than just an observer, but have a passionate interest in this project. The trick is not to VALIDATE the project but to expose why it is interesting philosophically, and satisfying creatively. As to your query, yes, there is a FAQ section of the Conlang Home Page, and you'll find lot's of new conlangers much more savvy about the pitfalls of invention, the code vs. language argument, and so forth. As for the term "invented," I take your point, that the participle imposes a sense of completion that is not warranted. Hence, my system (set out in prior post) should be revised to read as follows: LANGUAGE natural languages artificial languages and everything in between! I'm sorry I've reacted so vehemently to this thread, but there is another dimension to your arguments that I didn't want you to ignore, and that is that we're here to dream the dream... let's not rain on anybody's parade and tell them, in addition to what they already know... that not only is what we do arcane and misunderstood by most of the world, but that some conlangers think some of us are doing it badly. That takes the stuffing out of the bird, doesn't it? Just being on the list, and seeing what people are up to helps everyone grow in what is fast becoming a strange and fascinating art that has been aided by electronic communication. Tolkien and Lewis had the "Inklings," but I had nobody until I joined this list. Suddenly, what I had been doing for years in isolation had validity and encouragement. All of us bring a peculiar combination of joy and guilt to this pursuit. So let's not turn the volume up on the latter. Well that's it for now. I have to give this thread a rest. See you later, and I'll undoubtedly look more into Lojban to see what it's all about. I've made some initial forays. All the best, Sally Oh... I got the "duck" joke; my response was supposed to be a joke, too, but failed miserably. Dour context drowned humor. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sally Caves Li fetil'aiba, dam hoja-le uen. volwin ly, vul inua aiba bronib. This leaf, the wind takes her. She's old, and born this year. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++