Re: OT: In the 'ignorance on parade' file

Thomas R. Wier scripsit:
> My friend sent me this, with the warning that it may cause
> righteous indignation.  You are so warned.
>
> <http://www.vocabula.com/VRJULY01Halpern.htm>
Critics (and I suspect most of us will be critics) should also
read Halpern's General Reply at
http://members.boardhost.com/Vocabula/msg/153.html and the messages
below it.  Ken Miner (a fine fellow, and inventor (?) of Moundsbar,
world's most unpronounceable conlang) makes an excellent distinction
which I have not seen elsewhere, between "inorganic" (conscious,
cultural) language change, the kind Halpern is talking about,
and "organic" (unconscious, natural) change, which he is not
talking about.

Halpern's other problem is that he doesn't distinguish formal
written Standard English from English-as-a-whole.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter

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