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

I can't quite believe this debate - there is no such
thing as linguistic purity, as you would know if you
were aware of the Schmidtt model and of the social
interactions between different peoples that influences
sound change rules. This is why we have the
centum/satem language division - they are seperate
languages of different descent and yet they share
various properties as similar sound-change rules have
affected the languages of the two sets, so from the
very begin of Indo-European languages the idea of
purity is absurd.
Not linguistic fascicm, but lack of knowledge, I would
say, influenced his standpoint.

 --- David Peterson <DigitalScream@...> wrote: >
In a message dated 8/12/01 11:03:57 PM,
> claudio.soboll@GMX.DE writes:
>
> << define "purity" please.
>
> i neglect to speak about races here to not support
> your silly cliches. >>
>
>     You tread a fine line in talking about this, for
> your command of English
> is not very good, and your guilty of many of the
> evils you decry.  For
> instance, the foreign words you introduce into
> English in your many posts
> unwittingly, which arise as technical terms which
> don't exist; the butchering
> of our "pure" English grammar; and not to mention
> how AMBIGUOUS just about
> EVERYTHING you say is!  If ambiguity is evil, then
> it is not just I and the
> rest who are devils, but you as well.
>     Take some of the things you've written here:
>
> <<delete my friend, and lean back to relax.>>
>
>     Who's your friend, and how might one delete
> him/her?
>
> <<well "pat", with no word i insulted your person>>
>
>     Did you?  That's pretty good; often I have to
> employ words to insult
> someone verbally.
>
> <<i really dont like to discuss things on this
> niveau anymore,>>
>
>     Now, I'll admit, I've only been an English
> speaker for about 18 years
> (not counting the couple where I couldn't speak,
> because I was an infant),
> but that word "niveau" doesn't appear to me to be an
> English word, and my
> dictionary agrees.  Nevertheless, I understood what
> you meant (rather than
> "on this niveau", you might want to say "in this
> vein" or "along these lines"
> next time), and the fact that you used this doesn't
> bother me, and it didn't
> seem to bother you, either.  Yet you speak of
> "foreign impurities" leading to
> "technical terms, which aren't understood by the
> majority of people"?
>     I'd like to end with a quote of yours:
>
>     <<ambiguity is not only bad , its evil.>>
>
>     As a final note, though, while I do like to
> engage in heated arguments
> from time to time, I don't think this is the place
> for it.  I don't know what
> you were expecting when you posted your first reply
> to the link, and then the
> reply to the counter of your reply, but if you were
> looking for a fight,
> please, take it elsewhere ("outside", as it were).
>
> -David
>
> To the group: Sorry, I couldn't resist.
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