Re: translation needed

Charles Eichner replied to Ed:

>Hey, even linguists need hobbies. Just don't expect me to take such
>frivolous hobbies seriously.=20
Is there such a thing as a "serious hobby"? Isn't the whole point of a hobb=
y=20
its frivolousness? What is he talking about?

>>One might as well object to anyone painting new paintings because it
>>is "frivolous" to do so, in a world where old Renaissance masterworks
>>may be crumbling for lack of restorative work...  Or object to anyone
>>writing new books when there are ancient manuscripts which need to be
>>photographed and catalogued.
>Your analogies are massively flawed. A more direct analogy would be an
>art restorer who spends his time "researching" and analyzing the art
>techniques used in Atlantis and how they would be restored, if they
>existed.
This analogy sucks. But, I kind of see where he's coming from now. He's=20
gotten it into his head that we're all professional linguists. I am not a=20
linguist. I will never be a linguist. I do not want to be a linguist. And=20
if I was to try and document some dying language, the real linguists would=20
probably laugh themselves silly.

All that aside, let's say I was a linguist. So what? It's a job and what a=20
linguist gets paid to do is distinct from what they choose to do in their=20
"spare time." That's a distinction he doesn't seem to get. He seems to be=20
under the impression that linguists shouldn't have spare time, that they=20
should devote their whole being to "proper" areas of study. That's like bei=
ng=20
upset that a basketball player spends his off-season coaching kids at a cam=
p,=20
rather than learning new plays and honing his own skills.

>Let me give you a concrete, realworld example. Comedy Central
>channel's "The Daily Show" presented the story of a librarian from the
>Library of Congress. The story was presented completely deadpan,
>because sometimes truth is funnier than fiction. The story covered the
>librarian's personal avocation, "The Library of Erotica." <snip> Was this=20
>guy serious? Hell yes. He went on and on about
>the scholarly aspects of his work. But it is obvious to everyone
>(EXCEPT himself) that he's just another otaku who is obsessed with
>porn.
Okay, this seems to be some of the problem. Does he honestly think we see=20
ourselves as scientific researchers? Yes, languages are researched, but its=
=20
done from an *artistic* standpoint. Like any artistic study science is a=20
part. For example, if you are studying paintings you talk about  perspectiv=
e,=20
which is a mathematical concept. That doesn't mean you're doing scientific=20
research. You're still studying the painting to appreciate its artistry.=20

>>If there is anyone who has ever made time for the hobby of language
>>construction by neglecting work they would otherwise have done
>>cataloguing dying languages, I would be very surprised.  And yet, if
>>that is not the case, your complaint is utterly vacuous.
>I used it merely as an example. Life is too short to waste time
>researching non-existent things. Even as an exercise in abstraction,
>it needs SOME sort of basis in reality. Excuse me if I don't believe
>in elves or talking dinosaurs.
Life is too short--who is he to decide what is a waste of time for other=20
people? Golf seems pretty boring to me, but I'm not going to tell somebody=20
who chooses to spend their Saturday perfecting their swing that they are=20
wasting their time and they should be writing papers on aerodynamics instea=
d.=20
I don't believe in elves or talking dinosaurs either, but examining how a=20
language spoken by elves or dinosaurs would be different helps pinpoint how=
=20
humans think about language and how it affects their thoughts and their=20
culture.

<the rest snipped as it seems to be a rant about criminal activity that has=
=20
no bearing on anything>
=20
Unless he's trying to say that conlangers are=20
stopping real languages from being studied and preserved because we take=20
away resources, which is totally fallacious. Marc Okrand's inventing Klingo=
n=20
did not harm any "real-world" language and not inventing it wouldn't have=20
helped one either. In fact the opposite is true, my interest in conlanging=20
has forced me to learn a lot about foreign languages that I never would hav=
e=20
known otherwise.

Liss