Hey guys,
I posted a request to <sci.lang.japan> to clarify my translation, and I
received proof that idiotas are alive and well. Read on...
----- Original Message -----
From: Charles Eicher <ceicher@...>
Newsgroups: sci.lang.japan
Sent: 20 October 1999 04:38
Subject: Re: translation needed
> In article <7uiajo$1ue7$1@...>, "Fabian" says...
> >
> >The artificial languages mailing list invents and discusses human (and
> >sometimes alien) languages. Esperanto, Klingon, and Tolkein's Elvish are
the
> >most famous examples of such languages. Some of these invented languages
are
> >created out of whole cloth; others are created by taking parts from
existing
> >languages. For example, one invented language is based on Japanese yamato
> >kotoba root words, with the sounds modified based on a hypothetical
dinosaur
> >vocal tract, and then re-interpreted using Arabic morphology!
>
> <otaku rant warning>
>
> Jesus F. Christ! I thought I'd heard every variation of otaku-ism, but
this
> takes the cake. I would like to point out that there are REAL languages
that are
> in sad need of study because they are going extinct, but instead, you
idiots are
> sitting around analysing KLINGON and ELVISH.
>
> I recently read a paper about a linguist studying the last two users of of
a
> dying American Indian language. One man, who understood the written
language,
> but not the spoken one, was blind. The other could understand the spoken
> language, but not the written, but he was deaf. The language cannot be
recorded
> or studied, but if only ONE linguist had discovered the endangered status
of
> this language before the two men became old and handicapped, the language
might
> not have died such an ignoble death.
>
> If only some of the energy you expend discussing these fictional languages
could
> be harnessed for something useful! But no, you would rather study
something that
> doesn't even exist. I cannot even feel pity for someone who wastes their
life so
> frivolously.
>