Re: OT-ish:Conlang Census

From:         Joe <joe@...>
> So, how about getting some statistics together on the list? I just
> thought I'd ask some questions largely unrelated to conlangs.
As if we don't have enough nonconlinguistic questions as it
is... :)

> 1)Where were you brought up?
Houston, Texas, USA.

> 2)Where do you live, countrywise?
USA.  Of course, here in Chicago, they call it Chicagoland,
and everything beyond that is on the part of their mental map
labeled "Here Be Dragons".

> 3)What is your nationality, as you see it?
Texan, in the same sense that Scotland is a nation within
the UK and most Scots are just fine with that.

(In a completely unprofessional fashion I object to the common
but IMO sloppy equivalence of "nation" with "nation-state".)

> 4)Where does your family come from?
Immediately, all Texas.  Most sides of my family have lived in
North America for about a quarter millennium or longer, until
recently always in the South.  Both my matriline and my patriline
come from Scotland (specifically, the MacNaughton clan).  The
claim is that all people with the last name of Wier/Weir/Wear are
descendents of Baltredus de Vere (ca. 1100- at least ca. 1165),
whose name, be it noted, is basically that of <Wier> adjusting
for the Great Vowel Shift not having yet occurred and the letter
<W> not having been invented :)  For more information, see:

<http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/%7Elgboyd/chapter5.htm>

> 5)What colour is your hair?
Brown.  (It's been described affectionately as "s**t brown".)

> 6)What colour are your eyes?
Sky-blue.

> 7)What colour is your skin?
White, quite pale.

> 8)Are you left or right handed?
Right-handed.

> 9)What is/are your mother tongue(s)
English.

> 10)Are you fluent in any other languages?
Fluent? Hard to say.  I can speak German pretty well.  I'm
certainly not fluent in Latin, Greek, Akkadian, Georgian,
French, Russian, or Meskwaki, all of which I've had at least
a year of.

> If so, which? 11)Are you homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual?
Hetero.

> 12)What (non-)religion are you?
Christian.

> 13)What denomination of that religion?
My parents belong to a Methodist Church, but I have no strong
feelings toward that.  I've often thought about converting
to Roman Catholicism.

> 14) Finally, what is your favourite colour?
Snuh.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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