Re: CHAT: Umberto Eco and Esperanto

Charles wrote:

> Tom Wier wrote:
>
> > On <sci.lang> some time back, there was a guy who would endlessly
> > decry the inadequacies of Esperanto, a wacko in the opposite extreme.
> > Any time someone bothered to mention anything nice about it, he'd
> > attack it, but selectively.  Your comment was very true for him:  he spoke
> > Cantonese and Mandarin, IIRC, and while the morphological and phonological
> > systems were almost as evil as Hitler (or so it sounded reading what
> > he said), the syntax was just fine.  I don't remember hearing any complaint
> > from him about *that*.
>
> It's funny how people can see the same thing in opposite ways ...
> If you mean the notorious LSD, I have found his criticisms always
> to be both fair and reasonable. He would (and still does) decry
> mandatory marking of tense and number, and the rather complex
> Indo-European style grammar, and the Euro-based vocabulary,
> in what purports to be a neutral world auxiliary language.
<sigh> I always seem to be getting my foot in my mouth... ;)

Yes, if I read you right, it was that person.  I'd like to explain
myself about what I mean by "wacko".  First, I agree with you that
this person has on many occasions correctly pointed out major flaws
either in Esperanto's structure itself, or in conflicts between its stated
purpose and that structure.  I applaud him for doing so, even though
I'm not sure it will do much good, because, let's be honest, many in
the auxlang movement are doing so more for personal reasons than
because they're really questioning whether E-o or langs like it will get
much done (I will refer everyone to the recent essay posted here
by Rick Harrison on that topic, which is my experience as well). His
comments often fall on deaf ears.  Moreover, I have had personal
communication with him, and he seems like an intelligent and generally
nice individual.  None of this is personally directed at him, so I apologize
here again for writing what sounds like ad hominem attacks.

What I meant by what I said was this:  often, from what I've read of his
posts, he veers away from these very cogent and correct arguments.
Many of the posts I read on <sci.lang> had little if anything to do with
Esperanto, per se, but more were just attacks on any kind of complex
morphology whatsoever. This was a legitimate opinion to hold, but the
way in which he voiced his opinion made it seem like he thought anyone
who thought differently than he did was ignorant and foolish. He used
highly vituperative language with anyone who disagreed with him, which
made me, to be honest, doubt his sincerity on several occasions.

Again, I have never intended this to be a personal attack on him. "Wacko"
is in retrospect too strong of a term. I was just citing an example of what
I think I rightly viewed as an excessive defense of views on any side
of the matter.   I was just trying to relate my own experiences with those
people [NB: that's a plural there] without naming names.

So, I apologize for any offense I may have caused.

===========================================
Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
AIM: Deuterotom ICQ: 4315704
<http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"Things just ain't the way they used to was."
     - a man on the subway
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