Re: "Coming out" about conlanging to people in Academia

    I was very curious as to the reaction by my girlfriend's father (I'd
nearly forgotten about this).  You see, there are few people on Earth I fear
more than my girlfriend's father.  This man is a large, Republican fellow who
went to Vietnam and works about 18 hours a day as a security guard.  Needless
to say, I want to make myself seem a bit more "manly" in front of him.  So, I
tend to shy away from "bookish" subjects and just talk about the 49ers
(football is the only sport good enough for him; all the rest are girly).
So, needless to say, when I discovered that my girlfriend had told him about
how I invent languages, I was none to pleased.  Of course, I didn't know she
did, and the first time I heard about it was when he said, "So, Megan tells
me you...make up languages?"  Dear God, I wanted to be anywhere but there at
that point in time.  Anyway, I tentatively said, "Uh, yeah, well, uh..."
"And so you have an alphabet?"  "Well, among other things, yes..."  "But, not
just an alphabet, but...meanings of words and things?  Dictionary
definitions?"  "Sure, that too."  Some divine power took pity on me at this
point, though, and the subject was changed by someone else.

-David