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Re: Results of Poll by Email No. 5

From:Frank George Valoczy <valoczy@...>
Date:Sunday, March 31, 2002, 9:02
Sorry I didn't answer this before, but if you don't mind, I'll answer now.
On rare occasions I can get great ideas and inspiration out of the blue,
but, more often than not I need a beer or two and a pack of cigs...this
applies to all my artistic activities, conlanging and music. I did have my
period of hallucinogen use in 1995...and that carries with me - flashbacks
provide inspiration too.

Cheers, Ferko

On Sat, 30 Mar 2002, Peter Clark wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > This week was a quieter one, apparently. Only 19 of you answered, so this > will be a little shorter than in the past. To refresh your memories, the > question asked, "What do you need to conlang well?" The results: > A. Music. (2 responses, 11%) > B. Grammar/survey/teach-yourself books. (4 responses, 21%) > C. The CONLANG list. (2 responses, 11%) > D. Silence. (2 responses, 11%) > E. Alcohol/nicotine/narcotics of some sort. (1 responses, 5%) > F. Hearing other languages. (1 responses, 5%) > G. Other. (7 responses, 37%) > > Not all the respondants provided interesting/amusing answers, so not all the > categories will be covered. > > David (DigitalScream@aol) revealed his weakness when he answered (A): "I > can't do anything without music. If there's no music playing, I hear the > silence, and it drives me nuts. Language creation is no different. Have > to have it." > > Andreas Johansson complained when answering (C), "It's REALLY EVIL to force > people to single out one factor like this, but the quality of my conlanging > (as I perceive it) has much increased since joining the list, and I have > learnt much on it and got much inspiration form other peoples efforts." Yes, > Andreas, it was evil of me to try to pound all you square pegs into a round > hole, which is why I am considering turning this into a web poll, rather than > an email poll, so that you can give multiple answers without me having to do > all the various calculations. :) > > The lone respondant for (E), Nicole Dobrowolski, insisted that she needs "the > natural high of being a crazy monkey girl, which fortunately is very easy to > come by when you're me..." Riiiiiight... > > Lots of people listed other inspirations under (G); Taliesin considers > "ripening" the most important factor: "I learn something, see something, > think something, and days, maybe years later it suddenly affects my > conlanging and I get a great Eureka! moment where some > syntax/phonology-problem or wart mysteriously goes away, or the perfect shape > and meaning merges and crystallizes into one of the few words that are > *right* and can never change or be replaced." > Bonus points go to Sylvia Sotomayor, who listed her job as her most > important aid to conlanging: "My job consists of talking to professors about > what they need to teach the class. While most of the time this is fairly > mundane, every so often I find someone utterly fascinating to talk to, and > just being immersed in an intellectual environment leads to more work on my > language. The five years I spent as just a regular sales rep, I hardly got > any conlanging done at all. Since I started "selling" to professors, I've > done lots. Having the summers mostly off helps, too. I think of my job as > having some of the plusses of being a grad student without any of the > minuses. (Of course, it has other minuses, but ...) " > And Rosta mentioned that he needed time, while nicotine is something of a > given for him. Raymond Brown finds his inspiration in "an insatiable > curiosity about language; a lifetime of delving into every language I can lay > my hands on; a challenge to create something new." And some of you are > natural geniuses, like Arnt Johansen, who needs "nothing in particular to > conlang well." > Thanks to everyone who participated, and stay tune for Polly by Email No. 6! > :Peter > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org > > iD8DBQE8plY/evbW9GDdlVARAuDMAJsGWLFysX1nd04e8L+NchW/CCe+uwCfT2rB > SS9sr/eFz4YAayGIxRe4oxc= > =qjTK > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- >

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Maarten van Beek <dungeonmaster@...>