Of Words and Worlds ( was The status of the glottal stop in Hebrew)

On 5 July, Tristan Mc Leay wrote:

> > likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.
> >
> > A word is an awesome thing.
>
> Yet not nearly as awesome a thing as a world. I always see your sig and
> think 'It'd be much better if it were "A world is an awesome thing"'.
> Worlds are quite awesome.
>
No argument from me there, Tristan!

    But, OTOH, mystically and poetically speaking,
how many worlds, universes even, are contained
in a single word! An ocean can be magnificent,
but what fascinating lives are lived out in a single
drop of ocean water!
    I won't object if you (or anyone else) wants
to use as a sig, "A world is an awesome thing".
Please feel free to use it! But as for me,
I think I'll stick with the idea of the awesome
potential contained in the tiny seed.


    BTW, I seem to recall a science fiction story
where the hero was trained to understand an entire
complex machine based upon seeing and holding
only a small part of it! Sadly I don't remember
the author --- it sounds like it could be something from
Gordon R. Dickson, perhaps his
"Final Encyclopaedia", but don't quote me on this!
    Anyhow, it would be a very nice skill to have---
especially for a conlanger: give me a word and
I will immediately understand the whole lang's
grammar, vocabulary, et al!  <dreamy smile, sigh!>

Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.