Re: Sapir-WhorFreakiness

Quoting "Mark P. Line" <mark@...>:

> John Cowan said:
> > Mark P. Line scripsit:
> >
> >> A genetic defect is one possibility, I suppose. Perhaps something very
> >> odd
> >> happened during the evolution of this language. (I dunno, pidginization
> >> followed by stunted creolization, with lexifiers and substrates all lost
> >> in the meantime. Or something. *shrug*)
> >
> > Well, that itself would be informative: it would bash whatever remains
> > of the Bickerton bioprogram into a bloody pulp.
>
> Absolutely. And it couldn't happen to a nicer bioprogram.
What's a bioprogram, anyway? (Besides Swedish for a list of when which movies
are shown at a cinema.)

> >> Alternatively, maybe there is an additional cultural constraint that
> >> cannot, due to its nature, be discovered by outsiders: "Don't talk
> >> straight with outsiders."
> >
> > That was my first thought.  But how could they be so consistent,
> > including even the children?  I'd rather believe in a pervasive
> > genetic defect than a pervasive conspiracy.
>
> There is no conspiracy underlying the refusal of Americans (including
> American children) to eat horse meat.
That's not really parallel, tho; to be parallel, you'd have a situation where
Americans do eat horse meat*, but only when they're certain no furriners will
learn of it. That seems decidely unlikely, altho I for obvious reasons cannot
rule it out that it's actually the case.

* Given a few of the things I've found horse meat in, and the frequency with
which I pay much attention to the exact contents of meat products, I would not
be particularly surprised to learn that millions of Americans do consume horse
meat without being aware of it.

                                                     Andreas

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