Re: [tied] Lick me (was: the tongue)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Ben McGarr <celteuskara@...>"
<celteuskara@...> wrote:

> "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
> > Well that message seemed coherent enough at least. Perhaps by

being

> more
> > bitchy, we can knock some verbal sense into Alex :) But

seriously,

> next
> > time, try to use a verb in EVERY sentence because there are times
> when
> > I, and I'm sure others, don't know what on earth you are saying
> like the
> > sentence I quoted in the last post.
>
> Dear Glen,
>
> I for one always understand Alex [in terms of his English if not

some

> of his more obscure Palaeobalkan musings], and feel bound to speak

up

> in his support here. He makes spelling mistakes, has the

occasional

> problem with syntax, and is sometimes a touch eccentric in his

choice

> of words [but this provides us all with an excellent window into

the

> structure of Rumanian]. However, I think you were unnecessarily
> rude, Glen, and I commend Alex for his measured response. I would
> love to see Glen write all his messages in Rumanian...
>
> May I add also, that there are certain special reasons for a degree
> of forebearance in this case. For most of this century, even to

some

> extent after the fall of Ceaucescu, Rumania has been a closed and
> isolated country, and has been and still is rife with official
> propaganda concerning its people's 'glorious Dacian and Roman
> ancestors'. Not only has this resulted in the intellectual
> blinkering of the Rumanins themselves, but also has grave
> consequences for the other nations in this land, most notably the
> remaining Magyars and Szekely. Only through the gradual opening up
> of Rumania's scholarly [and lay] community, can things change for

the

> better. Alex has come here of his own will, to avail himself of

the

> dispassionate criticism the scholars here can afford, and this is

to

> all our benefit. Why wonder that Alex's most pressing concern here
> is to examine the Rumanian language, when all work on it for most

of

> the history of Rumanian academia has been of such a romantic

nature?

>
> Ben McGarr

Conversely, one shouldn't forget that the "world majority", standard
view of the world in its origins is just another national culture,
namely that of the speakers of the English language, and that it in
its choice of focus and geographical scope bears the mark of its
original purpose: to justify the presence of the Normans in England.
The "opening up" of the Romanian culture is a two-way street, we
can't preclude a priori that the Romanians in those years of
isolation have found something of interest to all of us. The flow of
memes between languages is a slow trickle as it is; no reason to
clutter it with concerns of loss of control.

Torsten