From: Andrew Jarrette
Message: 44511
Date: 2006-05-09
On 2006-05-08 22:44, Andrew Jarrette wrote:> Thanks for all the info. I think you are really an EnglishmanIt's really kind of you to say so, but I hope you don't mean it's
> pretending to be a Pole.
obviosly nicer to be an Englishman than a Pole ;-)--------------------------------------Sorry -- I actually did notice after I wrote it that that sentence could be interpreted to mean that I think that an Englishman is better than a Pole, but I thought no one else would notice this alternate, perverted interpretation. How I underestimate my superiors. But really as you have understood, I mean that your superior knowledge of and competence in English is so impressive as to leave one wondering whether you must be in fact an Englishman -- it's hard to believe (at least for me) that a foreigner, especially in a fairly distant country speaking a quite dissimilar language, can be so skilled and knowledgeable in another tongue and its history.> An Englishman who belongs at Oxford orAs regards IE and languages in general, I'm just a little more than a
> Cambridge, for that matter, and who is the authority par excellence
> on the history of English, on Indo-European, and languages in general.
dilettante, and certainly have no ambition to be regarded as an
authority. The history of English is my core area of research as a
linguist, and ... well, it's usually some foreign language that a
linguist knows a lot about.----------And I forgot to say, modest to boot. But I did not realize that Indo-European studies was merely an interest of yours. To me at least, you come across as knowing virtually everything there is to know in this subject (my apologies to the other Indo-Europeanists on cybalist). And as I remember it, you have commented many times on non-Indo-European languages with a certain degree of authority, so it comes across to me as particularly impressive. Maybe I overglorify, but I really think it is entirely deserved.
------Andrew