Look Piotr,

I am a professor and have been giving free advice for decades. I gave excellent
advice on the future of historical linguistics. Neither Wright nor Kimura were
statisticians. But they realized they needed to know more math. They did so
and now are the big names in genetics. This example can be multiplied many
times with examples from various fields.

The handwriting is on the wall for linguistics. There are many people who in
mid-life have a saying like Marlon Brando in the movie "I could have been
somebody." They did not know what to do because nobody told them.

I gavae excellent advice for the future. You sound like a young man. You can
either be among the movers and shakers a couple of decades from now or
you can waste the next 40-50 years. I always give advice like this; some students
listen and others don't.

The problems with which historical linguists deal are not so different that
nobody else except linguists understand them. There is no truth to any such
belief that the comparative method is some genius method and that this is
like quantum physics. People solve problems like those in HL every day.
If there was any money in HL, they would flood the field in one day. Right now
they are working in other fields because there is more money there. But eventually
some of them will drift over, like I did. In fact, they have already started drifting
over the HL.

So, please do not insult me anymore with irrational comments. I joined this list
to discuss general problems and see what it is about, not to get into arguments
of the irrational kind I have seen for the last 10+ years.  

My flame is nothing compared to your insults. Do you think blockheads and
meatheads get PhDs in quantitative fields? Some of those yokels I insulted
deserved it because they are so ignorant and so obnoxious that nothing else
will stop them. They are so ignorant that they are even ignorant of their own
ignorance.

I tried to discuss general ideas and principles. How about a rational response?
I asked how one would go about creating some principle in which we can
decide to which language/family a word belongs. Everyone must know by
now that RSC is a simple heuristic and "genetic" relationship cannot be
based on it. I wrote that most of Kessler's book is linguistics not math.
Your response is totally irrational, and worse, it is insulting.

Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

----- Original Message -----
From: "H.M. Hubey" <hubeyh@...>
To: <Nostratica@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 01, 2003 8:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Nostratica] One, first, head, finger



> But then again, this is a linguistics list, especially a historical
linguistics list, and traditionally this branch has had the worst rascals and racists. It looks like we are going to have to
relive that era again.

Since you talk of reliving things, you have a long record of flaming on other lists too.

http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/anthropology/sci.anthropology.paleo/archive/october-1995/0389.html

I also think responding to your posts is a waste of time.

Piotr


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-- 
M. Hubey
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The only difference between humans and machines is that humans
can be created by unskilled labor. Arthur C. Clarke

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